Surprising Spooks

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2002)

Do you believe in the paranormal, or there is more to this world than the living? Do you believe children are contacted by spirits more often than adults? When you think about scary movies, there is always a child involved. Either the child dies early in the movie, or the child is who the spirit/demon contacts. This is because our emotions will be triggered by this child. The child is an agent used to gain and keep the viewer's interest. In The Sixth Sense, the child is Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment). Bruce Willis plays the distinguished child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, who had a patient he couldn't cure. Cole is like the other child, and Dr. Crowe is determined to help him. Cole shares his secret: `I see dead people.' The dead people come to visit periodically. Cole's role with the deceased is to act as an agent to help them find peace, and we find that Dr. Crowe is a spirit needing help. The movie is surprising. The unexpected ending of Dr. Crowe being deceased is well planned, and after the movie the director M. Night Shyamalan reveals his secret. Every time a ghost is present, an item on the screen is red. This is a very suspenseful movie, and left me very surprised. If Mr. Shyamalan's intentions were to write a suspenseful thriller, I believe he hit the mark.