Good old fashioned atmosphere

Rating: 9/10 (12 August 1999)

We have all become so jaded with special effects and explosion a minute blockbusters that we often become restless with brilliant conventions that were used to shock us in films of the past. These films now seem "dated". When thinking about the thrills in "The Sixth Sense".I am reminded somewhat of Hitchcock as I write this on the eve of the great one's one hundredth birthday. But I think even more of a little known classic film,Roman Polanski's "Repulsion". In it Catherine Deneuve plays a woman who is repulsed by men. She spends a good thirty to forty minutes in virtual silence drifting into insanity, so that by the time things begin to go bump in the night the viewer is jumping out of their seat. Those who criticize the slowness of this films exposition don't seem to realize how important it is to provide the latter thrills. But almost every reviewer agrees that the ending is terrific. I gave this film an eight overall, but I will say that even though I've rated a lot of films with 9's and even 10's over the last few years, it is the only film of late that I truly plan to enjoy a second time. With a much different perspective I might add.