First rate thriller

Rating: Null/10 (22 September 2000)

Year after year I go to horror films and get tired of seeing the same blood and gore slasher films. "The Sixth Sense" is a welcome relief. Here is a horror film that builds it's scares on a chilling atmeshphere. Simple images like when Cole see's dead people being hanged and only he can see work alot better then some slasher hacking teens to bits. The film takes it's time to tell the story. People who say they were bored have absolutlly no patience whatsoever. They want instant gratification. This film is proof when you have a good script, good actors and a great director horror films can be scary, insightful, and moving. I like how Malcom asks Cole what he thinks the ghosts want. So many ghost movies have ignored this question. Why would ghosts go to all that trouble to make themselves visible? We never explore their point of view until now. Bruce Willis gives the best perfomance of his carear. He makes Malcom a flawed human being who is beggining to experience failure for the first time. But the film belongs to Harvey Joel. His role requires actual acting, not being cute for the camera. If we don't feel sympathy for Cole then the whole film wouldn't work. Osmand more then holds his own. He gives alot of his performance in a hushed whisper. This shows he is utterly terrified of a gift he dosen't understand. The ending is one of the most shocking and unexpected I have ever seen. I absolutlly did not see it coming. Years later crap movies like I know what you did last summer and scream will inspire laughter, The Sixth Sense will inspire chills.