A dark, yet intelligent mise en scene.

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2001)

SPOILERS!!! (Though if you don't know the deal with this one you've been living in a cave)

Director M. Night Shyamalan knows what scares us. He knows that fear lies in our imagination and that imagination is strongest during childhood. That's why he uses a child to explain to us that the chills we sometimes get and items we misplace have an ominous explanation. He understands why we are scared as we sit around the campfire listening to a good ghost story. He knows that though we may have become more cynical and sure in the world as we grow older, we maintain enough eidetic comprehension to think that there just might be ghosts.

Shyamalan also knows how to scare us. He brings verisimilitude to the project by playing on our personal fears. He makes us recall the long walk down a dark hallway to the bathroom when we were children after waking up and having to urinate. He makes us remember the dilemma of trying to hold it versus stirring in the darkness of our room and feeling our way to the door. By using a situation familiar to all and reprising our childhood bogeymen, the discomfort becomes intimate.

That's why this movie works from both the over the top foreboding, such as the disturbed Vincent muttering, `Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do.' to the sine qua non subtleties that are handled with empressment. Most notable among the latter is a crafty moment when the father of the poisoned girl watches in horror as the cause of her demise is revealed on video. In the background we see the folded hands of an unknown viewer that nervously pull apart and tug at the clothing near the throat. What a recherché touch!

Shyamalan seems to have the knack for knowing when to show us something and when not to so. Not revealing who opened all the drawers and cabinets, leaving the inmate in the attic unseen, and having Cole glance quickly away from a passing graveyard while on the bus add a numinous appeal. Yet he astutely uses visual shocks to keep us on edge and remind us to be scared in a film that is so easy to admire for its visual beauty and detail: angry ghosts quickly stalk by, hanging bodies materialize, ghastly apparitions appear at car windows, all adding up to a mélange of the supernatural incarnate.

He treats the terrestrial characters with equal flair. He is particularly adept at using body language to make a point as when we witness the hand of Cole's mother drop exasperated on the dinner table in an expression of anger that is far more emotive than revealing her face. Another satisfying moment is the humorous `jewelry sale' scene where the couple's faces, enclosed in a tight shot, make the most of human countenance, unfortunately leaving the incisive dialogue an afterthought. And while these brilliant physical nuances ingratiate our subconscious the work's efficacy may actually lie in the tour de force of timing and perspective as is demonstrated in the trenchant `step game' tableau. In this scene camera shots break from Cole's footsteps (back and forth) to a commensurate movement to and from Malcom's face. A simple idea? Yes. A powerful image? Yes!

Of course many movies can produce scary moments, but the few that do maintain the pace in engaging the audience via character development. It's become hard to commiserate with the quotidian teenage victims in slasher-flicks, but vis-à-vis the dramatis personae assembled here our empathy is easier to reach. Our cynicism is ablated and we care about these people. We understand the special nature of the already-established relationship between Cole and his mother, evinced nicely by the `what did you do today' colloquy in which her fanciful exaggeration is juxtaposed with his sad dreams of just being accepted by his peers. Conversely we also appreciate the glimpse into the developing friendship of Malcom and Cole as their emerging trust is shown as the former's confession of marital neurasthenia melds with the latter's sub rosa revelation, `I see dead people.'

Oh and to all those who claim that they could see the ending coming: give it up, we all know better.