A lesson in fear

Rating: Null/10 (21 April 2000)

THE SIXTH SENSE is a dramatic lesson in fear that borrows heavily from 19th-century literature (especially the stream-of-consciousness technique pioneered by Victorian writer Ambrose Bierce). A truly powerful masterpiece, it accomplishes its objective without gratuitous violence or gore and with only a little nudity and swearing. Yet the fear factor itself is raw and mesmerizing enough to scare you - if you allow yourself to be scared. Taking a break from playing the action hero is Bruce Willis, who portrays a child psychologist with a dark secret of which even he is unaware. Haley Joel Osment is a delightfully unconventional little boy who lives in a tent, speaks fluent Latin, and plays with toy soldiers in church. He also can communicate directly with "dead people" (i.e. ghosts). The movie juxtaposes the real world and the land of the dead in a casual manner that just adds to the suspense. And as I said before, it is all done very subtly and without a lot of sickening blood or violence. THE SIXTH SENSE will surely go down in history, along with PULP FICTION, BRAVEHEART, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and FARGO as one of the greatest films of the 1990s. So see this movie soon. It will terrify you - and restore your faith in the motion picture industry.