"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 1999)

I quote the line from the film above because that moment in the film has stuck in my mind. I first want to offer a HUGE "Thank You!" to M. Night Shyamalan, the director. He has succeeded in making a modern "horror film" without resorting to gore and CGI. This is a ghost story in league with The (original)Haunting (1963), The Uninvited, The Changeling, etc. It relies almost solely on the power of the actors to render its chills. There are still some genuine jolts--my wife practically broke my arm at one point as a mysterious figure swished by the lens. Bruce Willis is his most un-Bruce like, and he's great: soft spoken, gentle, emotional. Haley Joel Osment is the real thing--not a "child actor" but a warm, human, frightened little boy. And finally, a denoument that caught me off guard like a slap in the face by a hand from the grave. So don't sit here reading this drivel--go see it!! In the theatre, if possible, surround by several hundred others.