An awesome film, with great acting, an engrossing story, and an ending from way left field

Rating: 9/10 (18 August 1999)

This summer is a great one for movies. After the first Star Wars film in 15 years, two awesome comedies in Austin Powers 2 and South Park, and two great horror films (Blair Witch and The Haunting), the Sixth Sense comes out - and continues the trend. Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment both turn in excellent performances. There needs to be a Child Actor Oscar created just for Osment; he is fantastic as young Cole Sear, a child who sees ghosts everywhere he goes. Bruce Willis plays Malcolm Crowe; a child psychologist discouraged by his one failure, with a case that bears a striking resemblance to Cole's.
The film grabs you right from the start, and doesn't let go until the end. Although billed as a horror movie, the scares don't really start until about halfway through, when Cole's ghosts become visible to the audience. And they're sufficiently creepy - real people bearing the marks of their deaths, as opposed to the translucent shapes of The Haunting. The ghost-story elements are all there, in both the actions of the spirits and their effects (the cold, the feeling of falling while standing still), lending this film much more credibility than The Haunting - ghost story fans will not be disappointed.
Malcolm has his hands full trying to help Cole overcome his fear of the apparitions and try to come to terms with his ability to see them, but as a result his home life collapses as he drifts further and further from his wife. Ironically, his patient becomes the doctor, helping Malcolm to try to patch things up. The two work superbly together throughout the movie in fact.
The ending, when it comes, is a complete surprise, from so far out of left field it practically skirts the foul line. I was left with my jaw in my lap as the credits rolled. The Sixth Sense stacks up as one of the best ghost movies I've ever seen, and certainly one of the best movies of the summer. Stick it on your must see list, right alongside The Blair Witch Project.