The Sixth Sense

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+)

Romas M Greetings from Lithuania. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) was one of those movies i couldn't get enough during upon its release almost 17 years ago. The mystery, performances, script, directing, horror and THAT unforgettable and once in a lifetime twist at the end that left me speechless - this is definitely one of my all time favorite movies. This is still the best movie M. Night Shyamalan has ever created, and seeing his movies now, he will probably unfortunately won't top this one. That said, i liked many his movies post "The Sixth Sense", but nothing came closed in comparison to this masterpiece. Every scene in this film works. Every scene in this film has its purpose to tell a story. The storytelling itself is brilliant. At running time 1 h 45 min this is a perfectly paced film. Acting by Haley Joel Osment was phenomenal - he should have won Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in 1999. Toni Collette was amazing as a loving mother, and Bruce Willis does here what great actors do - they do not overshadow great performances around theme. He is very good here. Music was very beautiful by James Newton Howard. Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto is minimalistic, yet superbly crafted. But at the end of the day, "The Sixth Sense" is M. Night Shyamalan crowning achievement. Writing and directing here are, simply, perfect. Its a brilliant film about letting it go, fear, hope and love for loved once while they are still here. Overall, as you have probably seen this movie more then once, there isn't anything new that can be said about it. It's definitely one the best movies of all time for me personally. It works equally good as a mystery, horror, drama and character study. One of the kind movie experiences. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/19/25 Full Review Olivier D In a key scene in the movie, Dr. Crowe performs a magic trick whose ludicrousness is meant to get a laugh out of his young deranged patient: he keeps a penny in his closed hand while making shaky gestures and pretending the coin is elsewhere. Cole doesn't find it funny. Shyamalan pulls the same kind of trick on his audience. But his magic — though as lousy as Crowe's — is meant to impress. § He unfolds before our eyes a series of sequences designed, using less-than-subtle techniques, to keep us on the edge of our seats and, at certain moments, increasingly so as the end draws near, to bring a few tears to our eyes: a clever, nerdy little boy, who is scared when he goes for a wee at night, is bullied at school; a mum who's a bit overwhelmed, but full of love for her disturbed child, is always ready to promise that she'll never think of him as a "freak" even though he's obviously freaking out like a schizo; a loving husband estranged from his wife (when she's not falling asleep watching VHS footage of their wedding, she's considering cheating on him with the young employee of her engagement ring shop), wants to help the little boy although he can't help himself; there's always a bloody wounded ghost, à la cheap Shining, who pops up in the empty moments (often) and Bruce Willis plays a deadpoetssocietish psychiatrist full of clever little games to get in touch with his patient ("let's play mind-readin': if I know what you're thinkin', you can sit down and tell me what you're thinkin', wanna play?"), and Latin dictionaries (he writes "de profundus" and struggles to translate a quote as cryptic as "carpe diem"). so we can see he's as credible in this role as Stallone would be in that of a Buddhist hippie fan of Allen Ginsberg's poetry. § All this doesn't make a magic trick, just a hackneyed Hollywood drama (at times unintentionally laughable) like we've already seen thousands of. What makes the difference is the last plot twist (the 90s were the decade of flashy plot twist movies). In the long-standing cinematic tradition of the sprinkler being sprinkled, the exorcist eventually turns up to be... a ghost. His communication issues with his wife and the grocery store cashier become understandable. But wait... it's easy to see why Shyamalan only shows us a few glimpses of his character's intimate life, and nothing of his day-to-day existence: If we had seen him sleeping in the marital bed in his ghostly white unwrinkled sheets and bloodstained pajamas while his widow consoled her grief in the arms of her clerk, or the difficulty he has in making himself heard by the cashier, or when he orders a beer at the bar, the magic would have been somewhat lost. § The bottom line is that Shyamalan's movie needs you to take what it gives you at face value, without thinking off-screen or even thinking at all. This circus-wizard tells us a mediocre story, then gaslights us at the last minute to make us believe it was different (it was actually worse).You can get the idea by watching the Sixth Sense a second time. All that's left is a huge jumble of clichés and a dropped penny rolling on the table. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/01/25 Full Review Alejandro A Ok, the only problem with this film is that once you have watched it, it loses its essence. I mean this long film is amazing because of the "plot-twist" at the ending, one of the best that I have ever seen for sure. Other aspects could be: a well designed "world", nice and deep characters and a really good directorship. Not to spoil you, just watch it. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/20/25 Full Review Tyler G Granted, I went into it knowing the shocking twist at the end because this movie is such a cultural phenomenon, but I cannot help but think this film is overrated. It has found its place in the cultural zeitgeist, but it is mostly boring and without a clear theme. Haley Joel Osment is spectacular for a child actor. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/16/25 Full Review Audience Member Before I got to the end, I just thought that this was a movie about marriage, and how hard marriage is. I just figured that his wife wasn’t talking to him for like, a year. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/12/25 Full Review Alexsander F A film I'd seen when I was younger, but I didn't remember how good and well-directed it was, with a great script and a nice plot twist. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/11/25 Full Review Read all reviews

The Sixth Sense

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Most Popular at Home Now