"The Sixth Sense" 1999

“The Sixth Sense”

“I see dead people.”

I saw this movie on its opening weekend. I was on vacation in Utah, visiting my mother and I had a good friend that had moved to the area. So to escape the family visit for a bit, we arranged a get together to catch up and see a movie. “The Blair Witch Project” was a huge movie at the time and we agreed to go see it. Alas, this movie is not in my DVD collection, so I won’t be writing about it. Not a movie I felt I needed to rewatch.

After seeing BWP, we went to dinner and talked about movies. “The Sixth Sense” came up and we decided to make it a double feature night. I can’t remember seeing a lot of pre publicity but knew the “I see dead people” line.

We watched it and I was not really super impressed. It was pretty good, but nothing to write home about until the end. Bruce Willis is watching his wife sleep and it all becomes clear. The montage of his memories runs by and I was in awe.

It has a great cast. Bruce Willis is understated. Haley Joel Osmet carries a lot of the movie on his narrow shoulders and does well. Toni Collette is her usual fantastic as a mom who doesn’t understand what is wrong with her son.

I immediately wanted to rewatch it. To see it again and find out if the impact would be the same knowing the twist. As soon as I got home, I rounded up a group from work and went to it again. Suddenly little parts I missed opened up with brand new meaning. It was even better.

My favorite scene is one near the end between Cole and his mother. They are in the car, stuck behind a fatal accident and he is finally ready share his secret. You can see her fighting the terror she feels for her child. When Cole asks her if she thinks he’s a freak, she immediately sits up straight and brings out the ferocious and protective love she feels for him.

“Look at my face; I was not thinking anything bad about you.”

In my opinion, this is director, M. Night Shyamalan’s only movie. He went terribly downhill since.

A few months later the movie distributor I worked for got an advance copy. I worked with the King of the Spoilers. He loved nothing more than to start telling someone about a movie and next thing you know he was spilling the twist. He did this for so many movies, we started to tell him to shut up as soon as he mentioned he’d watched a movie. That didn’t always stop him. So when this movie came, I asked if he’d seen it. He said no. So, with glee I held the movie up to his face and said loud enough for all my coworkers who he’d spoiled, “BRUCE WILLIS IS DEAD THE WHOLE TIME!”

It was great.