"The Sixth Sense": the new horror classic

by Dmetri Kakmi

It must be a millennial thing. I don't know why, but suddenly, after almost a fifteen year hiatus, Hollywood is making horror movies again. And I mean genuine horror movies, with plots and characters and a story line, not teenage slash fests like the limp-as-a-dish-rag "Scream", the coma-inducing "Urban Legends" and the offensive "The Rage: Carrie 2", to name only three of the worst offenders that have virtually crippled this most enduring, exciting and challenging of all film genres.

You can count the memorable horror movies of the last two decades on the fingers of one hand: Sam Raimi's gruesomely funny "The Evil Dead" (1982), Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator" (1985), George Romero's monumental "Day of the Dead" (1985) and David Lynch's hypnotic pilot for the TV series "Twin Peaks" (1989).

But suddenly, just as one millennium is about to give way to another, the movie capital of the world (ahem) is churning out horror movies that aren't set on some campus waiting to burst with hormones and blood. This new wave began with the independent phenomenon of "The Blair Witch Project", which was closely followed by special-effects laden "The Haunting". And now we have "Stigmata", "Stir of Echoes" and, I'd wager the best one of the lot, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's ghost story, "The Sixth Sense".

No doubt, by now you've all seen it, or had some insensitive friend reveal the twist ending before you got to see it for yourself. But I bet it didn't spoil your fun, right? But the thing is "The Sixth Sense" does not hinge on a twist ending at all. It's the subtly nuanced script, mature performances and remarkably sustained eerie atmosphere that you take away with you. This is as memorable a film as those classic ghost stories, "The Innocents" (1961) and Robert Wise's 1963 version of "The Haunting".

If you were brought up on a diet of a slash-a-minute flicks then you will probably die of boredom in "The Sixth Sense" because there are no stalkings or killings, no horny teenagers getting their kit off, no FX. If that isn't enough to send you screaming into the hills then the remarkably relaxed and measured pace should do it. But Shyamalan knows what he's on about. His assured, unshowy directorial style works to slowly draw you into the hypnotic, shadow-filled world of cinematographer Tak Fujimoto's autumnal Philadelphia; a world filled with the remnants of the sorrowful dead and the haunted face of Joel Sear, a little boy who can see these dead people wandering about just like regular people.

Into this world steps celebrated Dr Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist so obsessed with helping little Joel overcome whatever may be ailing him that he allows his own marriage to wither on the vine. What he doesn't realise, of course, is that his own ultimate destiny is tied in with the boy's visions.

You have to give it to Shyamalan. Not only does he draw very moving performances from Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and the marvelous Toni Collette as the boy's working-class mother, but he also cleverly structures and frames his film so that if you are alert to the implications of his visual language you can easily guess what the film is working its way up to. It's still fun though, when the film ends, to work your way back and see where the director was, in fact, tipping his audience off.

If I have any quibbles, they are minor indeed. Given that the first appearance of an apparition is such a genuinely chilling moment, I would have liked to have seen the same level of restraint shown in some of the later scenes of vomit-dribbling ghosts and an arm shooting out from under a bed. These are the cheap shots and cliches lesser talents often resort to when they run out of ideas, and they have no place in a film as gentle and humane as this. Nor was I convinced by the device introduced late in the piece which explains the purpose behind the boy's visions. This subplot seemed like an obvious contrivance which should have been jettisoned in an early draft of the script. But as I say, these are minor quibbles and the film finds its feet again during its closing minutes for a more than satisfying climax.

Like Brian De Palma's 1976 classic "Carrie", Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" is one of those rare, finely crafted horror films that manages to send a shiver down your spine and touch the heart. His next film, again with Bruce Willis, is to be eagerly anticipated.