Intricately and very intelligently written and directed, evoking in its audience a spectrum of genuine emotions, and with a sublimely executed twist ending, The Sixth Sense is just such a film. It presents ghosts not as being theatrically dangerous but rather as a subtle, creepy, utterly unpredictable force that is felt, rather than seen, by most people. We feel this in every shot in the film--from the dim Philadelphia skyline to a comfortable, homey kitchen--and in every actor's performance--Bruce Willis gives a wonderfully textured performance and Haley Joel Osment is incredible, all the more so for someone so young. When the ghosts finally do appear, they aren't malevolent, in most cases; they're merely lost souls, trapped in repeating their terrible last actions in life. In short, The Sixth Sense captures hauntings the way they'd be if they existed in real life.

Do ghosts exist? I don't know. But I do know one thing: Whenever I peer down a dim corridor at twilight or open my eyes into the pitch blackness of my bedroom in the dead of night, I am afraid of seeing things like I saw in The Sixth Sense.

The acting is superb. Bruce Willis is a much better actor than he usually gets credit for, a talent which he gets to display in this film. Toni Collette's performance is so convincingly Philadelphian that I did not for one moment recognize her as the Australian actress who was so wonderful in "Muriel's Wedding," and Haley Joel Osment is just amazing in his depth and conviction.

This next is such a nit-picky thing that I hesitate to mention it, but the only reason I don't give the picture 100% is a lone "yeah, but" scene, which didn't even breach my consciousness until I had watched it many times. Even though the concept of palpable cold at the site of a haunting by an emotionally distraught ghost is firmly established, there is no such phenomenon during the party scene, when Cole is "locked in the dungeon" by the two mean little kids. Nobody shivers, and nobody's breath mists the air, even though the ghost is in such a transport of rage that he is able to inflict physical injury on Cole. A mere speck of dust in an otherwise perfect paint job.

RATING

COLD ANALYSIS

ATMOSPHERE

GORE

HUMOR

SCARES

TENSION

I am not usually that kind of guy who wants to watch the prototypical guy movies (if such a thing exists) all the time. I can appreciate some decent and calm films, and such a movie is the movie at hand. However, I didn't really perceive it as being scary, nor thrilling, nor a horror film. This is no scary movie. What it is is a lesson in intensity. The entire film is a tapestry of sound, music, breath and silent scenes, penetrated by some shocking moments, which have their effect, but overall, a very gently flowing yet nevertheless unnerving experience. Part of my disappointment may have resulted from the discrepency between what the film was marketed to be and what it turned out to be. It was marketed and--oddly--praised as something I would look forward to, and it turned out to be something I am always a bit skeptical about. Thus my initial hesitance, which may also serve to explain the problems other people had with this film. It is always problematic to do something contrary to what is expected, but that's the domain of art: to contradict and withstand expectation and easy categorization.

There is no need to praise the acting of Haley Joel Osment and Bruce Willis, for it doesn't get any better. Simple as that. The music, after you get over the initial shock that it's such a calm piece, is the product of a genius, and the general atmosphere the movie generates is tight and gripping, and you still don't know why. Something has happened, yet you don't know why. The problems I assumed the film to have were my own, there can be no doubt any more. For The Sixth Sense is nothing but a timeless masterpiece.