The Sixth Sense

In 1999, a 28-year-old filmmaker named M. Night Shyamalan walked into theaters with a quiet, slow-burn ghost story that would change the rules of the thriller genre. The Sixth Sense opens on a Philadelphia night, with child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) celebrating an award with his wife Anna (Olivia Williams). That celebration shatters when a former patient, Vincent Gray (Donnie Wahlberg), breaks into their home, accusing Malcolm of failing him. A gunshot rings out.

Months later, Malcolm meets Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a nine-year-old boy whose symptoms mirror Vincent's: withdrawal, fear, strange drawings. Cole's single mother Lynn (Toni Collette) is at her wit's end, watching her son spiral into something she cannot name. Malcolm sees a chance at redemption. But the deeper he pushes, the more he realizes Cole isn't mentally ill. He's telling the truth about what he sees.

Shot by cinematographer Tak Fujimoto in muted amber tones, the film builds dread through stillness and silence. James Newton Howard's score never overpowers, letting Cole's whispered confessions land like blows. The movie grossed over $672 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing horror film of its era. It earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Osment, who at 11 became one of the youngest nominees in that category.[edit]

Dr. Malcolm Crowe is a child psychologist haunted by a failure. A year after being shot by a former patient named Vincent Gray, he throws himself into the case of Cole Sear, a withdrawn nine-year-old boy who lives with his mother Lynn in a Philadelphia row house. Cole is terrified of things no one else can see. At school, kids call him a freak. His teachers think he's disturbed. Lynn watches her son grow thinner, paler, more afraid.

Malcolm approaches Cole gently, using games and patience to earn his trust. Cole resists at first, but eventually confesses a secret so strange that Malcolm, a man of science, struggles to accept it. Cole says he sees dead people. They appear to him without warning, sometimes in his room, sometimes on the street. They are the ghosts of people who don't know they're dead, and they ask Cole for help.

As Malcolm investigates, he finds evidence that supports Cole's claims: news clippings of a murdered girl who matches Cole's description, a funeral for a boy Cole says visited him. Meanwhile, Malcolm's own marriage is crumbling. Anna seems distant, cold. She barely looks at him. Malcolm wonders if his obsession with Cole is destroying what's left of his life.

Cole's fear peaks when a ghost of a poisoned girl named Kyra appears in his home, vomiting and begging for help. Cole must decide whether to confront the dead or remain paralyzed by terror. Malcolm pushes him to listen to what the ghosts need. The story builds toward a night when Cole must do something he has never dared: face the dead and act.[edit]