The Sixth Sense

And so I am 24 today. A lot of things happen when you turn 24.

No, they don’t. You just turn 24. That’s all that happens. I just wanted to plug my birthday for a little bit. Part of my selfish self. I did, however, get a DVD player, so that’s pretty cool.

And I got to see one of the best horror movies to come out of Hollywood in years. I have not yet seen The Blair Witch Project, but general consensus seems to be that that one isn’t all it was cracked up to be.

In The Sixth Sense, a little boy named Cole (the phenomenal Haley Joel Osment–Forrest, Jr. in that Gump flick) sees dead people. He and his psychologist, Malcolm (Bruce Willis who puts in his best performance since Pulp Fiction), try to figure out why and how to get rid of them.

The movie starts out with Malcolm and his wife (Olivia Williams from Rushmore and…well…The Postman, but don’t hold that against her–she really is good) celebrating an award from the mayor of Philadelphia. The celebration is cut short when a very strange and skinny man (Donnie Wahlberg who actually makes you forget who he is) breaks into their home and accuses Malcolm of failing him. He’s an ex-patient who wasn’t cured. He shoots Malcolm and then turns the gun on himself.

Fast forward a few months. Malcolm and Cole meet and don’t immediately hit it off. Cole is scared of his new doctor, of course. As time goes by, though, he learns to talk to him and things start coming out.

The scares in the movie aren’t from special effects like a certain remake from this summer, which I still haven’t seen, but I hear it isn’t all that great. The sets are great, yes. The movie isn’t. In The Sixth Sense you get actual scares. There are some jump scares (even someone slowly passing in front of the screen becomes frightening–not to mention a little girl vomiting in the dark) and some creepy scares. (“Come on! I’ll show you where my dad keeps his gun.”) Not much in the way of special effects, actually. You can’t see through anybody. No one flies around a room. There aren’t any talking walls. It’s just make-up and green slime. But they use it effectively and bring the eerieness into the home…where it belongs.

Shall we talk about that kid? Some people have been talking about Oscar. Well, the year’s not over, yet, so I don’t know. But he was awesome. I haven’t seen a kid put in this good of a performance in a long time. He and Bruce played very well off of each other. Not many people have this kind of relationship with their psychologists outside of Matt Damon movies. His relationship with his mom (Toni Collete–Murial’s Wedding and Clockwatchers) was pretty impressive, too. I’m thinking maybe Radio Flyer (which this, strangely, almost has a connection to) or The Cure.

The director/writer, M. Night Shyamalan, did Wide Awake before this. Now, I heard that that movie sucked. I can’t imagine that he progressed this much in just a few short years. (It was released in 98, but shot in 95.) I might have to check it out for myself, though. He does seem to have a knack for working with kids. His hero is Spielberg, after all. And only five years older than me. What’s up with all these young ‘uns gettin’ there before me?

Just a few problems, though. Cole’s mom notices a light in all of the pictures she has of him. It’s just kind of a ghostly light hanging out a few feet away from him. Even in baby pictures. Did she never notice it before? She’s had these pictures in her house for years and she just noticed it while she was cleaning house? I doubt that. And where is she when he’s hanging out with Malcolm? She just trusts him to be out on a bus without her? She seems like a pretty protective parent otherwise. How did stuff like this slip by her? Would you trust a psychologist to just take your kid anywhere? (This is somewhat explained by that twist ending that everyone talks about–and what a twist!!!–but that just opens up other questions. I won’t get into that, though. Wouldn’t want to ruin it for anybody.)

Hopefully this movie will A) revitalize Bruce’s career (he was damn good, too…but what’s with all of these movies that he’s making with kids?) and B) revitalize the horror genre. We’ve had a lot of “horror” flicks made lately, but none of them were really creepy. They’re just these fun little movies like Scream and I Know What You Breathed Last Week. Good movies and all, but no real lasting impact. (Although Drew’s scene in Scream is still pretty harrowing.) Shyamalan has brought us an actual creep inducing film. I may have these images floating in my head tonight when I go to sleep. With this, Blair Witch and Stigmata coming out soon, I really hope that we get a new birth in one of my favorite genres. I’m even thinking about jumping on this one. I’ve got some ideas. If only I could tie them all together. (Sixth Sense may actually start a new genre… the “Horror Movie With A Heart.” As frightening as it was, it was kind of sweet, too. Figure that one out.)

If you want to be scared and think, go see this movie. It’s a good flick for the kids to see, too. Not the real young ones, but they’re at the age that they want to see ghosts and stuff, this one’s for them. Not as graphic and disturbing as, oh, say, The Exorcist (although there’s a scene that reminded me of that one), but scary nonetheless.

Am I repeating myself? The movie’s good, okay!!! Go see it with all speed!!!