7/99
Hollywood is staging a late summer scare-a-thon, a sort of multiplex pile-up
of at least a half-dozen films in the supernatural/sci-fi/horror/creature-feature
vein, caused in large part by the unwillingness to release any such films anywhere
near The Phantom Menace.
Hopefully this traffic jam of seemingly similar films, as well as a perhaps intentionally misleading promotional campaign, will not cause audiences to avoid the consistent series of shivers presented by The Sixth Sense. It's one of the rare cases of an ad campaign not revealing everything about a movie, with the movie itself remaining pleasingly unpredictable throughout.
Bruce Willis stars as Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who becomes involved with the case of troubled 8-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who is afraid to tell even his devoted divorced mother (Toni Collette) the frightening secret that plagues him. He finally confides in Crowe that he "sees dead people," that he is seemingly visited by restless and possibly hostile spirits who appear to want something.
Crowe is himself haunted by a past failure that nearly cost him and his wife (Olivia Williams) their lives, and his attempt to redeem himself by easing the boy's torment becomes almost obsessive, enough to pose a threat to his marriage.
As written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan in surprisingly and satisfyingly low-key fashion, The Sixth Sense avoids the easy and crude "Boo!" scares preferred by Hollywood (and, perhaps, audiences) in favor of building a shuddery, cold-chill atmosphere enhanced by an interest in character. Willis (refreshingly cast as questioning, doubt-plagued and smirk-free) and Osment (who must carry as much of the film's weight as Willis) forge a credible and moving relationship that gives emotional gravity to the supernatural elements, which are evoked sparingly enough not to lose their dark power.
Tak Fujimoto's cinematography is beautifully saturated with somber tones and alert to subtly unsettling but simple details like the sight of a damp hand print disappearing from a tabletop, a distorting reflection in a doorknob, or a balloon floating to the ceiling above a circular staircase (I was especially taken by a lovely, slightly high-angled shot with Willis in close-up in the low foreground as the elongated evening shadows of two children fall across a deep green lawn behind him).
Shyamalan knows the value of suggestion over digital overkill, and his film is truer to the spirit of the 1963 classic The Haunting than the current Haunting remake is. Best of all, The Sixth Sense takes what seem to be familiar elements in unexpected and even compelling directions, allowing, as any investigator of the supernatural must, for unforeseen possibilities. Thoughtful entertainment like this probably doesn't stand a ghost of a chance against a hype-driven effects fest like the new Haunting but it casts a longer, deeper shadow.
—Pat Holmes
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