The Sixth Sense (1999)
★★★½ — The Sixth Sense (1999)
M. Night Shyamalan had made two relatively quiet features before this, Praying with Anger (1992) and Wide Awake (1998), but The Sixth Sense was the film that announced him as a major Hollywood player. Released in August 1999 by Hollywood Pictures and produced through Spyglass Entertainment, it carried a $40 million budget and went on to gross well over $670 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-earning films of the decade and, for a time, the second highest-grossing film in American history that wasn't a sequel. Haley Joel Osment, then ten years old, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, as did Toni Collette for Best Supporting Actress, an unusual double for a genre film. Shyamalan also wrote the original screenplay himself, earning a nomination for Best Original Screenplay alongside a Best Director nod.
No single film has caused me more lasting fear than this. That first watch it's easily a 4.5*. Maybe even a 5*. The twist hits like a freight train, and the entire film suddenly reconfigures itself in your head. It's one of those rare cinematic moments that makes you sit up and go, “Wait... what?!” But here's the thing, once you've seen it, you’ve seen it. The magic of that reveal is what gives the film so much of its power, and it’s hard to recapture that tension or surprise on a rewatch. Still, it’s a brilliantly crafted film, and the atmosphere is chilling in the best possible way. Seriously, no film has ever made me look over my shoulder at night more than this. Genuinely terrifying at times, eerie, understated, and emotionally grounded. Haley Joel Osment’s performance is astonishing, and Bruce Willis plays it beautifully subdued. M. Night Shyamalan had lightning in a bottle here, it’s just a shame that bolt only really strikes once.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1999 | Watched: 2025-04-09
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Disney Plus
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from M. Night Shyamalan: Signs (2002)
More with Bruce Willis: Armageddon (1998) · Alpha Dog (2006) · The Fifth Element (1997) · Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More mystery: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · One Way or Another (1975)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
