The Sixth Sense (1999)
By the late-’90s horror had been severely co-opted by the teen market. Studios felt scary movies were simplistic and should be aimed at young kids who didn’t necessarily know quality. Thus, when a horror movie did pop up starring actual actors it was usually relegated to the “dramatic” category. Until M. Night Shyamalan came on the scene with The Sixth Sense. The story follows a child psychologist (Bruce Willis) attempting to understand a troubled little boy (Haley Joel Osment) who claims he sees dead people.
What quickly became a source of parody afterwards was, at the time, a serious Oscar contender. The movie went on to be nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Who’d have thunk from a movie about a kid who sees ghosts? But no matter how you feel about Shyamalan as a director — and this movie still remains the high water mark for his career — The Sixth Sense is filled with frights, complexity, and humanity. Osment’s Cole is so compelling and the various ghosts he sees are haunting. Toni Collette’s Oscar-nominated performance remains emotionally evocative. It’s a movie that brings as many tears as it does chills, and reminded audiences that the horror genre wasn’t just worth spending on the young.
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