The Sixth Sense (1999)

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After fifteen years, The Sixth Sense still crowns as Shyamalan’s masterpiece. The film offers a terrifying look into fear itself, and the effects it has on people, most notably, a little boy with the ability to see dead people. Haley Joel Osment gives the best performance of his career as Cole Sear, the troubled young boy. Bruce Willis is fantastic in an underrated performance as the child psychiatrist helping Cole, who happens to be hiding demons of his own. The pace of the film is slow, which may turn some off. However, the slow pace is used effectively to build the complex characters and chilling atmosphere. At an early point in Shyamalan’s career, he seemed to have understood how to let an eerie environment sink in, and almost be its own character. Everything about this movie works. The acting, writing, and directing are all phenomenal and show that, at one point Shyamalan did have talent. Watching the movie multiple times allows you to catch things you may have missed before, and you find more and more subtle clues that reveal the ingenious twist ending. Yes, the film is slow-moving, but it does keep you interested enough to keep watching. 

9 / 10