“The Sixth Sense” Digital 4K Review

Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a successful child psychologist till something goes wrong with one of his now grown-up patients. A year later, he gets to work with Cole Sear, a young boy who he doesn’t find out till later sees and hears dead people. Being friendless and labeled as a “freak” while being tormented with these sights, Cole’s only hope is Malcom, who at the same time is trying to deal with his marriage that is falling apart.

 

To be honest, I wasn’t planning on seeing The Sixth Sense due to the “violent images” I read about, and for the fact that they were calling it the scariest movie of the year so far. But when I got the chance to go, I decided to take it.

Well, I have to say I’m not disappointed I went. But I was rather “disturbed” by some of the material in the film… mainly the “violent images,” as they call it. The Sixth Sense has top-notch acting, a solid plot, and probably the most impressive, mind-boggling, ending I may have ever seen. It has one of the craziest twists!

But the thing I found scariest about this thriller was wondering what the condition of the next dead person shown on screen would be. From suicide victims to car accident victims, the viewer gets an eyeful of the aftermath of several violent deaths. It’s an aspect that, if let out of the film, could only have helped it for allowing for a wider viewership. For the violent-desensitized, this film is perfect, but for the more innocent viewers, heed strong caution.

I will begin the gruesome image warnings: The first deceased character we see is a woman with slits on her wrists (several on each) and a bruised face due to domestic abuse. We later see a set of three people hanging from the ceiling in the little boy, Cole’s, school. All have their eyes wide open in a spooky way, with their faces varying from being scratched to being bruised. The absolute worst, however, is a young boy who apparently looks fine when we first see him, till we see him turn around and get a glimpse of the back of his head. It appears as though he committed suicide with a gun and part of the back of his head is missing, leaving a very bloody, rather gory sight. A young girl is shown with sickly eyes, as she is puking in front of Cole in a rather disgusting manner. A woman who talks to Cole at his school appears to be fine, till we see her turn to the side and her arm and face are burned and scarred, with a great deal of hair missing from the one side of her head. Towards the end of the film, we see a woman with a bicycle helmet on and blood running down her face from her head (briefly seen). And lastly, we see a man with the back of his shirt all bloody, and then another view of his back really bloody with a pool of blood where he lies.

Although all of the above does sound like a lot, the movie’s almost 2-hour running time mainly focuses on Bruce Willis’ character Malcom and his relationship with his wife, as well as, him trying to help a young patient of his named Cole. The story also focuses on Cole’s relationship with his mother. The film includes a lot of touching moments and a few tear-jerking scenes. It has more heart than expected and was done very well.

The language is limited to one “S” word and a few various other “smaller” cuss words. Sex/nudity isn’t very bad. In the beginning, it looks as though Malcom and his wife Anna were preparing to sleep together as they start stripping off their clothes in the bedroom, but they’re interrupted before anything happens. Later in the film, we see Anna in the shower from Malcom’s point of view, and we see the shape of her nude body, but no explicit nudity beyond the side of her butt (with her arms and legs stratigically placed by her chest).

On the scary level, the movie gets its creepiness mainly from the gross imagery, scary/intense music, and the whole idea of dead people walking around and being everywhere. It’s definitely a topic movie — something to talk about. It’s scarier than The Haunting (much), and up there with the intensity and creepiness of The Mummy (more so, actually). This is NOT a kids movie by any stretch of the imagination (We did see a few youngsters in the theater – not cool). And if anyone is prone to nightmares or paranoia, cross this one off your must-see list. It’s definitely not a family movie.

With all that said, it’s actually a very good movie with an incredible ending, however, I can’t really recommend it. It was “good” on the level of creativity, acting and storyline. However, it’s definitely not a movie for everyone, and its story revolving around seeing ghosts / dead people is likely to really impact more sensitive viewers. And if the gruesome images were toned down or removed, it would be a little easier to watch. Still, it’s quite dark in nature – especially since all of the ghosts have been murdered in some form or another, even if by accident – which certainly gives it a more disturbing tone. I highly recommend exercising caution when considering seeing The Sixth Sense.

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 8/12/99; edited for readibility on 8/28/24)

 

25 years. It blows my mind to think The Sixth Sense hit theaters 25 years ago this month. To celebrate its anniversary, the film has been re-released to digital outlets in 4K UHD for the first time. While it has no extras to cover here, let’s take a look at how it does with a 4K upgrade, and how the movie holds up 25 years later.

The Sixth Sense in Digital 4K – It’s been a while since I’ve seen this film, but I probably last watched it on a standard DVD. The picture here is quite clear, although the late-90’s quality is quite evident. I’d say the only time it really was obvious that we’re looking at Ultra HD would be when the glint on characters’ eyes would really stand out and shine. The drawback to the higher resolution, however, is that we get to see the details of some of the gruesome visuals even more clearly (like the boy who has a bullet exit wound on the back of his head). Overall, this is still the highest quality in which we’ve ever seen this film, but I wouldn’t say it’s likely to “wow” anyone.

My Review of The Sixth Sense 25 Years Later – To be candid, the theatrical review you see above was written after my 19-year-old self first saw the film on the big screen. It was quite an experience. But to my more innocent eyes, I hadn’t experienced many horror or supernatural thrillers, so I received it differently than probably most did. However, 25 years have passed and I still avoid supernatural thrillers and most horror films – with exceptions being movies like Ghostbusters (supernatural comedy) and many of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies (which vary in intensity and disturbing themes). I’ve probably watched The Sixth Sense a handful of times, but its intense and dark nature has kept me from watching it for probably – if I had to guess – a good 20 years (give or take a few years).

Admittedly, The Sixth Sense hits much, much differently as a husband and a father. Obviously, at 19, I wasn’t married or a parent yet (although my girlfriend at the time eventually became my wife). But seeing what Malcom and Anna go through in the movie hits so much differently as an adult. Heaven knows marriage isn’t easy, and to see what they go through in the movie makes a lot more sense at this stage in life. Also, poor little Cole. It surprised me to find myself empathizing more with Cole’s mom, Lynn (played wonderfully by Toni Colette), and their scene in the car at the end nearly wrecked me. I was surprised at how emotional the ending of the film is, and it really brings a beautiful conclusion to a harrowing film.

And, even as an adult, I still found the gruesome ghosts tough to look at. Perhaps it’s just because I’m still sensitive to graphic imagery, or maybe it’s because the deaths each of these characters endure are realistic ones — not to mention the fact that these are people only a little boy can see apparently – it’s hard to pinpoint. But, thematically, it’s a really heavy and meaty film that deals with child psychology, marital problems including hints at infidelity and a couple drifting apart, a tormented child – both spiritually and socially, with kids bullying him – and grisly murder vicitms that the young boy can’t escape seeing. Furthermore, it’s tough to forget that Cole ends up helping a young girl who had been murdered by her own mother, slowly poisoned to death. She leads Cole to evidence that he presents to the girl’s father to expose the mother. Motives are never addressed – which I found a little frustrating this time around – but the gist of the sequence is to show that Cole has the opportunity to turn the horror into something positive by helping the ghosts find peace. Again, these aren’t light and fluffy themes by any means.

After having seen many of M. Night’s films over the past two-and-a-half decades – including this year’s Trap – it kind of surprises me that this film was made by the same guy. The wooden acting often associated with M. Night’s work is pretty absent here, and the story is probably the strongest he’s ever written. While he had a few other solid ones in his director’s filmography – like Signs and maybe even the underrated Unbreakable – I don’t think he’s ever been able to match (or surpass) the quality of his first big hit.

So is The Sixth Sense worth revisiting? If you’ve seen it before and enjoyed it – and it didn’t leave any lasting psychological scars – then yes, I think it offers enough to be worth another viewing. If you have never seen it (and therefore, hopefully, haven’t had the film’s ending spoiled for you), then I’d consider the content and themes before checking it out. It’s hardly a light viewing, so it’s better to play it safe than regretting it later.

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 8/28/24)

 

 Sex/Nudity: We see a deranged adult man in his underwear; We see Cole in his underwear from behind as he pees; We briefly see Cole’s mother in her bra as she grabs a shirt from the laundry; We see Anna in the shower, but only through frosted glass shower doors, showing the shape of her body, but no explicit details. We do, however, basically see the side of her bare butt, though.
 Vulgarity/Language: 1 “s” word, 1 “g*dd*mn,” 1 “a” word, 1 “d*ck,” 1 “h*ll,” 1 “d*mn” written, 1 “h*ll” written, and 1 “b*stard” written, 3 “Oh my G-d,” 2 “G-d”
 Alcohol/Drugs: Some drinking; one instance of Malcom and possibly Anna getting drunk at the beginning; Anna has some alcohol alone; Malcom finds that Anna has been taking Zoloft for her depression.
 Blood/Gore: Heavy. In two different scenes, we see scrapes and scratches on Cole’s arms and back; The first ghost we see is a woman with deep slits on her wrists (several on each) and a bruised face from domestic abuse; We later see a set of three people hanging from the ceiling in Cole’s school. All have their eyes wide open in a spooky fashion with their faces varying from being scratched to bruised; One night, Cole sees a young boy walk into his bedroom, commenting on how he found his father’s gun. As the boy turns around, we see a graphic view of a portion of his head missing with a very bloody wound; A young girl shows up in Cole’s room sickly eyes and chunky vomit dripping from her mouth; We see a woman talking to Cole at his school who appears to be fine, and we assume is a regular person. But when a teacher walks in and ask who Cole was talking to, we see the person turn, revealing the whole one side of her body is burned with skin looking raw and scarred and hair missing on her head; Near the end of the film, we see a woman with a bicycle helmet on and blood trickling down her face from her head; We see a man with the back of his shirt all bloody and then another view of his back looking really bloody with a pool of blood under where he lies.
 Violence: A man breaks into Malcom’s home. He and his wife find the man in their bathroom and he angrily talks about how Malcom had failed him. He then pulls out a gun, shoots Malcom, who falls over on his bed, and puts the gun to his own head. As the camera pans away from the man, we hear the gun go off and the sound of it impacting his head; Some kids force Cole into a closet and lock him in. We hear Cole screaming and banging on the door. Lynn hears this and rushes to help but can’t get the door open. When she does, he collapses into her arms. Later she finds holes in his sweater and when she lifts up his shirt, we see scratches on his back; Cole sees the ghost of a woman in his kitchen who screams at him as if he were her husband. Her face is bruised and she angrily displays her slit wrists and says that he can’t hurt her anymore; A boy suddenly shows up in Cole’s room and tells Cole to be quiet because he knows where his father keeps his gun. The kid then turns around to reveal a gory head wound on the back of his head; Anna hears the sound of glass breaking in the store where she works and finds a window in the front of the store has shattered. We then see Malcom storming off down the street; Cole tries to tell his teacher that the school used to be used for hangings, to which the teacher says he’s wrong. Cole doesn’t back down and insists it happened, and proceeds to call the teacher a nasty nickname he once was called as a kid. The teacher gets angry and slams his fist on Cole’s desk, calling him a freak; Cole sees a set of three people hanging from the ceiling in Cole’s school. All have their eyes wide open in a spooky fashion with their faces varying from being scratched to bruised; The air gets cold around Cole and he rushes into the tent in his room. The clasps holding his tent close begin to come undone and a young girl suddenly appears in his tent, vomit dripping out of her mouth. He screams and runs out; At a funeral for the girl, she gives a box to Cole to give to her father. In it is a video that reveals that her mother was pouring some kind of poisonous cleaner into the girl’s food, keeping her sick in bed. This is what leads to her death; A man is shown getting shot with blood on their clothes. We then see them die with their eyes open.