The Sixth Sense 1999

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: It's a rarity for a movie to be willing to try your patience like The Sixth Sense does and even more of one for your perseverance to be so amply rewarded. Read more

John Anderson, Los Angeles Times: Shyamalan's script is a clever construct, but also contains a great deal of sensitivity to the plight of the "different" child. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: I was not only surprised by the film's final twist, I wasn't even looking for one. I just thought I was watching a bad movie. The end doesn't quite redeem it, but it makes you think about what you've seen. That's a saving grace of some sort. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Not only does this production contain what is probably Willis' strongest performance and a lot of other fine acting, but it is also one of the best films of the year. And it's sure to be a movie that the people who see it will want to talk about. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: So transparent is Osment as an actor, and so rare, that the pain on his face stabs you in the heart. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Genuinely unsettling, in a way that no other film this summer has been -- and that includes The Blair Witch Project. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Sixth Sense is scary -- and smart! Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The Sixth Sense has wry wit and raw scares. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Gaggingly mawkish supernatural kitsch. Read more

Rod Dreher, New York Post: It is impossible to take your eyes off Osment, who vividly conveys the hopelessness of a sensitive, intelligent child who bears burdens beyond all telling. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: An effectively understated and moodily engrossing ghost film with a surprisingly satisfying jolt at the end. Read more

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader: M. Night Shyamalan neutralizes Willis's star presence with impressive plotting that's a fine excuse for the powerful atmosphere. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's a quiet, slow movie that builds its scares gradually, leading to a wallop of a surprise ending. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Like Kieslowski and others, Shyamalan knows that what makes for lousy metaphysics can make for powerful metaphor, and in the end he creates a deeply, surprisingly affecting film out of a little bit of smoke and brimstone. Read more

Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle: There's more fright in any 10 minutes of The Sixth Sense than the sensory startle effects The Haunting produces in its entire running time. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Willis turns in a measured and understated performance. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A psychological thriller that actually thrills! Read more

Jeff Gray, Globe and Mail: Billed as a 'chilling, psychological thriller,' this movie is actually none of those things. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: A delicate, emotionally attentive, but very scary ghost story. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: I had to employ all of my usual tricks to keep from falling asleep! Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The Sixth Sense has a kind of calm, sneaky self-confidence that allows it to take us down a strange path. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Shyamalan seems to have no idea how to dramatize anything. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: But just as scary, or at least as unsettling, is the film's presentation of human existence as an endless series of tragedies and agonies, relieved only by foolish distraction. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Osment's pinched, old-young face suggests an ancient's insight without an ancient's defenses -- a sensitivity so exquisitely morbid that you worry more for his emotional than physical well-being. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: The Sixth Sense might not scare you out of your wits, but it could reward them. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: A poignant study of the searing pain caused by loss, this all-too-human horror film provokes tears as well as fears. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A terrific last-minute story twist goes a fair way toward redeeming The Sixth Sense. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Too often the film gets lost in overlit opulence and the soundtrack going 'boo.' Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: You leave slightly asquirm. You know it will linger. It becomes a clammy, chilly movie building toward a revelation that you cannot predict. As I say: I cannot tell you. You'd hate me if I did. I can only say, don't look now, but look sometime. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The Sixth Sense is a ghost story and a psychological thriller. But there's something finer to it than that. Read more