The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense (1999)

  • 85% of critics liked it
    (134 reviews)

  • 87% of users liked it
    (950,316 ratings)

In this tense tale of psychological terror, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist whose new patient has a problem far outside his usual area of expertise. Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is six-years-old and claims to see the spirits of dead people all around him. It seems that Cole… More

PG-13,
Directed By
Written By
M. Night Shyamalan
Genres
Mystery & Suspense
In Theaters
Aug 6, 1999 Wide
On DVD
Mar 28, 2000
Hollywood/Buena Vista

Critic Reviews

  • David Denby, New Yorker

    A delicate, emotionally attentive, but very scary ghost story.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader

    M. Night Shyamalan neutralizes Willis's star presence with impressive plotting that's a fine excuse for the powerful atmosphere.

  • Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

    An effectively understated and moodily engrossing ghost film with a surprisingly satisfying jolt at the end.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Chris W


    No matter how much M. Night Shyamalan continues to go downhill, this will continue to hold up as a great film. Influenced by an old episode of the show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?", this is an engrossing psychological thriller about a troubled child psychologist named Dr.… More

  • Emil K


    M.Night Shyamalan who later in his career turned out to be one of the most gifted auteurs of American cinema was still finding his voice with The Sixth Sense. Many of his typical trademarks are evident here and in many ways The Sixth Sense was the film that started Shyamalan's… More

  • Directors C


    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] It kills me to say it but I wasn't particularly scared by The Sixth Sense. I rather found the story intriguing and wanted to know what was going to happen following every twist and turn. So much so that… More

  • Wahida K


    Suspense till the End. Though always having trouble prouncing the Directors name out. <i>*shakin head</i>

  • AJ V


    A chilling, creepy, dramatic ghost story... with a twist at the end of course. Luckily this was Shyamalan's first film, otherwise it wouldn't have been as good as it was. We can only take his twist endings for so long. But being the first, this was the best. If you only… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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