A Ghost World

The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, US, 1999)

UNLIKE RINGU, THE SIXTH SENSE is not seminal in the sense that it generated a whole series of similar films. However, in terms of my project in this book, it is aesthetically seminal. Both written and directed by Shyamalan, THE SIXTH SENSE demonstrates that a highly successful scary ghost movie has no need of horror tropes; that a gripping ghost narrative can be forged using nuance and intimation. Although many critics seem to think of it as a horror film, it patently is not; even its scares are restricted to the occasional jump at the sight of a ghost. It is, however, a paradigmatic ghost melodrama.

Moreover, THE SIXTH SENSE also has a powerful final twist, one which enriches the film, and which heightens the ghost melodrama elements. This reveals that the hero, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), was killed in the film's first sequence, and has spent the rest of the film as a ghost. Because he doesn't realise this until the end, the audience is not informed either, although there are many details which hint at his ghost status that could well be picked up by an alert first-time viewer.

Malcolm is a child psychologist in Philadelphia, and the opening sequence climaxes with him being shot by a disturbed young man, Vincent Gray (Donnie Wahlberg), who had, as a boy, been his patient. Vincent then shoots himself. The narrative jumps forward to ‘the next fall’, when Malcolm approaches a new patient, nine year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment). Eventually, he wins Cole's trust, and learns why the boy is so troubled: he can see ghosts. Although Malcolm does not at first believe him, we are now shown the ghosts which are, in effect, haunting Cole. These seem fairly conventional ghosts. They all suffered a violent death, and still carry the wounds of the violence; they seemingly have a ghost's ability to appear where they want; and they gravitate to Cole because he can see them. They are scary because they tend to approach him aggressively, acting out the traumas of their past relationships and their deaths. However, Malcolm himself seems different: he is not a typical compulsive, demanding ghost.