Product Details

• Actors: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg
• Directors: M. Night Shyamalan
• Writers: M. Night Shyamalan
• Producers: Barry Mendel, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Sam Mercer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Latin, Spanish
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1,176 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630573240X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,468 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
"I see dead people," whispers little Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), scared to affirm what is to him now a daily occurrence. This peaked 9-year old, already hypersensitive to begin with, is now being haunted by seemingly malevolent spirits. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is trying to find out what's triggering Cole's visions, but what appears to be a psychological manifestation turns out to be frighteningly real. It might be enough to scare off a lesser man, but for Malcolm it's personal--several months before, he was accosted and shot by an unhinged patient, who then turned the gun on himself. Since then, Malcolm has been in turmoil--he and his wife (Olivia Williams) are barely speaking, and his life has taken an aimless turn. Having failed his loved ones and himself, he's not about to give up on Cole.

This third feature by M. Night Shyamalan sets itself up as a thriller, poised on the brink of delivering monstrous scares, but gradually evolves into more of a psychological drama with supernatural undertones. Many critics faulted the film for being mawkish and New Age-y, but no matter how you slice it, this is one mightily effective piece of filmmaking. The bare bones of the story are basic enough, but the moody atmosphere created by Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto made this one of the creepiest pictures of 1999, forsaking excessive gore for a sinisterly simple feeling of chilly otherworldliness. Willis is in his strong, silent type mode here, and gives the film wholly over to Osment, whose crumpled face and big eyes convey a child too wise for his years; his scenes with his mother (Toni Collette) are small, heartbreaking marvels. And even if you figure out the film's surprise ending, it packs an amazingly emotional wallop when it comes, and will have you racing to watch the movie again with a new perspective. You may be able to shake off the sentimentality of The Sixth Sense, but its craftsmanship and atmosphere will stay with you for days. --Mark Englehart

From The New Yorker
A delicate, emotionally attentive, but very scary ghost story. In a Philadelphia drained of color and life, a shrink (Bruce Willis) who specializes in childhood anxieties becomes obsessed with one of his patients, a suffering nine-year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment) who "sees" dead people. The movie, written and directed by the young, Indian-born M. Night Shyamalan, consists mostly of long conversations between Willis, who is usually silent and very patient, and Osment, who may be an acting genius. Osment has the terrified face of an orphaned child of war; he is very moving. Despite an occasional hackneyed moment and too much of John Newton Howard's overbearing music, the movie is an admirable attempt at injecting some honest feeling into a curdled commercial genre, and it pays off in the end with a genuine shock that leaves one amazed. With Olivia Williams as the doctor's wife and Toni Collette, whose face often mirrors Osment's, as the little boy's loving but baffled mother. Tak Fujimoto did the somberly beautiful cinematography. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great acting, great screenplay, January 24, 2000

By	Reb (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sixth Sense (Collector's Edition Series) (DVD)

Have you ever watched a scary movie in the dark, and almost swore you saw someone moving out of the corener of your eye? I have, and after seeing this movie it happened a lot more.

"The Sixth Sense" has great performances from Bruce Willis (who plays Malcolm, an emotionally wounded psychologist)and Haley Joel Osment (who plays Cole, a little boy with a remarkable gift:he sees dead people) The screenplay is wonderful.

"They don't know they're dead," laments Cole."They think they're alive.They see what they want to see." Malcolm is determined to help him. His marriage has been failing ever since an old case that showed almost the same symtoms shot him in the side and then killed himself.Malcolm is determined not to let that happen to Cole.

This is a remarkable movie with a Hitchcokian twist at the end.Watch it, and you'll be doing double takes next time you feel that strange presence behind your back.

96 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best film of 1999., January 15, 2000

By	Nathan Alderman "Full-time underdog" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Sixth Sense (Collector's Edition Series) (DVD)

Writer/director M. Night Shymalan's "The Sixth Sense" is that rarest of breeds: an intelligent, well-made film that conquered the box office. Equal parts mystery, drama and bone-chilling horror, "Sense" deals with a weary, wounded child psychologist (Bruce Willis) whose latest patient (the remarkable Haley Joel Osment) has a mysterious and terrible gift: he sees ghosts.

Shymalan, ably assisted by Tak Fujimoto's brilliantly icy cinematography, wrings suspense and terror out of empty doorways, split-second glimpses of figures in the background, and unknown things lurking in the dark. But this is hardly a cheap slasher film: perhaps the most wonderful aspect of this film is its message, that fear can be conquered through understanding and compassion.

Cleverly plotted, bolstered by fine performances from Olivia Williams as Willis's melancholy wife and Toni Colette as Osment's worried mom, and graced with a twist ending worthy of Hitchcock, "The Sixth Sense" is a magnificently creepy film that will have you jumping at shadows long after it's over.

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't need a "Sixth Sense" to tell this one is good!, January 23, 2000

By	"chrisignis" (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sixth Sense (Collector's Edition Series) (DVD)

There has never been a type of movie with more allure than the thriller series. Many have scared the socks off of their poor audience, with a paticular tip of the hat to "The Blair Witch Project," but this movie is different. The movie tells you with its story, its tone, and its color that something will happen, but you can not put your finger on it until the end. The movie supports no "cheap scares" present in movies like Scream in which a scene is not scary, just sudden and startling. This movie, "The Sixth Sense," Will make you afraid. Afraid of the dark, and afraid of being alone. The genuine surprise ending added closure to a genuine 21st century scary movie. And, with added footage, you will not want to miss "The Sixth Sense." Note: This movie is only for those who are not afraid to be truly afraid.