The Sixth Sense

Guide Note

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 psychological thriller from director M. Night Shyamalan. The film's famous quote, "I see dead people," is ranked #44 on 100 Movies Quote List. The Sixth Sense was released on August 9, 1999 and grossed $26,681,262 in the box office opening weekend and received high ratings from the critics.

Child psychologist Malcom Crowe, played by Bruce Willis, sets out to help an 8 year old boy who claims he sees dead people. Upon spending a lot of time with the boy he begins to wonder if maybe the boy is seeing dead people after all.

Fast Facts

1. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
2. Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
3. Released August 6, 1999
4. Run time: 1 hours 47 minutes
5. Rated PG-13
6. U.S. Box Office: $293,506,292
7. Production Budget: $40 million

With his third feature effort, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has taken a huge step in the wrong direction. After showing great strides of maturity between his ineffective debut, Praying with Anger, and 1998's appealing Wide Awake, Shyamalan has backslided alarmingly with The Sixth Sense. While this picture shares many qualities with Wide Awake (a child protagonist, a central spiritual theme, and being set in Shyamalan's home city of Philadelphia), it's an inferior product. It is not well written, well acted, or well directed. — ReelViews

1. Rented by 80 million people in 2000
2. Filmed in sequence
3. One of only 4 horror films to receive an Oscar for Best Picture
4. Opened on M. Night Shyamalan's birthday
5. Liam Aiken turned down the part of Cole Sear
6. American Film Institute ranked this as the #89 Greatest Movie of All Time in 2007