When vast amounts of horror movies are released each year, directors need to be aware that new films of this genre need to be frightening, exciting and more importantly, original. M. Knight Shyamalan, director of ‘The Sixth Sense’ captured all these in his movie and more.

While most of us have the five main senses, young boy, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) possesses an extra sixth enabling him to view ghosts. These ghosts walk around like regular people, unaware of the fact that they are dead.

Child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) arrives, determined to help Cole, after he failed to cure a young patient with a similar condition years before. With help from Crowe, we discover the reasons why the ghosts need Cole.

Throughout the film, there are emotional scenes involving the bonds and relationships made between characters, such as Cole and Crowe, and Cole and his mother, played by Toni Collette, who features as Muriel in ‘Muriel’s Wedding’.

There is a great twist to the story towards the end of the film, which of course I shall not explain, as this may ruin the story for people who have not yet viewed the film. After watching the film once, there is a great desire to replay the movie, and you will see why!

The acting is superb. Bruce Willis takes the role of a serious character very well, a change from his usual action movies such as Die Hard. Haley Joel Osment is superb, seeing as he is a young actor and has reasonably little experience.

The DVD is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen format and runs for approximately 103 minutes. The subtitle languages available are French, Italian, and English for hearing impaired.

Music and sound effects work great with this film! This of course adds to the frightening aspect of the film. Many sound effects are used which are created with a mix of human voices screaming and groaning. The many voices are combined together to produce a
n incredibly scary effect. One additional section on the DVD version plays parts of the movie unaccompanied by voices, to show the impact of music and effects.

There are many other special features added to the DVD:

One section shows the comparison from the original storyboard up to the actual film. This gives information on the changes made when creating the film and the parts which were deleted.

‘Reaching the Audience’ contains many interviews with workers of the film, who say how they planned things in order for the audience to be able to understand various aspects of the film.

‘Rules and Clues’ is another short section which includes the secrets throughout the film which could help some clever viewers to work out the twist. The rules involve things which often pop up through the film, for example, when a ghost nearby is angry or nervous, the room becomes very cold and characters breathe out icy air.

Deleted Scenes are often my favourite extras on DVD films, and this is no different. A brief introduction is given as to why the scene was deleted, which is always interesting. One of the scenes removed from The Sixth Sense (an extended ending to the film) was the director’s personal favourite. He just had to let it go!

In the Publicity section, contained are three short trailers for the film. The first one is the official American advert, which lasts for a minute or two. Next is the thirty-second lasting trailer and finally the fifteen-second short.

Filmmaker/Cast biographies are the final extra. Unlike many tiny articles, you can scroll through many pages about each actor or maker of the film. This gives interesting information and short filmographies.

When comparing statistics, results showed that the most satisfied viewers of the film were apparently younger boys and older women. This is probably due to the fear aspect, and also the great emotional side.

><br>The Sixth Sense is a superb film. It possesses all of the qualities needed for a good horror movie and goes just that one step further in originality!10/10