For the next few weeks, we will be counting down our 25 favorite blockbusters! Read all of the entries here.

12. The Sixth Sense (dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)

by Jenna Kuerzi, Staff Writer

Before we get into this, let’s all agree on one thing: When the world experienced the twist at the heart of The Sixth Sense, movies were never the same. We were on the verge of 2000. M. Night Shyamalan was just some kid from Philly making movies, “what a twist!” had never been uttered in an episode of Robot Chicken, Toni Collette wasn’t yet our one and only, and Donnie Wahlberg was the only working Wahlberg. Movies told straightforward stories, and then this little kid seeing dead people knocked us all on our ass.

I’m not gonna lie. I was 9 years old when this movie came out and I was scared shitless. The closet ghost? The dead girl under the table? Hanging bodies in the middle of a school? The color red? No. No. No. No. I would have nightmares with the voice of the unseen ghost’s voice narrating said nightmare. I was a scaredy cat.

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I put on my big kid pants, already had the ending spoiled, and finally pressed play on this family drama hidden in the midst of a horror movie, and honestly, even knowing the ending, the movie holds up. 

I AM GOING TO SPOIL THIS 21 YEAR OLD MOVIE. GET OVER IT. STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT.

Shyamalan locked in on loss and the effect it has on people. The story doesn’t hinge on “Bruce Willis was dead the whole time” and is even more illuminating after you know that. The initial shock and awe of such a bold choice is just some added gravy on the meal that is this film. I also need to bitch about the fact that this is Toni Collette’s ONLY Oscar Nomination. Same said about Haley Joel Osment, but that’s not quite as egregious, considering he didn’t really do anything high profile as an adult until Tusk. Toni Collette’s lack of Oscar’s is a testament to how silly and perfunctory the Oscar’s are. I digress.

The Sixth Sense plays like an anthology horror. A series of one-off stories with a wrap-around tale, and every piece works. It keeps you on your toes and is extremely touching. Don’t let Shyamalan’s recent stinkers dissuade you. This movie is a masterpiece of the highest quality.