Review of Sixth Sense, The: Special Edition

Introduction

The inlay of The Sixth Sense proudly informs us that this is ‘The #1 thriller of all time!’ and they are not far short of the truth!

For those that have not heard of this movie, shown in UK cinemas earlier this year, Bruce Willis plays a top child psychologist who encounters little Cole Sear (played superbly by 11 year old Haley Joel Osment) who is a troubled little boy indeed. Cole confides in Dr Crowe (Willis) that he ‘sees dead people’ and that they do not know they are dead.

The ending has a wonderful twist that sharp eyed viewers will probably have guessed before the film draws to a close. I had not seen this film at the cinema, and thus this review screening was my first viewing of the movie. However I unfortunately knew the twist beforehand having read one post from a certain person who blurted it out in the DVD newsgroup as soon as he had seen the film at the cinema, a couple of months back (which later generated much flaming for spoiling the ending of a film without any warning and a possible new verb in the English language!!). Oh well…

The relationship between Dr Crowe and Cole warms as the film progresses, and the young actor plays his character so well, you would be forgiven for getting very emotionally involved with it all.

The film is an excellent thriller, written and directed by a relatively unknown film maker M. Knight Shyamalan, who personally features heavily in the extras on this DVD, and you get the feeling he is a real fan of the DVD format, and enjoys how he can use this medium to show the audience more about his film than the film itself (are you listening Mr Lucas…?)

Video

As you would expect, this film is presented in anamorphic format, and the quality is absolutely superb in every way. Anamorphic fans will not be disappointed, as the transfer has to be one of the best you will see from the DVD format. Grain is virtually non existent and colours are vibrant. No compression problems are evident either, and users of projection equipment will really appreciate the quality of the transfer.

The film itself uses virtually no real special effects, and it is the quality of the story and acting that is what makes the film as good as it is. It is so refreshing to see a relatively low budget movie like this make good use of such a well drafted screenplay, and Willis himself says it was this that attracted him most to the role.

Audio

The obligatory Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is here of course, and there is nothing much to say really. As the film does not really have to rely on noisy special effects, the main soundtrack is really there for atmospheric reasons.

The creepy bits have a very eerie and ghostly sound presence, and most of the wind rush and breathing sounds in the background are actually human breaths and gasping! Apparently the soundtrack features hundreds of real human gasps and breaths throughout the films length.

Features

Very nice. A comprehensive collection of extras compliment a great film, and in turn a superb DVD.

Some readers may question the lack of a director’s commentary. But I would answer that by pointing out that almost every extra on the disk is personally introduced by the writer/director who tells the audience a lot of background details on the particular deleted scene they want to watch, for instance, so the lack of a commentary can be excused!

The menus and presentation has also had time and effort spent on them. Haunting animated menus lead the way to the extras, which spread over two solid menu pages. On selecting one of the different types of extras, you get a mini title sequence that introduces it. A nice touch.

You get a ‘Storyboard to Film comparison’, which is actually full video in a documentary style rather than just boring sheets of text. ‘The Cast’ again, is full video, as is ‘Music and Sound Design’ which features interviews with the director and composer. ‘Reaching the Audience’ tells a little more background details to the screenplay and plot, and ‘Rules and Clues’ is a wonderful segment that tells the audience of all the clever little bits in the film that you may have missed, all pointing to the inevitable twist.

The ‘deleted scenes’ are each personally introduced by the director and last some 15 minutes. ‘A conversation with M. Night Shyamalan’ is a self indulgent interview with the director, where you really get a feeling that he loves DVD and wanted to add as much as he could to the finished product.

‘Publicity’ gives you three trailers for the film, and ‘Filmmakers and Cast Bios’ are text based, and very comprehensive on all the actors and a large number of the crew! Nice attention to detail.

All in all – one of the best DVDs for extras.

Conclusion

Buy it, buy it, BUY IT!

You will not get much better than this. The film and DVD package are superb in every way. The extras are excellent and the video quality is stunning.

What more can I say????!!