The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 20

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

The Sixth Sense

What is Halloween without a great ghost story?
Today we're discussing M.Night Shamalamadingdong's The Sixth Sense, which is a fantastic example of a modern urban ghost story. The plot follows the tribulations of a child who can see the spirits of the dead (Haley Joel Osment) and his world weary child psychologist (Bruce Willis) - with personal problems of his own. No one really believes that the dead are seeking out and speaking with Cole (Osment) to help them resolve their corporeal hang ups, except for Dr. Crowe(Willis). The ghost moments are excellently built up to, with tremendous exploitation of the soundtrack and by using less-is-more, corner of your eye flashes of these emanations. When you do finally see them for more than a moment it's really unsettling.



We're also given great insight into the pain of Dr. Crowe's failing marriage. His wife feels that she is second always to his work. Performances such as this one make it clear that Willis has the acting chops that he's so seldom given credit for. And while the resolution of this film might be all over the Internet, we recommend you watch it anyway - perhaps introduce it to some friends who have never seen it. Everyone's life is a little bit better with a good ghost story or two.