I scratched another Saturn Award winner for Best Horror Film off of my list last night when I rewatched the 1999 winner, “The Sixth Sense.”Many of you will be familiar with this very popular movie, which opened on Aug. 2, 1999 – director M. Night Shyamalan’s birthday. The movie starred Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment and is one of only four horror movies to ever receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. (The others were “The Exorcist,” “Jaws” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”)
For those of you who have never seen this movie, it’s about Cole Sear, a young boy who can see and talk to dead people, and his relationship with child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe. This movie was the break through film for Shyamalan, and it was nominated for six Academy Awards.
The movie was also a huge financial success. It was shot with a $40 million budget, but went on to post gross revenues of just under $673 million.
In addition to winning a Saturn Award, it was also awarded the 1999 Nebula Award for Best Script by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It also won a Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay and a Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the No. 89 Greatest Movie of All-Time.
In the end, I enjoyed rewatching this movie, and from here, it’s on to the 2000 winner, “Final Destination.” Many of you will remember this movie too. It starred Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Amanda Detmer and Sean William Scott.
The Sixth Sense is one of my all time favorite movies! And who hasn't used an excuse to use the phrase, "I see dead people,"? I liked his followups, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village, but Shyamalan started to lose me with Lady in the Water and The Happening. I still enjoyed watching them, but they were a different caliber film from the others. I still want to see The Last Airbender, despite its reviews. I remain hopeful that Shyamalan will 'wow' us again.
ReplyDeleteI've yet to see "The Happening." I'll have to get NetFlix to send me that one. I actually rewatched "The Sixth Sense" online through NetFlix to avoid snail mail.
ReplyDeleteI'm not to big on "The Last Airbender." It's got too big of a "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" vibe to it for my taste.