Line #2 YMMV/TheSixthSense


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2	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Disney was so reluctant to finance this film (despite the presence of Creator/BruceWillis), that they sold a good chunk of their rights to a newly-formed independent production company called Spyglass in order to lower the risk. Little did they know...
3	* CommonKnowledge: A large amount of people assume that the parent who [[spoiler: poisoned and eventually killed]] Kyra was her ''stepmother'' - presumably due to the influence of the WickedStepmother trope. The film never says this; she resembles her daughter and is merely called "Kyra's Mother" in the script, indicating she is her biological mother.
4	* FranchiseOriginalSin: The well-done plot twist in this film degraded into a plethora of [[AssPull ass pulls]] in Shyamalan's films. Only ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'', and possibly ''Film/{{Split}}'' are considered to have done the [[TheEndingChangesEverything last-minute]] twist as well.
5	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
6	** Bruce Willis is generally known for action movies, thrillers, and before those two, comedy. This film let him show off his character stunts and give a genuinely heartfelt performance, effectively showing Malcolm's isolation from his wife and guilt over Vincent and making Malcolm and Cole's relationship poignant and the [[spoiler: twist that Malcolm is really a ghost both shocking and touching as he gets to say goodbye to his wife and move on]].
7	** Yes, that's ''Creator/DonnieWahlberg'' as an unrecognizable, chillingly unhinged mental patient in the opening scene.
8	* ItWasHisSled: Cole sees dead people and [[spoiler:Malcolm Crowe is a ghost]]. It's hard to remember that the former was even supposed to be a twist. [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil The trailer even spoiled it for everyone.]]
9	* MemeticMutation: "I see dead people" is almost a StockParody now, with a nervous individual tightening the grip on their blanket and whispering out any number of variations: "I see white people" "I see dumb people" etc. [[ISeeDeadPeople It even named a trope]].
10	** [[spoiler:"Bruce Willis was really a ghost"]] may rival [[Film/CitizenKane "It was a sled"]] and [[LukeIAmYourFather "Darth Vader is Luke's father"]] in terms of twists that [[ItWasHisSled everyone already knows]].
11	%% No explanation ** Stuttering Stanley.
12	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
13	** Malcolm, by virtual AchievementsInIgnorance, manages to help Cole face his fears of ghosts. He logically points out that these ghosts shouldn't want to hurt Cole en masse, and he must be seeing them for a reason; he and Cole realize that Cole is meant to help them with any UnfinishedBusiness.
14	** Kyra overcoming her vomiting to explain to Cole that she wants his help. Cole has mentioned that most ghosts don't realize they're dead and tend to hurt him; she was the [[spoiler:second]] that was able to communicate. [[spoiler:More so when we realize she wanted to deliver evidence to her dad that her mother was poisoning her, and was threatening to do the same to her little sister]].
15	** Cole's goodbye to Malcolm and giving him advice on talking to his wife, [[spoiler:knowing that when Malcolm learns he's dead, Cole will never see him again]]. The kid has come to like his therapist, and doesn't want him to leave. He still did the right thing.
16	* MoralEventHorizon: Kyra's [[spoiler:mother ''poisoned her own daughter'' over an extended period of time just to [[AttentionWhore get attention]] for herself, and was well on her way to doing this with Kyra's younger sister, too.]] What's even worse is that this is a ''[[TruthInTelevision real]]'' [[ShownTheirWork mental]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factitious_disorder_imposed_on_another disorder.]]
17	* {{Narm}}: As mentioned under "Memetic Mutation" above, Cole's famous line of "I see dead people" can come across as this after so many numerous parodies and jokes.
18	* NauseaFuel: Kyra's ghost's first appearance is a VomitIndiscretionShot. Nothing else need be said.
19	* OlderThanTheyThink: [[WordOfGod Shyamalan himself]] said/admitted the film was inspired by an [[Recap/AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason3TheTaleOfTheDreamGirl episode]] of ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark''
20	** Film Scholars will often note that the movie takes inspiration from ''Film/JacobsLadder''. Most notably a character (Cole/Jacob) suffering a severe disassociation from reality, being subjected to horrifying, otherworldly visions, [[spoiler: Malcolm/Jacob being unable to come to terms with their own demise, and the DeadAllAlong twist.]]
21	* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: Believe it or not, before "the Shyamalan twist" became a [[MandatoryTwistEnding requisite part]] of M. Night Shyamalan's movies (and before they became rather infamous for [[AssPull not making any sense]]), this movie's TwistEnding was genuinely unexpected, and even Shyamalan's detractors are generally willing to admit that he pulled it off quite well. Some would even argue that it led the directors of similar psychological thrillers [[FollowTheLeader to copy Shyamalan by shoehorning twist endings into their movies]] at the expense of plot and character development, further diluting this movie's impact.
22	* OneSceneWonder: Creator/DonnieWahlberg as Vincent in the opening scene.
23	* RetroactiveRecognition: Misha Barton from ''Series/TheOC'' as the ghost of the girl who was [[FamilyAnnihilator poisoned by her mother]].
24	** [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]] sees dead people!
25	* ToughActToFollow: None of Shyamalan's subsequent works have measured up to this film, except arguably ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' and ''Film/{{Split}}''.
26	* ValuesDissonance:
27	** While [[RuleOfDrama it made for a dramatic moment]] in the movie, in this day and age, a teacher angrily shouting "shut up, you freak!" to a student would quickly be out of a job, with or without BadMoodAsAnExcuse.
28	** In general, Cole's treatment by adults would not fly today. It's one thing to think a kid's weird, but to openly call him a freak or stand by while he's obviously having some kind of violent episode inside of a cupboard (in a house ''you'' own by the way) would earn you a few dirty looks.
29	* TheWoobie: Cole, Vincent, Kyra, Kyra's little sister, and their father.
30	** Cole's mom. Especially when you rewatch it.
31	** It's safe to assume '''ALL''' the spirits (with the exception of [[NightmareFuel the spirit in the attic]]) are this: All the spirits Cole sees are nothing but victims who died horribly and are just seeing someone to give them closure. The problem is the fact they're going to a ''kid'', a kid who barely is understanding the world and doesn't know what to do.

Context YMMV / TheSixthSense