By this point in 2024, there’ve been three M. Night Shyamalan projects released in theaters or on streaming. In August, serial killer thriller Trap starring Josh Hartnett (Oppenheimer; The Faculty) and Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, landed in theaters and comes home in November; in June, the supernatural thriller/novel adaptation The Watchers, directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and produced by M. Night, released in theaters (and is now available to own or stream on Max); and, just recently, the M. Night-produced Caddo Lake came available on Max. For fans of M. Night’s originals and adaptive works, 2024 is a good year made extra good by the upcoming 4K UHD remasters of two of his earlier works: The Sixth Sense (1999) and Signs (2002). But before you snag them, let’s get a look under the hood to manage expectations.
For a sense of Signs, head over to EoM Contributor Joel Winstead’s 4K UHD streaming release review.
Released roughly 25 years ago, The Sixth Sense’s plot remains simple enough to explain in brief and complex enough that it’s still worth diving into years later. On the night of a career high, child psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is shot in his home by a former patient, Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg), who accused him of failing to help him. A year later, Malcolm takes on a new patient, a young boy named Cole (Haley Joel Osment), who displays a similar psychosis as Vincent. As the two slowly get to know one another and build trust, Cole shares with Malcolm a secret that rattles the doctor who begins to wonder if he’s going to fail another patient again.
A bit of transparency: having seen the film in its original release, while I appreciated the story it told, it was not one this reviewer ever felt compelled to revisit. However, with the 4K UHD digital edition provided by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, I found myself identifying things that either I missed or dismissed in 1999, elements that I certainly appreciate more as a parent than I did as a college freshman — the struggle of mother Lynn (Toni Collette) to help her child feel loved and supported when the whole world seemed to want to stamp him down and leave him alienated and isolated; the struggle of a doctor whose own willingness to look beyond the textbooks and see the whole child still prevented him from identifying the single thing that kept him from acknowledging his own corporeal failings; the struggle of a child who sees the world differently and therefore engages with it uniquely, often leading to perpetual fear through a sense of constant isolation no matter who tries to reach him. These are elements that keep the supernatural and horror portions of The Sixth Sense grounded and human, especially as we, through Malcolm, start to reconsider Cole and his gifts. That shift in perception, the recognition of ghosts as real, something which Shyamalan teases as being Omni-present for Cole via family photos (represented by the repeated use of a small twinkle of light right next to him in the still shots), and confirmed not just via Cole’s perception but by old audio from sessions with Vincent, enabling the narrative to shift from the typical doctor/patient disbelief/exorcism tale into one of acceptance, empowerment, and love. That Cole stops seeing the ghosts as threats and started seeing them as lost souls in need of help changes the interactions from vaguely threatening to supportive (see: Mischa Barton’s sick girl or the burn victim from the theater school) that give Cole strength rather than terror. Like Vincent, Cole just needed to know that he wasn’t alone, that he could open up without being turned away and, in so doing, be recognized as a person who could then find it within himself to help those only he could see. Sure, the narrative follows an expected path of doctor being healed by the patient and proving that they weren’t so shitty at their job, but the framework Shyamalan utilizes to do so makes the film engaging and memorable and it is absolutely aided by the performances from the central cast. Unfortunately, no matter how much you enjoy the film, the 4K UHD edition is harder to justify as worth the expense.
Perhaps it’s because it’s a streaming edition, therefore suffering from compression issues via both traveling across the Internet and the manner in which the Apple TV displays films (two different types of video/audio manipulation), but there are very few instances in which the visual elements felt in anyway enhanced by virtue of the 4K UHD. Baseline, the cinematography by Tak Fujimoto (Signs; The Silence of the Lambs) and direction do a beautiful job of maintaining the secrecy of the narrative regardless of whether this is a first-time watch or not. These technical elements work together to successfully give the film a realistic visual look throughout while also functioning to not-exactly-withhold information as simple as whether Malcolm has a shadow. Even when the camera takes on the perspective of Cole backing away from Malcolm during the “mind reading” sequence, there’s a sense of grounded realism. The colors aren’t necessarily richer as the bulk of the film functions on shades of grey and white, with very few bold splashes of color (the anniversary restaurant and the blood-red doorknob being outliers). Most of the inside sequences are made darker and more difficult to see fine details in part due to the HDR, while the outside sequences are given a confounding fresh clarity. It’s strangely inconsistent across the board, ultimately making one wonder why the film was released in 4K UHD at all as it doesn’t need it. At the very least, this version doesn’t do much with it.
Adding an odd bit of insult to injury, there’s not a single bonus feature included with the release. There’s no indication on the press release that the physical edition will be any different, but, as of this writing, there’re no bonus features on the digital edition either. No commentary, no featurettes, no nothing — not even a trailer. An argument can be made that the film’s lead actor is dealing with a health crisis resulting in mental decline, so asking for something from Willis (Pulp Fiction; The Kid) is an impossibility. But what about Osment (Forrest Gump; Tusk), Collette (Knives Out; Hearts Beat Loud), Williams (Rushmore; X-Men: The Last Stand), or even Wahlberg (Saw II; Dead Silence)? Perhaps that’s something that might be included with a 30th anniversary release in 2029, which, given that it’s already five years off and that most likely you already own this film, you might be better served by waiting on that before snagging this.
The film remains a strong and engaging tale, one worthy of its reputation and a rewatch. But this release is not worth the upgrade.
Available on digital as a single film or in a three-film collection August 27th, 2024.
Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray Combo Pack October 22nd, 2024.
Share this:
Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
The 4K features the deleted scenes, a featurette made at the time of production, The Storyboard Process, a special feature in the clues of the film as to what is really going on among others.
Is this the standard issue U.S. physical edition that includes those? I just checked the iTunes edition again (10/23/24 post-release) and none of that is accessible with it. Incredibly frustrating when bonus features are gatekept by format. Also odd that the press release didn’t mention it, either.