The Sixth Sense (1999)

I have never been a huge fan of horror films. Watching them on a small laptop or TV screen is still fine, but I typically avoid watching horror in a cinema/cinema-like setting. This film is technically a psychological thriller - with minimal horror scenes - yet it still managed to evoke some fear in me.

As with many other films, the director for this film used music and different sounds to elicit emotions from the audience - in this case, the primary emotion was fear. Some scenes were accompanied by eerie background music, while in other scenes there was a sudden change in volume - the audience's emotions were very cleverly manipulated through the use of sound. Humans have an innate fear of sudden, loud noises; loud stimuli cause an immediate response (the startle reflex) because we naturally assume the noise is made by something large, and therefore dangerous (Shiota & Kalat, 2011). Our predisposition to fear loud sounds is due to natural selection, where the aversion towards loud, unexpected sounds was retained throughout our evolutionary history because it served our ancestors well back in the primitive days. The film exploits this fear.

Unlike some horror films which over-utilise gore and/or horror-inducing scenes to the point which the audience becomes somewhat desensitised (e.g. the Final Destination series), The Sixth Sense made use of far subtler scare tactics. Instead of shoving lots of horror in our faces in a bid to induce fear, the film used nuances to frighten us on a visceral level. There wasn't much that was scary in the first half of the film but in the second half the tension began to build up, and when we became startled by a sudden noise or a passing shadow, it was because we had been just waiting for the release of that tension. In my opinion, this is a lot scarier than the usual gore that is presented in some films.

In addition, the film made use of our fear of the unknown and the unsettling sense of uncertainty to evoke an overall sense of anxiety in the audience. For example, when Cole got locked in the cupboard at the party, all we could perceive was the closed cupboard door and Cole's screams. The audience had no idea what lay behind that door; it was left up to our imaginations - and more often than not, our imaginations conjure up much scarier scenarios that spook us out of our minds. Another example was when Cole's mother, Lynn, left the kitchen for a few moments only to return to a room full of open cupboard doors. There was no rational explanation for how that happened in such a short time, and then the camera zoomed in on the imprint that Cole's hand left on the table, leaving it up to the audience to interpret the shot.

I feel that the film was also particularly good at eliciting my emotions because the characters (Cole and Malcolm) were relatable; I could empathise with them. I could feel Malcolm's disappointment in himself when he realised that he had failed Vincent, and his need to try to make amends by helping Cole. Lynn's desperation at her son's situation and the frustration she felt when she was indirectly accused of abusing him was also relatively easy to identify with, as I have also sometimes felt helpless and frustrated in certain situations that seemed beyond my control. Furthermore, I feel that I can definitely relate to Cole's fear of being able to see dead people, as I would be extremely likely to be terrified too, should I find myself in his situation. This drew me further into the lives of the characters as I realised that I could very well imagine myself being in their shoes.

Last but not least, I feel that the fact that Cole managed to get over his fear of the ghosts that visited him, and ended up helping them instead is symbolic of our fears in real life. Sometimes we may be so apprehensive of things that are new or strange to us that we let our fear of it cripple us, but if only we allowed ourselves to move past that fear, we would live life feeling more at ease and may even be able to provide assistance to the less fortunate around us.


References
Shiota, M. N. & Kalat, J. W. (2011). Emotion (2nd Ed.). Wadsworth: California.