After ing up 'Dancer', Mum and I had to return to the States for the promotion of [The Sixth Sehe fact that I was reized by three different people on my flight because of 'the uping Bruce Willis movie' showed that Disney's promotion strategy was w wonderfully.

  At the end of the day, it was about the number of people who were aware of the film. Once people knew about the film, it came down to reviews and word of mouth. Not to mention, Bruce Willis' mass appeal, which automatically attracted many fans. People who booked advaickets did so because of the likability of the actors or the director. It was still not the era of intellectual property where a brand racted an audieher than star power.

  [Harry Potter] and [The Lord of the Rings] were two series that started it all, with unknown casts that rocked the movie world to its core.

  Sadly, those were still a year or two away from release. So now, we could only rely on Bruce Willis' star power to attract audiences. After that, it was about word of mouth.

  Hopefully, people will like this movie.

  (Break)

  Rod Meyer was a journalist w with the New York Post, one of the most popur media outlets in the Uates. He usually did film and television reviews because he could watch films for free a paid for them at the same time. It couldn't be aer.

  Currently, he was in Phidelphia for the sing of Bruce Willis' movie, [The Sixth Sense].

  He wasn't expeg the movie to be any good, to be ho. Willis was an average actor at best. A movie that didn't involve a? Rod wasn't a fan of Bruce, and that was a known fact among his colleagues, but he would still watd review the movie because he had free flight tickets to Philly and he could brag about why the movie sucked.

  The film was still a week away from the premiere and two weeks away from the wide public release. That made Rod rethink. Usually, studios didn't hold a media sing in advance if the test audiendicated the movie was bad.

  A two-week advance si the test audience liked what they saw, and the studio wanted rger publicity tours involving the actors, and doing media interviews in advahat filled him with curiosity about the picture. It must be above average at the very least for the studio to i in it like that. Curbing his enthusiasm, Rod made his way ihe sing hall. There, he saw Bruce Willis talking to a kid. Was it Bruce's son? No, that's the kid who also had a role in the movie.

  Oh! Now he reized the kid. It was the same one who starred in [Sex Education] st year and won a Golden Globe for it. That was a wonderful film with great ag. Rod sighed internally. Hopefully, this one wouldn't snuff out the kid's future prospects.

  He sat down in his assigned seat while keeping a for the kid and saw him hugging a woman around 30. He reized her as Toni Collette, who starred in the film as the young boy's mother.

  After a few more minutes of people ing in, a middle-aged man stepped out in front with a mic. "Hello everyohank you for ing to the press sing of [The Sixth Sense]. Before we begin, there are a few rules to be followed while reviewing the movie. First of all, you ot spoil the movie or its ending in your review, on any publi, or oer. If you do, you will not be allowed to attend any future Disney movie sings. The points that you ot discuss in your review will be covered after the sing."

  That's quite a strange request for a studio to make. Usually, reviewers don't spoil major twists in thriller movies out of on courtesy, but there are always some idiots who reveal one or two points.

  "Sedly, your review only be released on or after August 6th, the movie's wide release date," the man tinued.

  That made sense and was the usual practice to ensure people saw the reviews right when the movie was released, keeping the opening weekend buzz high.

  "Okay, we'll begin the movie now. Any questions will be taken afterward. You will also have the ce to interview the cast members individually and as a group."

  Rod turned his attention to the s as the opening credits started rolling.

  The movie begins with Dr. Mal Crowe (Bruce Willis) and his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) talking about an award Mal received from the mayor. Their love for each other ortrayed nicely a believable. As they went into their room, the first twist of the story hit. There was a stranger (Donnie Wahlberg) in their bathroom, waiting for Mal. After acg Mal of not helping him, the stranger shot Mal iomad then shot himself in the head.

  Rod was hooked. A hundred questions were already swirling in his head, and he desperately wao know what happened .

  The story took a leap of several months, showing Mal rec from the bullet wound and taking on a new patient: a 9-year-old boy named Cole Sear (Troy Armitage). Cole, a cute little kid, rushed off to a church where Mal followed him like a kidnapper.

  They talked, and it was revealed that Cole didn't think a doctor could help him because most of them didn't believe him. Mal noticed some bruises on Cole's body and was worried that either he was being bullied or physically abused by his guardian.

  In the se, we are introduced to Cole's mother, Lynn Sear (Toni Collette), in a panning shot where she is getting him ready for school. As soon as she stepped into the bathroom and came back to the kit, there was a small shriek around the hall as the viewers saw many open ets and drawers. It was all done iake, so the viewers saw what Lynn was seeing aed simirly.

  Seeing the rea around the hall, Rod was eager to see how much further the story would go with the scare moments.

  When Cole came back from sal was sitting on their sofa chair with Lynn. Lynn got up when she saw Cole and greeted him warmly as they versed fondly. Everything seemed alright. Because of his young age, the therapist came in person to see his patient.

  Some troubling news unfolded when Cole told Mal that he liked to draw dead and horrifying images but ged them to rainbows because the teachers wouldn't pin about rainbows.

  Mal's retionship with his wife was deteriorating because of his tireatment of Cole, and it seemed she might be having an affair with someone. Meanwhile, Lynn tio find strahings about her son, like the horrible words he had scribbled all over his notebooks.

  Then came a se in the where Cole annouhat their school building was a legal hanging pce hundreds of years ago, while his teacher insisted it was a courthouse. In a dispy of ferocity unseen in him before, Cole shouted at his teacher and mysteriously knew something about the teacher's past that he shouldn't.

  At a kids' party, Cole followed a floating balloon up the stairs creepily. Ah on sense could tell that something ominous was going to happen soon.

  "Don't go in!" someone shouted in the hall, and Rod felt irritated at that person.

  Ba the movie, some bullies shoved Cole into a closet and locked the door. All they could hear was Cole's desperate shouting. Every person in the audience was hooked oory now.

  After a talk with a physi where Lynn was suspected of abusing her child, Mal talked to Cole. After some versation, the big reveal came.

  Cole whispered a single lihat sent chills down the spines of everyone present in the hall.

  "I see dead people."

  Cole expined how he saw ghosts everywhere and it was hihat the ghosts hurt him. Mal chalked it up to Cole being paranoid and having halluations.

  Soon after, Cole woke up at night to pee when he came across a womahought it was his mother, but when he called for her, she turned out to be a dead woman with slit wrists.

  "Aaahhh!!" There were multiple shrieks across the hall as Cole hid in his tent.

  , there was a choir event at school where Cole's bully, Tommy, was the lead singer, and Cole was shoved in the back as a backup siommy got the lead because he had participated in a local singing show and had cleared the preliminaries.

  The movie tinued, and mhosts appeared on s, elig more screams from the viewers. Then, in one se, Lynn accused Cole of taking aendant that beloo Cole's grandma. He denied having stolen it, and Lynn angrily asked him to go away but soon fave him when Cole was frightened and needed fort from his mother.

  It is firmed that Mal's wife is having aramarital affair when Mal witnesses her almost kiss another man. Seeing that, Mal decides to distance himself from Cole's case as it is hampering his marriage. Cole is distraught at the news because he feels that only Mal help him.

  This soon ges when Mal listens to the tape of Vi, the man who shot him and hears eerie voices he deduces to be ghosts. Realizing that Cole is telling the truth, he tells Cole and ences him to talk to the ghosts to find out what they want.

  In the se, we see the ghost of a girl in Cole's tent, vomiting a gray, gooey substance, elig more shrieks around the hall. Finally, Cole gathers up the ce and asks the girl what she wants.

  , we see Cole visiting the girl's house with Mal. It's her funeral. Cole sneaks into her bedroom and finds a box she wants him to give to her father.

  They watch the tape and discover that the girl's mother had been poisoning her food with floor er. The reason for her death and the vomiting bees clear. Cole sits in the front yard with the girl's sister, showing that he saved her from the same fate.

  This seems to be the turning point of the story. Cole is noy and no longer afraid of ghosts. He talks to them and hears their pleas. The se shifts to Cole participating in a school-wide talent show where he is singing a solo song.

  The camera zooms in on Cole as he begins singiifully. The song is a cssi [Les Misérables], 'Bring Him Home.'

  Cole brings out the raw emotion of the song with his voice, and as he sings the words "Bring him home," his eyes water.

  Rod is fused. Why is the kid g? He was happy a minute ago. He is singiifully, but why is he g? And wait, is that whole se a siake?

  Rod couldn't find words for the masterful ag he was witnessing. A 10-year-old did that? Rod wouldn't be surprised if this kid became the you person to win an Oscar in history. The goosebumps he got from this se alone were more intehan any chills the story had delivered.

  When the se ehere was a sense of loss in the air, as if Cole had lost something precious, but it was difficult to pinpoint what. At the st phrase of "Bring him home," the camera cut to Mal, who had a smile on his face, then back to Cole, who had uears rolling down his cheeks.

  Then there was a thunderous appuse in the school auditorium. In the se, we see Cole holding a tall first-pce trophy with a wide smile, while Tommy has a little sed-pce trophy.

  Afterward, Cole and Mal talk, and Cole suggests Mal talk to his wife when she's asleep. Mal, thinking the kid is messing with him, dismisses it.

  On their way home, Lynn and Cole are stu traffic due to an act up ahead. Cole sees a dead dy and realizes she died in the act. He then tells Lynhing about how he see ghosts. He expins that the missing pendant was taken by his grandma. He goes on to reveal information from his grandma that nobody else could know.

  In a bout of masterful ag, the mother-son duo hug and cry as Lynn finally uands why her son acts up strangely sometimes.

  Rod looks down at his watd realizes that more than 100 minutes have already passed. Now that the flict has been resolved, what more is there left? Are they just trying to increase Bruce Willis' s time to establish him as the male lead?

  Rod ughed internally at the thought but still kept watg. What happened made Rod freeze in fright.

  Bruce Willis or Mal was a ghost all along! He died when he was shot by Vi, and the reason his wife is ign him is because she 't see him! Suddenly it all starts making sense. Oh my God! That's why the kid was g. "Bring him home!"

  What a mindfuck!

  Mal finally talks to his wife in her sleep and bids her farewell. Yeah, the kid k all along.

  What a great surprise ending.

  The credits rolled down, and Rod couldn't help but be the first oo stand and cp loudly for the cast and crew that made this masterpiece. He was soon joined by his fellow journalists as the reality of the movie dawned upon them. One by one, all of them started standing and g for the makers of the movie.

  M. Night Shyaman. That would be a hat would go down in history as one of the great filmmakers of his time. The big director of this geion is here! And he brought alongside him the Macauy Culkin. What a marvelous debut by the director and the male lead.

  Despite what anyone would say, Rod didn't sider this film to be a Bruce Willis movie. No, it was a Troy Armitage movie. Bruce Willis should be proud to be a part of this movie, but this is not him in the lead role.

  Rod looked around the front to catch sight of the star of the movie. Troy was surrounded by many people gratuting him, from his co-stars Bruce Willis, and Toni Collette, to his parents, who were standing behind him with smiles on their faces.

  __________________________

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