“The Sixth Sense” (1999)
Yes, it swiftly became known for the secret nature of Bruce Willis’ character, one of cinema’s all-time great sleight-of-hand moments, but ahead of release, “The Sixth Sense” did appear to be another entry in the creepy-kid-with-special-powers sub-genre. In the case of M. Night Shyamalan’s breakthrough sleeper smash, that kid is 9-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who claims to see dead people who want him to help them with unfinished business. The troubled boy crosses paths with Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who hopes to atone for a previous mistake by helping the boy with his ‘gift.’ Part of the genius of Shyamalan’s film (and it is genius, however bad some of his subsequent work got) is the way that it misdirects you: you’re so focused on Cole’s plight, and his interactions with the deceased, that you don’t really consider that his psychiatrist might have a secret of his own. And while the director deserves much of the credit for milking every drop of tension and terror out of the scenario, it’s Haley Joel Osment who dominates: his utterly haunted performance isn’t precocious in the way that many child actors are, but he feels like a young man who’s been aged by his proximity to death.
“The Other” (1972)
We’re not quite sure what the statute of limitations is on spoiler warnings, but since this 1972 horror from Robert Mulligan, the undersung director of “To Kill A Mockingbird” and Reese Witherspoon debut “The Man in the Moon,” came with the tagline “Please Don’t Reveal the Secret of ‘The Other’,” but if you’re squeamish about such things, stop reading. That said, the film’s biggest twist is hardly surprising to the more seasoned cinemagoer, even if you do guess it, “The Other” is a great ride. With shades of recent arthouse hit “Goodnight Mommy,” it revolves around twins Holland and Niles (played by the uncannily identical Chris and Martin Udvarnoky). Living on a farm, their father has recently died and mother has retreated to her room, so they are left to their own devices, under the doting tutelage of grandmother Ada (Uta Hagen) who has taught them “The Great Game”: they’re able to psychically inhabit other creatures, such a birds. It’s more intelligent and layered than the average supernatural thriller, with references to the Lindbergh baby and a certain thwarted religiosity underpinning its more ludicrous aspects, and Mulligan shoots with a richness and texture that makes the film a lot more than just its central gimmick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmMqWkudgA
“Escape To Witch Mountain” (1975)
One of the stranger live-action kids movies made by Disney, “Escape To Witch Mountain” unites psychic powers, aliens, a telepathic shark, and a widower in a motorhome. It never quite coheres or satisfies, but there’s enough here to explain why the studio has repeatedly gone back to this particular well, with a sequel, a TV pilot and two remakes, most recently Dwayne Johnson vehicle “Race To Witch Mountain.” Based on Alexander Key’s 1968 novel, the film centers on two twin orphans, Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and Tia (Kim Richards) with special powers, who go on the run from a sinister millionaire obsessed with the paranormal (Ray Milland), and team with a widower (Eddie Albert) to head to Witch Mountain, where they’re being drawn to. The film’s an interesting case study in that it anticipates some of the sci-fi trappings of films like “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” a few years before they became on trend, and it’s a surprising attempt from 70s-era Disney to make something to appeal to older kids, and even teens. That said, it’s rather caught in the middle of several stools — too goofy to scare, too scary to be goofy, and not really good enough for anyone, except in retrospect where it became enough of a nostalgia pick to warrant the aforementioned cottage industry of sequels and spin-offs.
