Μύ Supernatural thrillers are rarely as effective as "The Sixth Sense", which makes a new collector's edition DVD release very appealing indeed. Although the original DVD release was no slouch, this new edition offers THX mastering, a new DTS sound mix, and additional features that will prove hard for fans to resist.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture The cold grey blues that dominate the picture come out smooth and detailed in a transfer that's cool and sharp.
Sound This is not a film of many set-piece sound effects, but when ghosts are about, the subtle atmospherics are there to creep down your neck, courtesy of some excellent rear speaker mixing. The DTS track offers a greater spatial feel than the Dolby version, but there's not much otherwise to compare the two.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Reflections from the Set This 40-minute documentary offers you a detailed insight into M Night Shyamalan's working process. It includes plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, which demonstrates vividly the extraordinary talents of Haley Joel Osment to deliver, on cue, emotions that others would spend months of method acting trying to produce.
Night Shyamalan doesn't hide his contempt for the first draft of the script he wrote, calling it "derivative, clichΓ©d, and cheesy". Rather then rework it, he binned it, only to produce another three drafts that he was unhappy with. One good scene, and the process of firming-up the character of Cole kicked off a reaction that led to what we see on screen. Inspiration for Cole came from inside, reveals Shyamalan. Apparently he was always scared of the dark, and certainly wouldn't ever stay over with his friends.
Between Two Worlds Spirits in the movies are examined in this 37-minute documentary that takes a close look at films like "Ghost", "The Exorcist", and "Jacob's Ladder". The theme of children and the ghost world, as featured in "The Sixth Sense", is explored, with various experts offering their opinions.
As young children don't have such concrete perceptions of the world as adults do, they're more sensitive to contact from spirits. Well, that's the main argument on offer here, anyway.
Moving Pictures Night Shyamalan discuses the importance of the storyboard process in this 15-minute featurette, which includes contributions by artist Brick Mason.
Music and Sound Design Key scenes of the film are presented here with effects removed, interspersed with comments from composer James Howard.
Reaching the Audience This three-minute featurette is all about the extraordinary box office and public reaction to a film that the producers thought would open in third position at best. The competition at the time was "Runaway Bride" and "The Blair Witch Project".
Rules and Clues A key concern of the filmmakers was to produce a film that would withstand repeat viewing, so in this six-minute featurette we learn about the rules the story followed.
Deleted Scenes Three deleted scenes and an extended ending are included on this disc. Night Shyamalan introduces them all, and reveals why cutting the longer ending was a major problem for him.
Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD is a trailer, and cast and crew biographies.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Chapters: 19
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: Multiple languages
Captions: English
Menus: Animated with music
Subtitles (Special Features): All come with Italian and Spanish subtitles. No English titles are included.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.
