Osment's pinched, old-young face suggests an ancient's insight without an ancient's defenses -- a sensitivity so exquisitely morbid that you worry more for his emotional than physical well-being.
M Night Shyamalan has fashioned a modern classic here, a chilly, intelligent, emotional ghost story that relies not on the obligatory gore and knifeplay for its many shocks but on glimpses of an afterlife that's anything but angels and harps.
Dr Crowe gradually comes to believe that little Cole can indeed commune with the unquiet souls, who are reaching out to him for help. And, yes, the scenes where Cole does so can be very creepy indeed.
I was not only surprised by the film's final twist, I wasn't even looking for one. I just thought I was watching a bad movie. The end doesn't quite redeem it, but it makes you think about what you've seen. That's a saving grace of some sort.
sbs.com.au
October 07, 2014
It takes you on an intriguing, unsettling journey.
You leave slightly asquirm. You know it will linger. It becomes a clammy, chilly movie building toward a revelation that you cannot predict. As I say: I cannot tell you. You'd hate me if I did. I can only say, don't look now, but look sometime.
