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In terms of the lack of really any physical romance of any kind or even SUGGESTIONS of sex, I think that was definitely the film trying firmly to appeal to a Chinese audience. This accounts for the lack of gruesome deaths that American audiences crave as well. As someone living in China, I've noticed a few things about Chinese TV and movies. Often, you'll see someone get badly wounded that would be a great excuse for gore in the US, but instead they'll have perhaps a single streak of the fakest-looking blood you've ever seen running down their cheek. In terms of the sex stuff, let me put it this way--they re-edited The Shape of Water to remove the scenes where she was naked to remove all the nudity, even going as far as to add a strange black slip-shaped mask over her back when she takes off her robe and we see her from behind before the fish sex scene. It's so poorly done and obviously looks like those Adobe Premiere masks that I laughed out loud in the theater, earning strange looks from the Chinese viewers around me. Catering to the Chinese market like this is not new. Think of how in Arrival the main world-saving information was given to Amy Adams by the Chinese general. Tons of films have been trying to present Chinese actors/characters as heroes and appeal to the Chinese sensibility in order to rake in some of that sweet sweet dough. It's also interesting that this film was released the same time in China as in America, which is NEVER true for American movies. Even the Marvel movies, which also make huge swaths of money from China and are absolutely the most popular movies here, open much later. For example, Ant Man and the Wasp just opened last weekend (August 21) and the new Mission Impossible opened a couple days ago. The fact that this movie opened at the same time in China as America definitely lends credence to the idea that it's almost more of a Chinese import to America than the other way around. One more Chinese thing: the beach is pretty real. Obviously they exaggerate it as movies are want to do (I mean, that shark isn't real either), but Chinese beaches are NOTORIOUS for being absolutely jammed. The water balls are real, everyone in tubes is real (most Chinese people can't swim), and Chinese women getting mad at people ruining their wedding pictures is real. Also, as a conspiracy theory note, the island in question (Hainan) is China's only real "resort" area, sort of like Hawaii. However, most Chinese tourists/vacationers traditionally choose to go to Thailand or elsewhere to vacation, paradoxically because Hainan beaches are thought of as over-crowded and absolutely filled with litter. The Chinese government recently has been trying to make strong pushes to encourage people to vacation in Hainan (within borders) as opposed to going abroad to do it, so the choice of that island for this movie might be more than just a random artistic whim of the screenwriters.

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Finally a Fortnite Masterclass. I hope they cover what to do if your son's friends beat you up every time you ask them if you can have a turn on Fortnite. I already tried to Google Bing but it just says "Did you mean Bing Crosby?" I'm not sure what that means but shouting "BiNG CROSBY" at the pack of feral 9 year olds is only making them punch harder and more often.

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I’ve been saying dolphins are the jerks of the sea!

A couple other notes I took while re-watching: -- I still can't get over the bad exposition of the first scene. Please hold this up as a what-not-to-do for budding screenwriters. Ditto some other times at the school, when the boyfriend was moving furniture... hm. Actually a lot. -- One of the first "ghost" scenes was in the kitchen, a oner that followed the mom from one room to the next, switching from a steadicam to shakicam. Not an unsubtle trick but it still felt unsettling. The Blair Witch Project was also 1999 so maybe there was something in the air about supernatural = shakey cam -- Why didn't the mom never notice the ghosts in the photos in the hall before this? -- If the wife ever went to the basement, would she have seen dictionaries opening themselves and pens moving to write in notebooks? For a ghost that can't manipulate anything, there's a lot of object work. -- The subtitle for this movie was going to be "Bruce Willis sits down a lot." -- When are we going to get a Sixth Sense and Ghost teamup? Where HJO and Whoopi Goldberg have to team up with a little help from Patrick Swayze and Bruce Willis. -- Queer Theory time! Cole is an outsider who sees the world differently, is bullied and marginalized for not fitting in, and is redeemed by coming to terms with himself and coming out to his mother, after which the world is restored.

I really disagree with this. As Amy and Paul pointed out, the film is about communication: between Malcolm and his wife, between Cole and the ghosts, and most markedly in my opinion, between Cole and his mother. Their relationship throughout most of the film is cute, but it's built on lies. (Case in point: one of their happiest exchanges in the movie is when they're making up stories about what happened to them that day.) To me, the climax of the film is the scene in the car, where Cole finally has the courage to share the truth with his mother, and his mother, while skeptical, finds the compassion to accept his truth. Upon this week's rewatch, I found myself thinking that if the movie had ended at that scene, it still would have been great. As much as I think that the twist is one of the all-time great twists, it almost ends up doing a disservice to the rest of the film because it's the main thing people remember and the main thing people think about when watching. But I absolutely think there's a great film surrounding that. Whether it's a top 100 film... that's tougher to say. I think there are probably better films that could have taken its place on this list, but I'd call it a shoo-in for top 200. This is a great take. As much as I like the film, its narrative weakness is 100% the "resolution" between Cole and the ghosts. Like, that ghost in the attic that beat the shit out of him for no reason is going to talk out his problems with this kid?

Re-watching this, I was really disappointed with how things turned out with Cole. I just can't buy that Bruce Willis helped him all that much. So, in order to make the ghosts "go away" he has to help them finish their business? Does that mean he has to go running around town all the time tying up loose ends for the dead? Also, I feel like they just wrapped that whole thing up too quickly with the Mischa Barton story. You have all this build up to whether Bruce Willis believes Cole, and what they're going to do to help him, and he does one ghost a favor and zip-zap-Bob's-your-uncle, and we're done! Also, just a nit pick about the "mayor's award" at the beginning. Psychologists get awards for research and education. They don't get awards for being great therapists. Why? Because therapy is confidential. It's not like you can say so many people were this sick and objectively measure how much better they got. And why would the city be giving him an award unless he worked for social services? It's a bunch of hogwash just to build up Bruce Willis's cred as a therapist and it's unnecessary. In all, I think the film is just okay once spoiled. I don't think it bodes well for anything more than one additional viewing to catch what you missed. Cole is by far the best thing about it. He was amazing! Otherwise, the characters are really two-dimensional. We don't even get to know what Cole's mom does, or anything about her relationship with her mom. We also don't learn anything about Bruce Willis's relationship with his wife apart from what we see in the wedding video. How are we supposed to care about their relationship when there's no basis to understand how much they loved each other in life. I feel like a lot must have been left on the cutting room floor. I can see how the movie gets high marks for the cleverness of how the twist is played out, how young Shyamalan was, and how it left a mark on pop culture. But top 100? I don't think it really belongs there. I don't see it doing anything really significant or moving the art form forward in any substantial way.

(I was not 6 )

I should save this for a couple weeks, and I'll say more then... but that was me with E.T. (To be fair, I was like 6.)

Man, I love The VVitch. Put that on my AFI Top 100 list. Also, when we're talking horror films not on this list, The Exorcist, but that's a whole different discussion

I signed up to the Earwolf forums to get this story off my chest... In the early 2000's a couple of years after the Sixth Sense was released, a friend and I were cruising the local video store for something to watch. In the "Manger's Recommendations" section was this movie. We'd heard good things about it and neither of us had seen it. I remember being vaguely aware that it had some sort of twist but no idea hat it was. Well we got home, prepared snacks and turned on the TV and VCR. As I was inserting the cassette in to the machine a local (Australian) comedy talk show was on and one of the hosts said "That would be like me telling someone who hasn't seen the Sixth Sense that Bruce Willis was dead from the beginning!". I just turned to my friend and said "You've got to be fucking kidding me!". Remaining ignorant for years, only to be spoiled literally seconds from watching the movie. While I still enjoyed it, I couldn't help but feel a little cheated of the surprise reveal.

In anticipation of Scott and Scott's lists / to keep in the one place, for comparison, etc. ---- David Wain (ep #36 - Slowing It Down) 10 - Talk About The Passion (Murmur) 9 - Wolves, Lower (Chronic Town) 8 - I Believe (Lifes Rich Pageant) 7 - Swan Swan H (Lifes Rich Pageant) 6 - Radio Free Europe (Murmur) 5 - Stumble (Chronic Town) 4 - Catapult (Murmur) 3 - So. Central Rain (Reckoning) 2 - Cant Get There From Here (Fables of the Reconstruction) 1 - Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) (Chronic Town) ---- April Richardson (ep #37 - The Scary One) 10 - All The Best (Collapse Into Now) 9 - Electrolite (New Adventures in Hi-Fi) 8 - World Leader Pretend (Green) 7 - Crush With Eyeliner (Monster) 6 - Nightswimming (Automatic For The People) 5 - Wolves, Lower (Chronic Town) 4 - Exhuming McCarthy (Document) 3 - Life And How To Live It (Fables of the Reconstruction) 2 - So. Central Rain (Reckoning) 1 - Fall On Me (Lifes Rich Pageant) ---- Edgar Wright (ep #41 - Man on the Moon Soundtrack) chronological, Superman was in top 11, dropped from top 10 due to being a cover Radio Free Europe (Hib-Tone single) (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Reckoning) Begin The Begin (Lifes Rich Pageant) These Days (Lifes Rich Pageant) Underneath The Bunker (Lifes Rich Pageant) The One I Love (Document) It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Document) - Edgar's #1 Stand (Green) New Orleans Instrumental No.1 (Automatic For The People) Nightswimming (Automatic For The People) ---- Todd Barry (ep #44 - Around the Sun) more than 10, "semi-chronological" Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) (Chronic Town) Shaking Through (Murmur) Pilgrimage (Murmur) Harborcoat (Reckoning) Good Advices (Fables of the Reconstruction) What's The Frequency, Kenneth? (Monster) Finest Worksong (Document) Me In Honey (Out Of Time) Electrolite (New Adventures In Hi-Fi) Find The River (Automatic For The People) Begin The Begin (Lifes Rich Pageant) Fall On Me (Lifes Rich Pageant) The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite (Automatic For The People) ---- Dave Holmes (ep #47 - Accelerate) accidental (?) top eleven 10 - Me In Honey (Out Of Time) 9 - E-Bow The Letter (New Adventures In Hi-Fi) 8 - (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Reckoning) 7 - Alive and Living Now (The Golden Palominos featuring Michael Stipe) 6 - Nightswimming (Automatic For The People) 5 - Shaking Through (Murmur) 4 - These Days (Lifes Rich Pageant) 4 - Near Wild Heaven (Out Of Time) 3 - You Are The Everything (Green) 2 - Pretty Persuasion (Reckoning) 1 - Life And How To Live It (Fables of the Reconstruction) ---- Haley Joel Osment (ep #49 - Collapse Into Now) 10 - Tongue (Monster) 9 - Sad Professor (Up) 8 - Talk About The Passion (Murmur) 7 - So. Central Rain (Reckoning) 6 - Near Wild Heaven (Out Of Time) 5 - Man On The Moon (Automatic For The People) 4 - E-Bow The Letter (New Adventures In Hi-Fi) 3 - Crush With Eyeliner (Monster) 2 - Try Not To Breathe (Automatic For The People) 1 - Electrolite (New Adventures In Hi-Fi) ---- Jason Mantzoukas (ep #50 - Covers of R.E.M.) chronological, songs that "provoked nostalgia", retroactively says he "probably should have put" Gardening At Night in the list. Pilgrimage (Murmur) Talk About The Passion (Murmur) Catapult (Murmur) So. Central Rain (Reckoning) Pretty Persuasion (Reckoning) (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Reckoning) Driver 8 (Fables of the Reconstruction) Cant Get There From Here (Fables of the Reconstruction) Fall On Me (Lifes Rich Pageant) Superman (The Clique cover/Lifes Rich Pageant) Finest Worksong (Document) Exhuming McCarthy (Document) King Of Birds (Document) Orange Crush (Green) Belong (Out Of Time) Nightswimming (Automatic For The People)

Thanos is so chill now that he's retired, Hope that weird boy unable to stop watching mummy and Poppa Than get their groove on doesn't find dad's box of old space stuff, unless there's cameras on when he does because Avengers 6 just wrote itself all they have to do is follow lil' Thanny Jr. as he puts on glove and uses it to perv out across the universe

Blanket statement: I couldn't be more comforter.

I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the true monstrosity of the seas are dolphins not sharks. Sharks are relatively harmless. According to PBS Nova of there are nearly 500 kinds of shark but only a dozen are dangerous to humans. You're more likely to be hit by lightning than attacked by a shark. I'm sure the chance of dolphin rape and /or attack is equally low but sharks don't go around playing with the corpses of the dead infants they've killed so I like them slightly more. I've ranted about dolphins before so here's an old article from Slate: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2009/05/13/dolphins_are_violent_predators_that_kill_their_own_babies.html

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This bugged me so much too. Why is he internationally infamous for two people dying and not having saved 10 people? I assume this is in part because the book had a different reason for the mission altogether, but also from different scripts being married together unsuccessfully from 20 years of development hell.

Gosh, The Sixth Sense scared me when I first watched it. I literally did not go to the bathroom in the middle of the night for a few days after

Ok. My bad. I definitely misread what you meant then. Although this does bring up something I've never been able to verbalize: what is everyone's take on the difference between a horror film and a thriller? I've held for a long time that a horror film intends to scare the viewer and a thriller intends to make them tense or maybe suspenseful. In some cases this is a really nebulous line like Silence Of The Lambs or The Game or Funny Games.

Yea. Those drama real-world frights you mention are the real scares in the movie. The actual ghosts are not all that terrifying, really, beyond just their presence (usually as a surprise for the viewer). That's why I wanted more of those scenes -- let Haley go into the scary real world, with ghosts helping him out, and have him confront the horrors of reality. A woman with Munchausen Syndrome where she hurts her children? No match for Cole! Single mother needs encouragement? That's an affecting ghost story if you ask me. (I still think Sixth Sense comes very close to this, but doesn't quite go all the way with it.)

For the record, this guy on the FB group is not me lol

I was in the middle of writing something but I stopped just so I can say how much I agree with your 4th point. This is not a horror film in my books. Like Paul was talking about dramas having moments of levity, we sort of exist is this world where some people don't like mixing of elements or tones which is silly. You can use whatever tools you want to tell the story the best it can be told. Does Hamlet become horror because there is a ghost? There are witches in Macbeth while we are at it. Clearly that's horror. This is a character drama. Yes there are ghosts in it, yes some of the moment may give you the chills, but at the end of the day this movie was not made to scare you. It may have some moments and elements but it is trying to tell a character based drama.

I'm still finishing the pod, but I wanted to react to Amy's comment about Willis' acting. She mentions that he had some emotion in the first scene, but is too stiff for the remainder of the film. Is this not because he's no longer human from then on? I sort of took this as a conscious decision, and not bad acting. He's supposed to be distant and sort of odd, right?