‘The Sixth Sense’ Overshadowed a Better Movie With the Same Twist

'The Sixth Sense' has become known for its shocking twist. It would have been a lot more shocking if a cult movie didn't pull off the same twist decades earlier.

Sometimes, the wrong movies get all of the credit. The Sixth Sense has become famous for its shocking twist. It would have been a lot more shocking if a cult classic movie didn’t pull off the same twist decades earlier.

‘The Sixth Sense’ has the same twist as a classic horror movie

The 1990s were a terrible time for horror movies. For every good 1990s horror film like Scream or The Blair Witch Project, the decade churned out several duds like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Leprechaun, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In that context, The Sixth Sense looked a lot better than it actually was. The story is drawn out, humorless, and overly somber. The overall mood of The Sixth Sense is more depressing than scary.

The Sixth Sense might seem a little better if it was the first famous movie to pull off the same twist, where the hero is revealed to have died early in the movie. In fact, the 1962 cult classic did the same thing. While The Sixth Sense is a straightforward Hollywood movie, Carnival of Souls blurs the line between being a B-movie and an arthouse film. The odd texture of Carnival of Souls makes it essential viewing for anyone interested in old-school horror.

Does ‘The Sixth Sense’ hold up to modern audiences?

Carnival of Souls works well even when you know the twist. Does The Sixth Sense? It’s up for the younger generation to decide. The lyrics of a certain Lonely Island song whose name I will not mention spoiled the twist of the film for millions of listeners. Today, everyone knows that Bruce Willis died in The Sixth Sense the same way everyone knows the identity of Luke Skywalker’s father or Norman Bates’ mother.

Maybe younger people will like The Sixth Sense. Maybe they won’t. Chances are, they’ll think it’s a talky melodrama that isn’t paced like a modern movie.

Why M. Night Shyamalan wrote a twist into the movie

During a 2024 interview with GQ, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan discussed the origin of the twist from The Sixth Sense and it had nothing to do with Carnival of Souls. “Plot should come out of character, at least I think that,” he said. “A guy who is treating a boy who thinks he sees ghosts, what could happen from that? You know, how does he, how could this be surprising? Because the movie was very linear for me, and I was like ‘This isn’t, it doesn’t have this extra gear, this movie.’ When I was writing it, I was like, it’s good it just doesn’t have this extra gear.

“And I was like ‘Well what could happen, this guy is treating someone that believes they see ghosts, what could happen, what could happen?'” he added. “And then, you know, I sat up and I was like ‘Oh, you know, it’s a deeper version of the conversation about life after death. And I kept thinking ‘How can I go deeper into this subject,’ and it kind of evolved outward and flowered at that moment. And so it was a very organic moment of just writing.”

Regardless of what inspired Shyamalan, Carnival of Souls is far more haunting than The Sixth Sense.