Why is The Sixth Sense called a horror movie?

Question

I usually can't watch horror movies past the first 10 mins but this one didn't really scare me.

Answer 1

People dont understand that "horror" movie does not mean "scary". If that was the case the category would be called "scary movie." Horror is used because of themes, elements and ideas. Horror movies can be bloody, dark/mysterious, creepy characters, suspenseful, involve ghosts/dead people/figments of the imagination. A horror film can not have a single drop of blood but be scary or suspenseful. It can use sound effects, lighting, and music to set a mysterious tone. It doesnt have to be "made you jump" or "killer pops out from behind a corner and scares everyone".

The first paragraph of the definition of "horror film" at wikipedia.org clarify's it best:
"In film, the horror genre is characterized by the attempt to make the viewer experience fright, fear, terror, disgust or horror. Its plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, sometimes of supernatural origin, into the mundane world."

In this regard, The Sixth Sense is a horror film because it is about a frightened boy and involves a supernatural origin that was brought into a childs world. It can be seen as creepy because things like this are experienced by people in dreams, and can actuall happen to people in real life if they are slightly unbalanced. They might be seen as crazy, but people do have things like this happen to them in real life.

Now a days people have too skewed of a reality as to what they think "horror" is. It isnt all blood and guts and outlandish stories. It is about fear, about intensity, and about perception. Try to approach movies with an open mind and dont define horror as "scare me" or "bloody". Look at it too as "what if this were me" "can this happen to me" or "what would I do/feel"

Although horror is what you make of it. I just wish people had a better view than the gory, unrealistic and unscary movies of the last 5 to 10 years (with few exceptions)

Answer 2

i love this film. the opening to the film is him following the wierd boy, and you really don't know what's going on. It's effective because its mysterious, you have no idea whyat's going to happen and also you jump to conclusions- like theyre related or he's going to kidnap the boy. i cba to explain deeply but basically, the audience has no idea AT ALL that this guy is dead. there are weird things going on but you don't know why. The director never actualy lets the wife to him, or any other characters-like the mum- but the audience just assumes that he has contact with other people apart from the boy. So when he finds out whats going on, and that he's dead, it's a big shock. He adds everything up, like in most physcological movies the tense atmosphere, is because you [the audience] can't see anything, as the camera is constantly faced aty the boy, but you KNOW that something is happening. its dark, its cold, thye music is either not there or slow and depressing [ usually with a heavy beat in time with your heart]. you see the girl when he peeks out of the tent for the first time, then on the second tyime she isnt there. his tent that he hides in is his sanctuary, nothing is supposed to go in there. so when he runs out of the tent and into the house, you expect to see the ghost there so when he doesnt see anything, you expect the worst to be over. When he goes back into the tent, she is THERE!! :) it's a gruesome sight, and one that shocks the audience because it was unsuspecting, they were beigning to calm down and it's all shown in one camera shot.

Answer 3

Horror movies deal with ghosts and the unknown. It doesn't really fit into any genre so because its suspenseful it goes into horror. It reminds me of the wicker man (another fab movie!) because there isn't really blood and gore in it, just suspense.

Answer 4

It's called a horror movie because it makes you see dead people. Horror movies deal with death.

Answer 5

sixth sense a horror!!!!thats a joke i reckcon it was a thriller with very scarey acting

Answer 6

Me either, as soon as they showed the shooting, I realized
Willis was dead.
But, I've seen alot of horror movies.

Answer 7

because it has ghosts that are bloody, deformed, burned, puking.. and a very frightened little boy. Good movie, it was just on last night. But, I figured it out the first time I saw it.

Answer 8

becouse it's a very bad horror movie

Answer 9

it's not i think. uh just ignore it.. Sixth sense is boring. watch Doom 2005

Answer 10

perhaps u didn't regard ur sixth sense...in interpreting this movie!!