Synopsis
Known for his commitment and his remarkable results, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, child psychologist, receives a letter of congratulations from the mayor. The doctor is celebrating the event with his wife when one of his former patients bursts into his apartment, a gun in his hand. The madman wounds Malcolm with a point-blank gunshot before killing himself.
NB: The image comparisons (.jpg compression, 8-bit) are strictly for illustrative purposes and are not representative of what the Ultra HD Blu-ray will broadcast on your calibrated UHD HDR screen.
In order to highlight the concrete use of Wide Color Gamut (WCG) on this edition (see tutorial here), the pixels which are located in the standard/BT.709 range (confined inside the small triangle REC.709) are presented to you here fully desaturated. Conversely, those part of the expanded BT.2020 range, exclusive to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc (which extend outside the small triangle REC.709) are presented to you in color:
???? “I see people who are dead. »
Imagine Philadelphia, not as just a city, but as a crossroads where the boundaries between worlds dissolve, a place where echoes of the past resonate with haunting force, and where the unsaid weigh like silent stones. It is in this enigmatic setting that Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, finds himself brutally confronted with his own demons after a devastating tragedy. A former patient, Vincent Grey, plunges him into a spiral of doubts and inner torments, leaving him with an invisible scar, a wound that will lead him on a strange, almost mystical quest.
A few months later, Doctor Crowe meets Cole Sear, a strange young boy, a child marked by a perception of the world that is both fascinating and terrifying. Cole sees the dead, not as monstrous creatures, but as wandering souls, lost in an in-between where time and space seem to merge. These apparitions are not there to sow fear, but to communicate hidden truths, fragments of the past that seek to be heard. These specters demand justice. They are looking for an attentive ear.
It was in this dense, mysterious atmosphere that M. Night Shyamalan, then a visionary young director, laid the foundations for a career that would redefine genre cinema. With Sixth sense, he doesn’t just tell a story: he invites us into a sensory and psychological experience that grabs us in the gut. The film does not just destabilize the viewer, it shakes them, it plunges them into an emotional whirlwind that shakes the soul and the spirit. The final revelation, stunning and unforgettable, transforms a genre work into a profound reflection on life, death, guilt, and above all the importance of telling what is hidden… before it is too late.
Video Quality
Sixth Sense (1999) was filmed in 35mm using cameras Panavision Panaflex Millennium equipped with spherical optics. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024, M. Night Shyamalan’s work has benefited from a supervised 4K restoration based on a new scan of the original negatives. An HDR calibration has been performed. The film is presented in its respected 1.85:1 ratio, with the only HDR10 option on this edition. A BD-66 disk is mobilized with 60.1 GB of space actually occupied.
It won’t take a sixth sense to see that this is an impressive upgrade. Many of you are die-hard fans of M. Night Shyamalan’s work, and today’s news is sure to delight you. If the framing remains similar to that of the previous Blu-ray, the contribution of the new scan in terms of definition is spectacular. There is truly a before and an after on this title, as if Sixth sense had reached a new dimension. This is clearly seen on the screen.
The wide shots, whether inside the church, on the streets of Philadelphia or at Cole’s school, reveal a wealth of detail previously unseen. The film uses tight shots which allow the emotions of the characters to be captured with remarkable precision. The details of the faces are strikingly sharp, giving off a feeling of perfect sharpness. All with scrupulous respect for the 35mm grain. Compression, for its part, supports the whole without altering the breathing of the images.
The new HDR calibration plays a key role in improving the visual experience. Very different from that of the previous Blu-ray, which suffered from a too strong magenta cast and a cold temperature, it now offers deeper blacks and better controlled highlights. Subtle details are thus preserved without falling into overexposure. However, a trend remains perceptible in the films of M. Night Shyamalan, who favors a fairly moderate approach in light intensities. In HDR, use remains discreet, with an average light peak measured at 105 nits. That said, in the context of this aesthetic approach, the images remain impeccable, with excellent contrasts subtly reworked.
Sixth Sense (1999) immerses itself in a subtle and austere atmosphere, in perfect harmony with the themes it explores. The use of Wide Color Gamutalthough occasional, adds an additional dimension to certain key elements of the story: the greenery of the streets of Philadelphia, the street signs, or even the colorful decorations of the birthday scenes. Particular attention is paid to the reds, including the bright one in the tent, a true sanctuary for the young protagonist. This closed place, where the child seeks to escape the violence of his inner and outer world, is invaded in WCG by a new intensity which, like a mirror, reflects the character’s most visceral emotions.
Audio Quality
The 4K Ultra HD edition of Sixth Sense (1999) offers a sound experience focused on subtlety and tension. Far from resorting to truly spectacular effects, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track favors the clarity of the dialogue, centered firmly on the frontal axis. This one has a pleasant naturalness, although the spatialization is not as expansive as that of other more recent works by the director. This mix is distinguished above all by the spontaneity of some effects of jump scares well placed, causing startles thanks to surges, sudden attacks and spectral breaths. The bathroom scene, when Cole gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, retains frightening sonic potential, even 25 years after it first aired. Bass is used sparingly, especially during tense moments. James Newton Howard’s Music, both minimalist and intense, remains one of the highlights of the sound experience, enveloping the soundtrack with an eerie aura. It is above all she who mobilizes the surround scene.
The original version is reproduced in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (4119 kbps kbps, 24-bit). The Loudness Range (LRA) indicator was measured on Sixth sense at 21.3 (LU). The VF is offered in DTS-HD Hi Resolution 5.1 (2046 kbps, 24-bit).
Bonus
– Reflections of the filming
– Between two worlds
– Moving images / The storyboard
– Music and sound design
– Reception of the public
– Rules and clues
– 4 deleted scenes including an alternative ending with introduction by the director
– Trailer and TV spot
Conclusion
Sixth Sense (1999) benefits from an impressive upgrade, especially on a visual level, with an exemplary gain in definition and images which perfectly preserve the authenticity of their 35mm identity. This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition is essential for all M. Night Shyamalan fans, offering a cinematic experience of great richness and fidelity.
