20 Things You Didn't Know About The Sixth Sense

7. Red = Dead

The Sixth Sense
Buena Vista Pictures

Throughout the entirety of The Sixth Sense, the sinister presence of death is in the air each and every time that something red is seen.

When Malcolm meets Cole at the church? The church has a red door. When Cole writes about the things he’s heard from dead people? The ink is red. When Cole is attacked in his closet? He’s wearing a red sweater. When Anna goes for her anniversary meal? She wears a red dress. When Anna is revisiting her wedding video? She’s wrapped in a red blanket. When young Kyra Collins turns up in Cole’s fort? A red blanket is there.

So intent was Shyamalan to showcase red as being an ever-present whenever the worlds of the dead and the living cross, the director purposely made sure to remove any red from any other scenes.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.