The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The tape is labelled "Vincent Grey" in the first shot, but the label disappears in the next shot. (01:11:32)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Malcolm Crowe is showing Cole the "vanishing penny" trick, watch Malcolm's hair as the scenes cut back and forth between the child and Malcolm. Malcolm's hair (front) goes from perfectly combed to a duck tail. (00:38:30)

Continuity mistake: During the "I See Dead People" scene, Cole is facing Malcolm and a tear runs down his face. When Cole turns away, his face is dry with no trace of a tear.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Cole and his mother are sitting in traffic, the camera closes in on Cole as he states: "She's standing next to me." The next shot of Cole shows the accident victim standing behind him. However, the background has totally changed, and the lighting is totally different. This second shot was probably done on a set instead of the actual street.

Bruce Trestrail

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Lynne Sear is collecting laundry, she stops to look at the family photos on the hallway wall and she is wearing orange lipstick. When she leaves the hallway and walks into Cole's room to pick up his dirty clothes, she is wearing no lipstick.

Factual error: It is not possible that little girl (Kyra) would just be buried without investigation; every non-natural death (especially from young person) requires autopsy, it's routine. During autopsy, they would have seen that she was poisoned and an investigation would have started. Police would go around asking questions like who was feeding Kyra most of the times. I'm not saying that they would discover her mother as the murderer so easy, but she wouldn't just be buried in 2 days like her death was normal and usual.

Continuity mistake: Before Dr. Crowe first speaks with Cole, he is sitting reviewing notes and when Cole comes out of the apartment, Crowe flips to the notes on Cole. The camera is in tight, and moves to close ups of words on the page. Later when translating the Latin Cole was saying, we see a large part of the page, and it is obviously the same page from earlier, including the words that were zoomed in on. Problem is it starts by describing how they first met in a church, which when Crowe was first reviewing the notes had not yet happened. It also describes Cole saying things we don't hear him say in the church. It is obvious from the greeting that the meeting in the church we see is the first time they meet, so how did Crowe have a written description of an event that had not yet happened? There is no indication that ghosts forget events they do after they died, so it wouldn't make sense that this isn't the first meeting, and Crowe just doesn't remember.

jimba

Character mistake: When Cole and his mother are stuck in traffic due to an pedestrian accident, a cop ignites a flare to place on the road by the car that hit the pedestrian. The police were already on scene, traffic was gridlocked up and down the street, nothing was moving, and he places the flare about 2 feet in front of the car - a move that is unsafe (potential fuel leak) and unnecessary. It would never be done on a city street, and never in heavy traffic. (01:27:25)

David R Turner

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: We don't see the cop place the flare on the ground, the camera cuts away as he leans down with it. It could be assumed that he's putting it down but it's possible he's just bending down to pick something up and has to move the flare towards the ground to do that. Without confirmation that the flare was placed where it's suggested there can be no definite mistake.

Continuity mistake: When Cole enters Kyra's room, he enters through a door on the left side of her bed. When her dad watches the tape, it shows her mom enter the right side.

More quotes from The Sixth Sense

Trivia: Every time dead people are close by, there is something red in the preceding scene (i.e., when Cole is at the birthday party and is about to get trapped in the attic with the ghosts, there is a red balloon rising toward the ceiling; when Graham comes home to his wife sleeping and is about to realize that he too is dead, she is wearing a red throw; when Cole is in the car with his mother and there is an accident up ahead, she is wearing a red sweater, etc).

More trivia for The Sixth Sense

Question: Does Cole know for the whole movie that Malcolm is dead? If he does, why isn't he afraid of him like he is of the other dead people in the movie?

Answer: Cole knew that Malcolm was dead as early as the first few scenes. When he opens his door to the house he doesn't immediately step out. Almost as if he didn't want to go out that day. After he finally muster up the courage, he waits for Malcolm to look away as he hurriedly makes his exit. He also picks up his pace as Malcolm begins to follow him. He knew from the very first time he saw him, and yes he was just as afraid of Malcolm as he was of the other ghost.

Answer: Yes, of course. Remember that Cole tells us that these ghosts only "see what they want to see". To avoid giving away the whole plot twist of the movie, we see Malcolm as he sees himself - no injury, and dressed as would be appropriate for where he sees himself. But we know Cole can see dead people, and he sees them as they truly are. The young blonde boy with the back of his head blown out should make this clear. As for the second part of your question, I think Cole is scared of Malcolm at first. You can see his fear when Malcolm walks past him in the church to sit in the pew in front of where he is playing. His tension slowly eases during their conversation, but he still looks wary as he leaves the church. I get the impression that Cole spends large portions of his time in this building, yet he leaves this time within a few minutes of arriving; he doesn't want to stay near this new ghost. He becomes comfortable with him later of course, and Malcolm eventually wins his trust through honesty about his own problems, but this is not true from the start.

Answer: I think we have to assume, while it is never said, that Cole is not afraid of all ghosts, just some that are angry, upset or creepy. He has talked to them, as evidenced that he knows Latin phrases, or the guy killed in Vietnam in the specific division and province. So while a bit scared of all of them, he is willing to talk or listen a little, but not enough to know they want his help. Then, here comes a child psychologist who knows how to talk to kids and get them to open up a bit, and Cole starts to trust him. But he certainly seems to know he is a ghost. While it is not said, he probably knows the difference between seeing a ghost and a live person always.

More questions & answers from The Sixth Sense

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.