Despite big-name billing, "The Sixth Sense" is a riveting thriller

his earlier mistake by taking the case of a young boy named Cole Sear (Osment), whose unvoiced fears have driven him away from everyone, including his mother (Toni Collette of "Muriel's Wedding").His commitment to the boy, however, further alienates Malcolm from his wife Anna (Olivia Williams) who feels that Malcolm has all but abandoned her. And the fact that she is wooed by one of her co-workers doesn't help the domestic situation.When Cole finally reveals his secret to Malcom, the psychologist is ready to concede that the boy is beyond his help, delusional and paranoid to the extreme. Cole thinks that he sees dead people - all the time, everywhere. They are the ones, he claims, who are responsible for the cuts and bruises on his body, not his mother (as the emergency room physician suspects). At first skeptical, Malcolm soon has reason to believe the boy. When Cole begs him for help with the ghosts ("Make them go away!"), Malcolm responds quite sincerely, "I'm working on it."It would be absolutely criminal to reveal anything more about the plot, and you should avoid friends who have seen the movie and want to tell you about it. Suffice it to say that "The Sixth Sense" is genuinely creepy, heart-warming and utterly surprising - the best American film of the summer.A major Internet source remarked how the film seemed to come out of nowhere, with little pre-release publicity despite the presence of Willis. That's all for the good since too much hype, with which we have been inundated this season ("The Phantom Menace," "The Blair Witch Project"), can't help but dull almost any film's reception. Whoever was responsible for keeping "The Sixth Sense" under wraps probably guessed that a movie this good only needs word-of-mouth to get its audiences.It's unclear whether Bruce Willis got his $20 million standard fee, but he's worth it in "The Sixth Sense" - for the marquee value of his name alone, which will draw people to the movie who might otherwise have passed it up. Even more to his credit, Willis gives a superb performance in a very different kind of role than action fans might expect. Everything the macho star does in "The Sixth Sense" is restrained and convincing. Willis has always been a good actor with considerable range, whatever his detractors might claim. This movie should effectively silence his naysayers.Everyone else is also quite good, especially young Osment, who conveys his character's tortured anxiety with aching conviction. Collette, nearly unrecognizable from her Muriel role, plays the boy's mother like a real parent, not a movie mother. Her frustration, her fear and her love are all palpable.Ultimately, however, "The Sixth Sense" is a triumph for its writer/director, Indian-born M. Night Shyamalan. Last year in "Wide Awake," the filmmaker explored another facet of childhood fears, as its diminutive hero sought to determine the existence of God after the death of his grandfather. Though his last film wore sentiment on its sleeve, Shyamalan nevertheless coaxed wonderful performances from his child performers as well as from Rosie O'Donnell, who played a frisky but kind nun."The Sixth Sense" is both darker and more mature, even though it incorporates elements of horror and the supernatural. A few scenes in this movie will scare the bejeezus out of you, others will touch your heart. Again, like early Spielberg, who was equally wonderful with children and other worlds, Shyamalan spins an engrossing tale of terror, love and redemption.Most directors would have given their eyeteeth for Shyamalan's screenplay, but it's doubtful any of them could have directed it so well.