Even if you haven’t seen M. Night Shyamalan’s breakout feature, chances are you’re still fully aware of the twist ending, but not all movies like The Sixth Sense are reliant on rug-pulling tactics.
Psychological thrillers with a hint of the supernatural always generate plenty of interest from audiences that become invested in how even the thinnest strands of the story will be paid off.
If you love suspense, tension and the occasional fright that’ll have you jumping out of your seat, then these ten movies come highly recommended.
10 Chilling Supernatural Movies Like The Sixth Sense
1. The Others (2001)
Movies like The Sixth Sense aren’t required to contain a jaw-dropping twist, but the ending of Alejandro Amenabar’s Gothic chiller is one for the ages.
Nicole Kidman stars as a devoutly religious and overprotective mother trying to protect her children from the ghosts that they claim are haunting their lavish home.
There’s a sense of unease seeping through every frame of The Others, although there’s no shortage of style either in a contained supernatural thriller with a gut-punch of a central concept.
2. Shutter Island (2010)
The dream team of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio reunited for the haunting literary adaptation where nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems.
To U.S. Marshals head an island facility to investigate an escaped inmate, before the very walls of reality start closing in as revelation after revelation is uncovered.
An old school noir mystery that doubles as an ambitious psychological thriller, Shutter Island has more thematic and narrative connections to movies like The Sixth Sense than you’d expect from a filmmaker like Scorsese.
3. Identity (2003)
Ten people end up trapped at a remote motel during a vicious storm, only for a serial killer to be in the midst that starts picking them off one by one in James Mangold’s twisting thriller.
Nothing can ever be taken at face value, in what starts out as a straightforward murder mystery but soon evolves into something else entirely.
Identity aims high but never quite reaches the summit, but it remains one of the few movies like The Sixth Sense that boasts a third act audiences will never see coming.
4. Unbreakable (2000)
You need to include at least one more M. Night Shyamalan effort on a list of movies like The Sixth Sense, and as one of his more superior efforts before it all went downhill, Unbreakable is the obvious choice.
Bruce Willis is the only survivor of a train crash that killed every other passenger, and Samuel L. Jackson’s comic book fanatic is determined to find out if he’s genuinely superhuman.
Shyamalan expertly deconstructs the tropes of the superhero genre and builds them back up again in his own image, in what still ranks as one of the director’s finest works.
5. Hide and Seek (2005)
John Polson’s Hide and Seek might veer further into straight-up horror territory than the rest of our movies like The Sixth Sense, but it warrants inclusion based entirely on its ending.
Robert De Niro heads up the cast as a psychologist grieving over his wife’s suicide, who thinks his daughter’s imaginary friend is a troubling influence on the youngster.
The ending is a doozy, and it both comes completely out of nowhere, but it lends the entire movie a sense of gonzo B-movie insanity that has to be seen to be believed.
6. The Orphanage (2007)
J.A. Bayona put himself on the map as horror’s newest wunderkind thanks to his relentlessly atmospheric supernatural thriller that marked him out as a talent to keep a close eye on.
Main character Laura returns to her childhood home, planning on turning the facility into a place for disabled children to live comfortably, but a missing person throws a spanner in the works.
A lot more patient in unfurling itself than most modern horrors, The Orphanage displays many of the qualities that make movies like The Sixth Sense such an uncomfortable yet enjoyable watch.
7. The Jacket (2005)
An amnesiac Gulf War veteran has no idea why he was discovered at the scene of a murder, and some experimental treatment at a mental facility leads to some unexpected discoveries.
Leads Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley bring the expected levels of commitment to their performances, and hold things together even when the narrative spirals into sci-fi territory.
Not exactly like-for-like compared to most movies like The Sixth Sense, The Jacket is an altogether more complex and ambitious affair, but nonetheless a must watch!
8. What Lies Beneath (2000)
With Robert Zemeckis directing and A-listers Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead roles, there was no chance What Lies Beneath would be anything less than entertaining.
All three talents make a rare detour into horror, as a couple are forced to deal with both marital problems and the possibility of their home being haunted by a dangerous ghost.
There’s no rule that says movies like The Sixth Sense can’t be glossy, star-powered affairs that coast by on charisma and cliché, which is where What Lies Beneath absolutely excels.
9. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Mark Pellington directs Richard Gere as a journalist who lost his wife shortly after she experienced a vision, and during his investigation, he’s drawn into a series of events that could lead to disaster.
The Mothman Prophecies claims to be based on true events, and take that however you will, but it does boast an engaging hook and an efficient pace that stops the story from ever stagnating.
A hybrid of sci-fi, demonic tales, the supernatural, and straightforward horror, The Mothman Prophecies is an intriguing genre mashup that gives viewers plenty to think about.
10. Dream House (2011)
A publisher and his wife relocate to a cavernous new home in a small town, which anyone that’s ever seen a movie will instantly know is a bad omen.
Sure enough, strange goings-on start occurring, and Daniel Craig’s patriarch slowly sets out to unravel the mystery surrounding his new lodgings before things get too far out of hand.
Jim Sheridan’s Dream House doesn’t have even the merest hint of originality in either the script or direction, but there’s enough mystery at the center to drawn in those who enjoy movies like The Sixth Sense.