M. Night Shyamalan movies are known for their exciting twists and turns—but one of his biggest film swerves of all has long been rumored to be inspired by a Nickelodeon TV show.
One of Shyamalan's most iconic films is The Sixth Sense, with its ending going down as one of the most famous in cinematic history. For those who haven't seen the movie, Bruce Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, the new therapist for Haley Joel Osment's young character Cole. Malcolm is there to assist Cole in interacting with others, but he also thinks that by doing so, he will become closer to his wife.
Malcolm soon learns that the young child believes he can see dead people who are unaware that they are dead, with the scene resulting in the iconic line: "I see dead people." Over the course of the movie, Cole begins to help the ghosts cross over to the other side and it is eventually revealed that Malcolm is a ghost himself.
Even though the film came out in 1999, people still talk about the twist today. However, according to IMDb it wasn't a unique idea, as the site states Shyamalan was inspired by an episode of the Nickelodeon show Are You Afraid of the Dark?. This was a horror anthology series for young adults about a group of teenagers who would tell scary stories around a campfire.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Shyamalan for comment on Thursday.
According to IMDb, Shyamalan was specifically inspired by a 1994 episode titled "The Tale of the Dream Girl," directed by David Winning. But is this true?
Similar to The Sixth Sense, it is eventually revealed that the main character Johnny has been dead throughout the episode; the only person who had been able to see him was his sister Erica. When Johnny showed up after his fateful accident, he didn't remember his own death, so Erica played along, making him think he was still alive. However, once Johnny was informed of his demise, he crossed over to the afterlife.
While it is unclear where the theory that Shyamalan was inspired by this episode came from, the director was asked about the claim in a 2017 interview with Screen Crush—and he completely refuted it.
"That's really weird. I don't think I've ever seen that show. I don't want to ignore something that might have been an influence, but nothing rings a bell when you say that," he said.
"I remember specifically the notebook I was writing in and it was about a little boy at a funeral. That was the first image that came to mind, and he was on the stairs talking to no one. Then, in my mind, I was wondering if he was talking to the person that had died at that funeral. That kind of stimulated the story."
Even though Shyamalan said he's never even seen Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he said the concept sounded "cool."
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