There are great movie twists, and then there's the twist in The Sixth Sense, which is still the greatest in cinematic history if you ask me. Hell, this single twist alone is one of the reasons why I think 1999 is the pinnacle when it comes to horror movies. Yes, the whole movie is brilliant (there's a reason why it's one of the few horror movies that’s ever been nominated for Best Picture), but if not for that twist, I don't think people would still be talking about M. Night Shyamalan breakthrough movie today.So, here's why “Bruce Willis is a ghost!” is still the greatest twist in cinematic history. (Image credit: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)I Don't Even Have To Tell You The Twist. You Already Know ItA lot of people consider The Sixth Sense to be Shyamalan’s best movie (though I've always preferred Unbreakable), and it’s mostly because of the twist. When you think about it, it's so simple, and yet none of us expected it. I mean, Haley Joel Osment literally said, “I see dead people,” and none of us put two and two together that Bruce Willis's character, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, was actually a ghost himself. It's brilliant, and I can only imagine Shyamalan when he wrote the screenplay, making sure not to have a single scene that would give away the secret. (Image credit: Buena Vista Pictures)It's A Twist That's So Big You Can Never Watch The Film The Same Way Ever AgainHere's something that's interesting about younger audiences when they watch this movie - they're usually not impressed. The reason is that they already KNOW the twist. It's like already knowing that Soylent Green is people, or that the Planet of the Apes is actually Earth. In other words, it's a twist that if you know the answer before getting the question, then the rest of the film is kind of lame.However, much like seeing The Blair Witch Project when it first came out, you really had to be there. You might think this means the movie isn't any good if it NEEDS the twist, but the truth is, the twist actually makes the movie so much better if you don't know it's coming. I remember seeing this movie a second time after the first, and it was a completely different experience. I didn't watch it following Willis’ character. Instead, I followed Osment's. It went from being a story about an exhausted doctor to a story about a suffering child, and it's all because of that twist, which totally recontextualized the film. (Image credit: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)And, In An Age Before The Internet Exploded, It Truly Shocked People Week After WeekAs I alluded to earlier, this movie was huge FOR WEEKS, and another marvelous thing about the twist is that people didn't spread it. At least not intentionally. Which blows my mind. Nowadays, if a movie comes out, you pretty much have to stay off the internet for a week if it has a twist (like with Digger, which I knew the twist for the same day that it came out). Back then, there was a sense of camaraderie in withholding this movie’s twist. It’s a twist that’s so good that people wanted others to experience it for themselves, and so we kept it secret for as long as possible. That's the power of this twist, and I still don't think Hollywood has made a better one since.