'Realism' in supernatural motion pictures.

I think I see a pattern emerging.

Whenever Hollywood does aliens, they (almost always) are creepy-looking grab-bags of nightmare body-parts that drip, excrete or dribble ooze, and that apparently want to bring about the End Of Human Civilisation As We Know It, As Soon As Possible If Not Before, ideally with as much troublesome, risky, street-to-street (and oftentimes hand-to-hand) carnage as is alienably possible. (Aliens have not, oddly enough, learnt the primo lesson from the ironically-titled James Cameron film ‘Aliens,’ namely that the most efficient way to wipe out your enemy is to just damn well nuke them from orbit, hang around a while in case a second nuking is required, and then pack up and go home.) The high-level reasons for all this trouble and energy-expenditure are not always clear, but - hey - it certainly gives a director plenty of opportunity to put cute kid actors in risky situations and tug at the heartstrings of suburban moviegoers of child-rearing age.

Whenever Hollywood does Russians (more stereotypical rather than supernatural, I concede), they are shown as either really ugly, creepy guys with bad accents, or really, really attractive, statuesque women with worse accents, either or both of whom is out to show that the USSR actually won the Cold War in some incredibly oblique, quasi-moral way that only makes sense to someone who has been making liberal use of the best-selling Russian beverage (no, not tea) and is stuck in some vaguely threatening situation where the smallest wrong move could get them drugged, mugged and resting comfortably at the bottom of the nearest canal or river.

And whenever Hollywood does hauntings, the ghosts always seem to take on the form of nasty, variably-corporeal monsters that have some deep-seated hatred of loved-up teenagers, and will stop at nothing to possess, inhabit, bamboozle, trip, impale, slice, dice, julienne, mince, liquefy and/or charbroil their victims in elaborate situations which rely heavily upon the loved-up teens (or, for variation, wannabe-loved-up teens) being about as intelligent as a sack of doorknobs.

Are there many exceptions?

When I think about it, I find that M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Sixth Sense’ (1999) really shows some respect for the findings of the last century or so of paranormal investigation, as well as a real understanding of some of the most popular ghost-hunting techniques (orbs and globules in photographs, EVP evidence in tape recordings, etc.) That, in association with the excellent twist ending (which shall not be spoiled here, just in case there is SOMEONE reading this that hasn’t seen the film) and the multitude of intelligently layered instances of haunting-related phenomena (that directly supports the story rather than just being something to film) really makes this a film to beat.

Any others? (And no spoilers, please.)