The Shout
The Shout
R | 09 November 1979 (USA)
The Shout Trailers

A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.

Reviews
Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise
AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.
Rainey Dawn This film may not be everyone's style of horror but it is my style of horror-thriller. It's not a typical story - quite different than most all horror-thrillers I have ever seen.This movie moves along a steady pace as Crossley (Alan Bates) tells Graves (Tim Curry) the story of how he moved himself into the home and the life of a married couple. Crossley tells the story of how he is not an average person, he is fluent in aboriginal magic and works his magic to get what he wants. Crossley also claims to have learned the killer aboriginal "Shout". Is all this true or is Crossley just a patient and not a visitor at the psychiatric hospital? Watch the film to find out.Yes this movie is GOOD - I personally think this one would make a great prime time movie to watch. (Some nudity and sexual content - so if you have young children you might want to wait until they are in bed to watch the film).8.5/10
Bribaba The backdrop to this startling tale is that bastion of English civility: the cricket match. Going to the wicket here are the staff and inmates at a mental asylum. Keeping score is a young intern and Crossley (Alan Bates) a man whose needs are special and very possibly insane. During the course of the game he describes to his fellow scorer how his life have come to such a pass. He claims to have been living amongst Aborigines for eighteen years, and to have learned to kill by shouting. In flashback we are taken to Devon where he takes up with a young rural couple (John Hurt and Susannah York) who are sceptical of this and most of his other scary stories. Unsurprisingly considering that, as narrators go, they don't come much more unreliable than mental patients.Thematically this is similar to The Wicker Man with its challenge to Christian beliefs, though it's much more layered and with less of a narrative thrust. Bates gives a performance of great power, rather then the quietly smouldering persona we are used to. Hurt and York are both excellent, particularly the latter as she succumbs to the madman's charms. Director Jerzy Skilomoski's takes Robert Graves' story at face value and introduces an east European art-film aesthetic into what could have been a Hammer horror. Like much of the best of 'British' - Withnail and I, The Ruling Class, Summer of Love and Skilomoski's own Deep End - The Shout benefits greatly from an outsider's perspective.
TheLittleSongbird Reminding me of the likes of the original Wicker Man in terms of style, The Shout is an unusual but very atmospheric film. While the story is compelling and very well-paced, there are some parts where it meanders slightly at the end where the film felt a little strange in its tone. Also the film is a little too short, I think the reason why the story meandered was to do with the attempt to wrap everything up before it was too late. And in regards to the DVD, the audio could've I agree been much better, it sounds a bit murky making some of the dialogue hard to hear That said, The Shout works in its atmosphere. The many moments that work are incredibly haunting, and the shout itself stuck in my mind for weeks. The Shout also looks very stylish, the scenery and costumes are wonderful, the lighting is appropriately bleak and the cinematography and editing add to the atmosphere without looking too slip-shod. The direction is very adroit and the dialogue is thought-provoking and very rarely over-the-top. The performances also help elevate. Alan Bates is brilliant, both John Hurt and Susannah York are perfect and Tim Curry is very effective in a smaller role.All in all, atmospheric and well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox
boughrood I saw this last night (19th Sept 2006) on DVD and would agree with the earlier comments. The cast is strong, the atmosphere of the film is tensely exciting and scenes are often like an animated painting - eg the cricket match. There was a scene I noticed early on, while I was in that phase, 'Shall I continue to watch this or go and play chess on the computer', of Alan Bates riding a motorbike and passing a car in which travelled Sarah Miles and the thought occurred to me after seeing it that it was technically very good and must have required some working out but I know little of these things. Any way I found that I had to watch the film all the way though and not to see how the plot worked out either but because it looked good and it looked different.