Watch The Shout For Free

Why so much hype?

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Previous commentators have remarked upon the similarity of the framing story of this film (that reunites the author and star of 'I Claudius') to 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'; but no one yet seems to have noticed the resemblance to Pasolini's 'Teorema', in which Terence Stamp rocks the boat of a bourgeois household with a similar mystical droit du seigneur to that exercised by Alan Bates over a youthful John Hurt's luscious wife Susannah York (who at one point has a remarkably feral nude scene on all fours), despite his unkempt appearance and army greatcoat that recall Davies from 'The Caretaker' more than Bates' earlier saturnine romantic leads. Most reviewers seem also to be taking this tall tale of bucolic rumpy pumpy with more of a straight face than it's actual makers may have been. But it clearly needs to be seen (and listened to) more than once.

An early scene in The Shout (based on the short story of the same name by Robert Graves) shows a cricket match getting underway in a small English village. One of the scorers, Charles Crossley (Alan Bates) tells a story of a musician/sound effects artist (John Hurt) from the local village, who is unfaithful to his wife. Along comes a stranger (Alan Bates again) who invites himself to lunch at the married couple's house and tells them of his time in Australia living with an aboriginal tribe, during which time he claims to have perfected a shout that has the power to kill anything nearby. Eventually he is given an opportunity to prove it.This is a strange horror film. It tells its story subtly and not necessarily always in the order the events occurred. This approach could be part of the reason The Shout isn't at all well-known, despite its good qualities.Rich in symbolism and open to interpretation, this film drew me in and by the end I was both satisfied with the story that had been told but also left wanting. A second viewing helped me piece together a few more plot strands such as the significance of certain objects such as bones and a lost belt buckle, but also left me with a few more unanswered questions.From reading some other people's thoughts on The Shout, it seems to get compared to films such as Don't Look Now, The Wicker Man and Picnic at Hanging Rock. While I don't think it's quite as good as any of those, I would recommend it to fans of those titles. It fits into the mould of the more artsy genre films of the 70s, where the storytelling is complex and (in this case) rewards the discerning viewers attention.

Shout, The (1978)*** (out of 4) If a movie could win an Oscar for pure strangeness then this thing here would have swept just about every major award. The film tells the story of a newlywed couple (Susannah York, John Hurt) who move into a small house in the English country only to then have their lives taken over by a man (Alan Bates) who claims to have just returned from learning Aboriginal magic, which gives him the ability to kill by shouting. The thought of a movie being about a man who can kill simply by shouting would seem like a very stupid idea but it actually works here. This thing has been labeled and sold as a horror film but I think a lot of horror fans might be disappointed because there are very few elements of the genre. I think fans of art-house films are going to be the ones who really eat this thing up. There's very little that actually happens here as we're introduced to the three characters and slowly learn things about each one. There's nothing too flashy or outlandish, instead we're just given brief details that will eventually make up an entire story. Director Skolimowski does a masterful job at taking his time with all the material and really letting the atmosphere and mode carry everything. Again, the film doesn't rush anything but instead just lays back and lets everything slowly unravel itself. The mysterious of the drifter are never really explained and I'm sure each viewer could take away different things about what's really going on. The movie is very subjective and allows you to try and make up your own mind about what's going on. The director, who also wrote the screenplay, never spells anything out for you and instead leaves many allusions that most might not pick up on. You've got a very weird triangle as the drifter slowly starts to take over the happy couple and we get a couple rather bizarre sex scenes that are mixed in with some even more bizarre "shout" scenes. I think the three lead actors are all terrific and really help make this movie as magical as it is. York really stands out as she's certainly caught in the middle of these two men and their madness. Bates has always manages to do wonders with these weird characters and you can't help but believe everything he's saying and doing here. The supporting cast includes a very young Tim Curry from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. This certainly isn't a movie that everyone is going to enjoy due to how slow it is and how it really doesn't lay everything out for you. There are a couple beautiful scenes including one where we see Bates "shout" and then Hurt goes rolling down a cliff. The way this was shot is terrific and is one of many highlights in this forgotten gem.

A horrifying film by Jerzy Skolimowski. Alan Bates is a mental patient who believes he can kill people with a fearsome shout, something he picked up while living amongst Australian aborigines. He insinuates himself into the lives of sound man John Hurt and his wife Susannah York. What follows is a game of soul-taking, wife-taking and out-and-out bedlam. Bates, never the most stable screen presence, is brilliantly frightening and Hurt and York are excellent. The sexual tension between Bates and York is palpable. Skolimowski infuses the film with an unrelenting sense of dread. It's reminiscent of other classy horror films of the time (THE WICKER MAN, DON'T LOOK NOW). A great, unheralded film from one of the great esoteric directors.