The Shout (1978) Reviews

• Underrated mystery

  rosscinema2003-08-05

  I haven't watched this film in probably 20 years and I had forgotten a lot of the plot but I watched it again recently and it reminded me that this was one of the most unique and interesting mysteries I have ever seen. Story starts out with a young doctor named Robert Graves (Tim Curry) who comes to an insane asylum to help keep score of a cricket match between the inmates and the staff and sitting beside Robert is a man named Crossley (Alan Bates) who starts to tell him the story of how he ended up there. Crossley was in Devon, England and meets Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) who plays the organ in church but is always experimenting with music and sounds and Crossley invites himself over for lunch. He meets Anthony's wife Rachel (Susannah York) and during lunch he tells them he spent 18 years with the aborigines in the outback and that he had killed his own children and learned some of the aborigine black magic. He spends the night but early the next morning Crossley and Anthony walk out to a secluded area because Crossley mentioned that he learned "The Shout" that can kill anything in the general area. Anthony puts wax in his ears and Crossley does his "Shout". It kills a local sheep herder and the sheep and Anthony is saved by the wax. Crossley possesses Rachels buckle from her sandal which he uses to put a spell on her to possess her as well. These scenes are shown in flashbacks and we're not sure if this is just a made-up story from a crazy man or the real deal. We know some of it is made up because we see York's character as a nurse. The film is directed by Jerzy Skolimowski and along with the Jeremy Irons film "Moonlighting" he shows good patience in the way he tells the stories in his films. This is a very effective mystery and their are lots of images that flash during the film that are cause for discussion and one that pops in my mind is that in Anthony's work room there is a photo tacked to the wall of someone or something on all fours. Later, Rachel is nude in the bedroom waiting for Crossley and she gets on all fours that mirrors the image in the photo! The performances are excellent and Bates brooding nature is put to good use here. His quiet but demanding persona is totally believable. I really enjoyed York in this film and the nudity that she is asked to do here reminded me that English actress's have an entirely different attitude toward nudity in films. York was always an excellent actress and she was very popular in the sixties and seventies and her performance here shows why. This is a film that is intended for mature audiences who are not afraid to view something that leaves some questions. This reminded me of two other films, "Don't Look Now" and "The Wicker Man" which didn't cater to a less sophisticated mindset. Well made and extremely effective.

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• Why should I remember

  stevedyeruk2003-02-17

  I saw this film for the first time when I was just 17 years old and it made an impression which has lasted another 25 yrs. I just cant forget it. To this day, I cannot think of another film which captures so much about the isolation of English civility from the raw power of tribal beliefs, and to bring them together in the gentility and peace of a rural Devon setting.. even the "Wicker Man" fails to gain such potency as it is set in what is from the beginning contrived to be island cultures.. remote from civil society, whereas "The Shout" is both in your face, while (as a 1970's film) hauntingly suggestive of unspoken fears and longings. As such it speaks of the era within which it was made, a time of fragile contentment and almost subversive experimentation with.. other ways of viewing the world. Bates and York's performances are also totally believable which contrasted with the other-worldly nature of the setting and story make it compelling viewing. As another review stated.. I believe this to be a thoroughly underrated film, while for me at least definitely.. a classic.

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• Shouting

  VideoKidVsTheVoid2006-10-19

  An utterly bewitching and fantastical film from the great Polish-born filmmaker Jerzy Skolimoski. An "abnormal" mental patient, Crossley (Alan Bates), tells a story of himself, which may or may not be true, to a young, confused looking Tim Curry during a mental institution run cricket match. He tells of how he self-imposed his way into the home of an experimental musique concrète composer, Anthony (John Hurt), who records all sorts of fascinating sounds and noises and then manipulates them with his mini-studio of electronic equipment, and his wife Rachel (Susannah York). Inside the flashback/flash forward/flash sideways, he tells them of a unique ability he has perfected, which he learned from an aboriginal medicine man while living in the Australian outback. It seems he can perform a shout that will kill anyone within a surrounding radius. He demonstrates "The Shout" to Anthony and unknowingly kills a local farmer. His presence in Anthony's home quickly becomes awkward and unwanted but he continues to force his stay with intimidation. He uses his mysterious mystical abilities to entrance Rachel into becoming almost rabid for him, and taunts Anthony with his conquest and powers. Anthony, humiliated and overpowered in his own home and life, searches desperately for a way to defeat Crossley; searches for the source of his "soul". Skolimowski uses the music and sounds that are recorded by John Hurt's character on screen (in real life made by Rupert Hine) as the metaphysical soul to this cinematic nightmare; similar in the ways David Lynch uses sound design as both an audio and visually integral mood stabilizing component in his nightmare-dream poems, or how Nicolas Roeg uses fractured time and images to a disorientating, hypnotic effect. In fact, it feels very analogous to a Roeg film. Highly recommended.

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• scandalously under-rated

  shmekel2006-03-08

  And I really do mean 9/10. This film is a superbly made, wonderfully acted, deliberately under-stated fantasy masterpiece. The sense of conviction, of the truth being portrayed even when the paranormal erupts into the world, is unnerving. Yes, the film as a whole is unapologetically high-brow, full of cultural allusions that many will miss (The dry psychoanalytic cracks, the Francis Bacon-inspired compositions, the inversion of Orpheus), but all that can happily be missed without in any way detracting from the film. For those who love metaphysics, the incredible thrill of the possibility of magic, this should not be missed. (The current DVD release, MOST Regrettably, has been sub-optimally re-mixed. However, for those new to the film, it shouldn't matter too much. For those who have, turn that shout up loud!!!)

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• the whisper

  jplenton2000-08-06

  02/08/00 Due to the success of The Exorcist and The Omen there was an upsurge in supernatural based films in the seventies. Most relied on the Christian belief system with tales of priests battling The Devil. I know of two exceptions. Firstly The Manitou, a messy film based on Red Indian belief. Secondly this film, The Shout, which relies on Aboriginal belief. From this preamble you may ascertain that The Shout is a horror film. Only in a loose sense, it is more of a dark and mysterious drama. The film opens (and ends) at a mental institution. The scene could be construed as a microcosm of `stereotypical' English life, with the rural backdrop, cricket on the Green, and brief thundershower. A visitor is told a strange story by one of the patients based on his past. This story is the focus of the film (cf. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) The patient imposes himself on a young couple living near a rural village. He claims to have lived in the Australian Outback for eighteen years and has become an Aboriginal magician. He has the power to enact a `terror shout', which kills anyone within earshot. He is met with initial scepticism and humour by the couple, especially the husband; Anthony played by John Hurt (typecast as the everyman victim/underdog). The appearance of a stranger or newcomer (in this film the patient/storyteller) is a familiar premise in film. The newcomer acts as a catalyst for change, gradually exposing the hidden `underbelly'/underlying tensions and secrets of the family or community visited. Cf. Knife in the Water, Cul De Sac, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, Vampyr, The Witches (1966), and that's only mentioning films I have seen this year. *spoilers* The stranger's choice of `victim' could be because Anthony is having an affair. Note introductory dialogue `that man had a wife who loved him'. The stranger leaves for a period, but as the affair resumes, promptly returns. Perhaps the story is in Anthony's imagination, brought on by guilt. Another theme is religious belief. The initial conversations between the stranger and Anthony are on Christian theology. The topic is not continued as the onus shifts to belief in the magician's power. Anthony can only seek retribution by believing absolutely, he too becomes a magician, but this costs him his `mind'. Note how both `magicians' end up in the asylum. Anyone with unorthodox or unwanted beliefs is hidden away. Are the magician's powers real or fantasy? He is telling the story remember and openly admits to changing it on whim. The ending chaos could be part of the story or delusion. The film leaves behind a lot of loose strings and unanswered questions. It is up to the listener/viewer to decide.

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