Customer Reviews

The Shout [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the opening scene we are introduced to a young student of psychology Tim Curry who is in turn introduced to Alan Bates. The two strike up a conversation while scoring a cricket match and the film is that story told in flashback. O yes the cricket match is taking place on the grounds of a mental institution and whether Alan Bates is a patient or not is not stated. In fact we do not know just who is sane and who is not throughout this "story". Bates tells Curry that each time he tells one of his tales he tells it differently and so from the outset it is admitted that what will be related will be just one telling of a tale that has been told before. Curry is all ears as Bates begins his tale....and so are we.

The tale: Bates is a wanderer passing through a village who carefully notices a few things about a certain man before approaching him. That man is played by John Hurt. Bates knows something about Hurt which allows him to slowly intrude himself into Hurts life. Hurt resents the intrusion and his wife played by Susannah York also resents it, at first. The wanderer is at first just invited for lunch but ends up staying at the couples seaside home for an extended period. The couple seem overwhelmed by the man who begins his stay with the couple by also telling them a tale. The tale he tells the couple cannot be revealed for it holds the secret to the entire film but its content casts a mysterious spell over Hurt and York. For Hurt who dabbles in his music lab all day searching for some new kind of sonic sensation the wanderers tale proves more potent than anything Hurt himself can create and thus Hurt retreats within himself, as if creeping back into childhood he sleeps. For York this potency has a tremendous awakening effect. Bates presence and his tale is something that cannot be logically dealt with and thus its tremendously maddening fascination. But is it true?

Back to the present: Bates finishes his story and Curry is dumbstruck. It begins to rain. And the thin veneer of civilization that is the cricket match is washed away. The people on the grounds rush for cover. Bates has finished his tale but just to be sure there is no mistaking it for a mere tale he makes his point heard in a way that leaves no mistake as to its verity.

If you are not already familiar with Jerzy Skolimowski to my knowledge he has made at least three masterpieces: Deep End, The Shout, & Moonlighting. All three quite different but all three very much worth your while.

I first fell in love with this film after watching it on VHS in 1987. I bought my own copy, and the love affair continued. Then, along came the DVD; man, the anticipation!! This film is all about sound, after all; its visceral, psychological and (dare I say it?!) spiritual impact. But what happened?? You guessed it; a cohort of idiots, for their own dumb reasons, had felt obliged to do a REMIX. The result? Watching the (UK) DVD of The Shout is a PROFOUNDLY DIMINSHED EXPERIENCE. This is an awful shame, for The Shout is one of the most classy, measured, inventive, sincere and electrifying fanatsies ever filmed. Its garb is understated and refined; its soul is pure chaos, and the counterpoint works!!
The current version available is an insult. Maybe the studio could see its way clear to honouring the original work by offering a worthy DVD transfer??

To begin with, I'm not certain which movie the previous reviewer was talking about, but it certainly wasn't "The Shout" with Alan Bates.

"The Shout" centers upon the actions of a quiet and mysterious traveler, who, after many years in the Australian Outback, arrives in a rural English town and takes temporary housing with a local couple.

Told in retrospect from a mental institution, Bates' sophisticated but dark character unravels a tale that seems, at first, to be the musings of a disturbed megalomaniac. However, as we are drawn into his world, we are inclined to wonder if a clear line can be drawn between fantasy and reality.

The movie is powerful, yet subtle and weaves an atmosphere of quiet tension.

The Shout! An all star cast. Rocky Horror fans will love one of Tim Curry's First movies. John Hurt fans will love his performance. Alan Bates. No need to comment here....
If you liked "Pi" and "Dogma" and "Sling blade",
The Shout is a must see. Again and again.
(with the volume up!)

That decade produced movies that would never be greenlit today: BREWSTER MCCLOUD, THE WICKER MAN ... and THE SHOUT. Like WICKER MAN it fits no simple niche, it is thought provoking, spooky and unsettling. An ancient weapon that can kill -- and in a mind-blowing demonstration Alan Bates shows John Hurt just how powerful it is. A story within a story. Bates character is an enigma and only in the end do we realize where this is all taking place. Great performances by Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens and a very young Tim Curry. Keep an eye out for this popping up on region 1.

Along with Deep End and Moonlighting, this is one of Jerzy Skolimowski's best films. Starting with a cricket game at a British mental institution, it moves back in time to tell the story of a strange drifter, played by Alan Bates, who comes upon the home of a young couple. The wife, pretty Susannah York, is intrigued with the handsome drifter; complications arise.

But this is not the standard love triangle story at all. Bates' character claims to have a bizarre ability which should not be revealed here--which he learned while adrift in the Australian outback for several years. The final revelation of this ability and its consequences are a powerful climax to a riveting film that effectively puts the tale of the outsider in a startling context. The tension here is subtle and strong, giving this film a momentum that holds the viewer captive, just as Bates' character himself holds the couple psychological captives.

Highly recommended; deserves much wider recognition.

Axiomatic in horror films:The more you see the less you take it seriously. The best leave you jilted at the altar,but you never forget the experience. The Shout is not a horror film - it is a dare. In "The Shout" an organist in a diminishing parish lives for his own world of basement sound sampling. A beautiful wife puts up with him. Alan Bates the evil stranger boasts of an aboriginal shout which kills everything around. The wife is attracted. Director Skolimowski is not one to chicken out. We get the shout. A great premise, maybe impossible to pull off.

Mr. West's review is close; the other one is of ANOTHER MOVIE ENTIRELY. I would add that one of the many subplots revolves around the concept of the human soul fleeing from the body under times of extreme stress, and taking refuge in an inanimate object...a powerful, strange, haunting film. RECOMMENDED

A woman takes her husband and son back to her home country of Ireland to visit her aging grandmother and uncle, who live in a huge old mansion on a dark and rainy cliff overlooking the sea. Turns out her uncle has discovered a 2000 year old body of a witch, who'd been underwater all this time...and he has her stashed in the basement. Well, need I mention how this witch comes back to life and tries to steal the soul of the young woman who's returned home?? The story's all right, but the atmosphere is quite nice and spooky.