Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Vomitron_G There's something profoundly ludicrous about the whole premise of this film, but the story is told in such a straight-faced manner it becomes compelling to the viewer. Aboriginal mysticism finds its way to the English country-side in the form of a spine-shattering shout that can cause all life cease to exist. One mysterious man possesses the knowledge on how to use this shout and forces himself into the lives of an unknowing, loving couple. The main story is a bit oddly placed between a pro- & epilogue set during a sports event at an insane asylum, which does wrap things up nicely. If you have a thing for a strange, offbeat mixture of mystery/horror/thriller/drama, then you can't go wrong with "The Shout". Due to its disquieting triangular relationship of the three leading characters (John Hurt, Susannah York & Alan Bates; yes, you may expect some nudity from all of them), "The Shout" might make up for the better half of a double bill with Norman J. Warren's "Prey" (1978).

Kenneth Anderson Alan Bates plays a mysterious, potentially insane man who insinuates himself into the lives of a British couple (Susannah York, John Hurt) claiming his years studying Aboriginal magic have left him with, among other powers, the ability to kill with a shout.Given that I was in film school in 1978 and enamored of any and all films that were enigmatic and aggressively non-linear in their storytelling (the more indecipherable the better), I am rather surprised that "The Shout" somehow got by me. Seeing it now, I can tell that it is just the kind of film that I would have loved as a youthful, elitist film scholar. (As in "The Emperor's New Clothes," many of us who fancy ourselves serious film fans have the tendency, with films like this, to adopt the self-flattering position of: "How could you possibly not understand what this film is about? Go back to your formulaic Hollywood product that spells everything out!" - ignoring the very real fact that self-conscious incomprehensibility was often the raison d'etre of many 70's films and frequently indicated nothing deeper than a willingness to depart from the traditional at any cost).To my adult eyes, "The Shout" is an engrossing metaphysical puzzle. A chilling & superbly acted thriller that is nevertheless cluttered up with so many artsy touches that they serve to undercut the overall effectiveness of the story.I liked the film very much and have watched it twice, but, should you find yourself on the other side of this opinion, don't buy into any of the postings that would have you think yourself a mouth-breathing plebeian if you don't understand it…that's youth talking. "The Shout" is constructed PRECISELY so that it is not easy to understand, and edited in a way that defies the attribution of a single, absolute conclusion being drawn. Like "Don't Look Now," "3 Women" and "Images," "The Shout" is designed to invite differing (sometimes conflicting) interpretations.Whether or not one likes the film is a matter of taste, not intelligence. Perfectly bright people who find it a muddled and ultimately pointless exercise are no less perceptive than those who consider this one of the best films ever made. For my money, I enjoyed its mysteries and ambiguities, but there is no denying that the same film could have been made a great deal more entertainingly (and comprehensibly) without losing any of its spiritual heft.

MARIO GAUCI I'm always fascinated by the way a country like Britain is presented in a totally different, almost alien way when 'looked at' by a foreign film-maker. Skolimowski is an underrated director, and I've generally been impressed by what I've seen from his work; as a matter of fact, I might be watching three other films of his that I own on VHS - LE DEPART (1967), THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD (1970) and TORRENTS OF SPRING (1989)...The plot of this film (from a story by Robert Graves) is compelling and relatively simple but, handled in such a weird fashion (one might say deliberately), it becomes somewhat hard to take! Still, there's a strong cast on hand: Alan Bates (who has had perhaps the most interesting, if largely unsung career from the British New Wave's flock of "Angry Young Men" - I followed this with one of his early films, THE CARETAKER [1963], via the BFI's R2 SE DVD), Susannah York and John Hurt in the lead roles and, in support, Robert Stephens, Tim Curry and an impossibly young - and thin - Jim Broadbent.Bates and Hurt play typical roles - the former eccentric, the latter bewildered - but their rapport, and the one each shares with York, is what holds the film together. There's also an effective electronic score by two members of the then prog-rock band Genesis (appropriate considering that Hurt plays a musician with a penchant for experimentation with everyday sounds)! The scenes involving Bates' deadly shout are very well handled; its Aborogine connection links the film with another strange contemporary title, Peter Weir's THE LAST WAVE (1977), which I've only watched once but remember liking a lot - so much so that I considered purchasing the Criterion DVD, despite its being one of their lower-tier releases (then again, THE SHOUT is an absolutely no-frills edition but, at least, it was dirt-cheap!).If there's any complaint I have to make about the DVD, it's the fact that the audio level is rather low and, consequently, the dialogue - part heavy British accents and part Bates' whispered delivery - is unintelligible at times (which can become frustrating, given that this is largely a dialogue-driven film!).

shmekel 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!!!)