The Shout

Alan Bates is suitably saturnine as Crossley, an intimidating wanderer in a dark overcoat who arrives at a quiet Devonshire village and shakes up a bored couple’s marr... more >

Alan Bates is suitably saturnine as Crossley, an intimidating wanderer in a dark overcoat who arrives at a quiet Devonshire village and shakes up a bored couple’s marriage with unsettling tales of mystery and violence. Crossley claims to have picked up supernatural powers from living with Aborigines – not least, the ability to kill by unleashing a ground-trembling shout. In establishing whether he is mad or a genius, the couple (John Hurt and Susannah York) fall under Crossley’s spell, and soon his destructive influence takes hold. To evoke the stranger’s manipulation of fantasy and reality, The Shout serves up a disjointed, hynotic visual and aural assault (thanks to pioneering use of Dolby stereo sound); the result is a horror-art film that stands out from the crowd. Not quite in the same league as Don’t Look Now, and not quite as oddball as The Wicker Man (although it’s not far off), The Shout nonetheless deserves to be placed in that esteemed company for having ambitions that reach far beyond the staple diet of Gothic and Guignol that constituted seventies British horror. < less

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• Classic Films from Network

DVD Extras

• Audio Commentary with horror experts Kim Newman and Steve Jones
• Information folder original press pack (PDF format).

Film Details

Cast

Alan Bates, John Hurt, Susannah York

Technical Details