The Shout Review

Is this movie one that is actually good? I don’t know yet, let’s find out!

The Scores

Interest: 4/10

Acting: 8/10

Storyline: 7/10

Intensity: 2/10

Fights Guns or Otherwise: 6.5/10

Nudity: 8/10

Director Score: 6/10

Musical Score: 7/10

Dialogue: 7/10

Logic In The Film: 6/10

The Shout is a 1978 film. The genres it mostly uses are horror and drama. The movies run time is one hour and twenty-six minutes. The three main stars of the film are Alan Bates (Known for Gosford Park, The Mothman Prophecies, The Sum of All Fears, and Woman in Love), Susannah Yotk (Known for Superman, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Superman II and A Man for All Seasons), and John Hurt (Known for 1984, The Elephant Man, Alien, and Hellboy). The director is Jerzy Skolimowski (Known for The Avengers, Essential Killing, Four Nights with Anna, and 11 Minutes) a Quick summary of this film is “ A traveler forces himself into a musician and his wife’s lives, using magic to confuse and charm his hosts.” Let’s take a deeper look shall we?

Interest: The movie is very slow, and its trying, clawing at trying to have good pacing, but it doesn’t. It is slow, and always is slow, with no real pay off ever, unless you are into the “if this were the real world” scenarios. But nothing on screen is going to make you freak out or feel strange or scared. Also the movie can be a bit hard to follow if you aren’t paying attention.

Acting: The acting is pretty fantastic, all done by well and established actors and actresses. Everyone did what was needed, and in some cases more, to really seal the deal for the characters. I won’t say they were very deep, but for the movies I have been watching this is a breath of fresh air.

Storyline: The storyline isn’t terrible, but for me and how this film is placed in genres, it is lackluster. I’d call this more of a Fantasy Drama than a Horror Drama. Nothing is actually scary in the film, but some things are made to seem scary (which they still aren’t) but it tries. I find this more palatable than a movie that tries very hard to scare you and it falls flatter than Kansas.

Intensity: Intensity is somewhat of a mixed bag. I say this because the film always feels like it is building up to this big climax, some massive payoff, and it never does. It just sits there building slowly over time, jut enough to remind you that it is building to something great, and the movie ends. It’s sad, this movie had a lot it could have done, and it just didn’t.

Fights, Guns or Otherwise: So there are never any fist fights, or for that matter anything physical at all. That being said verbal lashing happen modestly, but have enough impact that you remember them. Also mental scarring might be up there too, as half the movie takes part in a mental asylum of some sort.

Nudity: There is some nudity in the film. A few scenes, and it actually is used to move the plot forward! Yes that is right, finally another film that actually uses nudity to make the plot move (and in not so terrible ways) The nudity was tasteful, and men and woman are both shown naked.

Director Score: The Director Jerzy Skolimowski, did a decent job with the film. The shots were fun and meaningful, the actors and actresses he picked were great for the roles. I’d say everything was acceptable except what happened with the script. It wasn’t scary and it was just a let down in that single regard.

Musical Score: The musical score was good, ambient and set the mood well. It is nice, fitting, but with some jarring music on occasion to make you think something bad is going to happen (nothing ever really does). It is nice to have good music that fits the film, without feeling generic and not just pulled out of a reel of music.

Dialogue: The dialogue is fine, makes sense, and helps move the plot. None of the dialogue is revolutionary, no good one liners, or anything incredibly interesting.

Logic in the Film: The logic that is in the film is alright. Nothing too crazy happens that makes you go “Hmm”, but as I said earlier you will need to pay attention to the movie, otherwise you may get lost. And sense we are dealing with magic, most things are thrown out the window.

Did I enjoy this movie? Eh, no, not really. Do I recommend it? IF you like Tim Curry or the other actors or actresses, sure. The film while you van make fun of, it is much harder thing to do in this one. It is shot well and you can possibly learn something from it, but in the grand scheme of things, this movie will probably be forgotten to time, and if you watch it you’ll understand why. I give this movie a 61.5%, which is high for what the movie really is to me. Until Next Time!