The Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It was based on a short story by Robert Graves and adapted for the screen by Skolimowski and Michael Austin. The film was the first to be produced by Jeremy Thomas under his Recorded Picture Company banner.

Plot

Crossley (Alan Bates), a mysterious travelling man invades the lives of a young couple, Rachel and Anthony Fielding (Susannah York and John Hurt). Anthony is a composer, who experiments with sound effects and various electronic sources in his secluded Devon studio. The couple provides hospitality to Crossley but his intentions are gradually revealed as more sinister. He claims he has learned from an Aboriginal shaman how to produce a "terror shout" that can kill anyone who hears it unprotected.

Cast

Production

Background

Producer Jeremy Thomas had initially wanted to get Nicolas Roeg to direct the film but Roeg turned down the offer due to being unavailable. Eventually Thomas hired Jerzy Skolimowski due to Skolimowski's fluency in English as well as having been impressed with his prior work on Deep End.

Filming

Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, the film's sets were designed by the art director Simon Holland. The North Devon coastline, specifically Saunton Sands and Braunton Burrows, was used for the bulk of the location shooting. The church of St Peter in Westleigh was used for the church scenes. The producer, Jeremy Thomas, later remembered his experience making the film, "Because I had a great director, and a quality piece of literature, I managed to get a wonderful cast such as John Hurt and Alan Bates. Skolimowski had a sense of shooting style then, this was the second director who I had worked closely with, and it was fascinating watching Skolimowski work. He came from a Polish tradition, the Wajda Film School, he had a different background to other directors I had been working with in the cutting rooms or elsewhere. And it made the film much more creative to me. I saw it more as an artistic endeavour by him. The film went to Cannes and won the Grand Prix de Jury. We were incredibly lucky and the film was appreciated by the jury. It was a very small festival then, nothing like the Cannes Film Festival of today, it was a small event in a cinema of 800 people or so."

Music

The soundtrack is by Michael Rutherford and Tony Banks of the rock band Genesis. The central theme "From the Undertow" features on Banks's album A Curious Feeling.

Reception

Accolades

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prize of the Jury, in a tie with Bye Bye Monkey.