The Shout
Films Incorporated | Release Date: August 10, 1979 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
ColliderOlga Artemyeva
It's a truly visionary piece that feels completely modern and manages to not only be chilling but to pack commentary on so many relevant issues, from interpersonal power dynamics and conventional views of masculinity in society to colonial guilt and the fear of "the other". Read full review
80
Screen RantRichard Craig
Eerie, surreal, and impossible to categorize neatly, The Shout remains a unique horror movie that has never received the wider appreciation it deserves. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Skolimowski's second feature made in Britain is something of a triumph for independent production, with an impressively streamlined screenplay and faultless performances. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What makes the movie terrifying is the way in which the outback magic is introduced so naturally into the placid fabric of village life. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
Though Skolimowski had backed off from his formal ambitions somewhat (he once seemed a real rival to Godard), this 1978 feature is shrewd, imaginative moviemaking, a trance thriller that beats Peter Weir on his own turf. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski has been able to create a gripping film [from a story by Robert Graves] that holds attention most of the way through its economical length. Read full review
70
The TelegraphPhilip Horne
Based on a Robert Graves story about an Australian aboriginal "death-shout'', this elliptical, deeply disorientating puzzle of a film takes us on a mesmerising journey into cricket, madness and the supernatural. [20 Oct 2007, p.17]
40
The New York TimesVincent Canby
The story starts off well, like almost any ghost story made up by a child, but then it becomes so full of loose ends, contradictions, cryptic symbols and close-ups of objects that, at the moment, have no meaning, that one eventually tunes out of the narrative, much as one does when the child's ghost story becomes too hopelessly muddled for even the child to unravel. Read full review
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