The Shout
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Year Released: 1978
Rating: 3.5
Complex film about a loner (Alan Bates) - who spent time with aborigines and learned how to kill just by shouting - that decides, on a casual Sunday afternoon, to invade the home of a musician (John Hurt) and his wife (Susannah York) in order to sleep with the latter and dispose of the former. As a psychological thriller it's far more disturbing than most of what Polanski's been able to come up with (save Knife in the Water, which Skolimowski had a hand in) and the theme - about the fine balance between sanity and sudden hysteria (both shown during the cricket scenes which bookend the film) as well as fear of the supernatural - is handled very tastefully.
