The Shout(1978)
1978 · Jerzy Skolimowski · 86 min
A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.
Thriller · Mystery · Horror
6.0129 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
0/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How The Shout scares
It opens with a framing device that immediately tells you the story is being retold by someone whose sanity is in question, and the film unfolds as a slow, dreamlike flashback rather than a straightforward horror plot. The pace is deliberate and strange, more interested in unease and power games between three people than in scares or violence. Whether the strange abilities on display are real magic or delusion is never fully settled, which is part of what makes it stick with you. This is for people who like quiet, unsettling, art-house style dread rather than jumps or gore.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Shout rates psychological 5/5, visceral 1/5, gore 0/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 1 of 5
- Gore: 0 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 8 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 50 of 100 — balanced
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 75 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, strange, unsettling drift that circles back on itself, with tension simmering unevenly rather than building in a straight line, and a jolt near the end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3.
How scary is The Shout?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Shout rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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