The Shout is a film of magic, terror and sensuality; it seduces you through your eyes and ears while keeping your mind spinning with the strands of its intricate story.

Skolimowski is deft in handling these multi-level fragments which mix present and future, and at suspicion, suggestion and innuendo. He carries a mood from one scene to the next with textures, with sound and with fragments of dialogue. (p. 25)

How do you convincingly create a sound which kills people at close range, knocks birds from the sky and topples grazing sheep? The sound which bursts from Bates—who crouches, head bent to his shoe-tops, gathering force before delivering it—is a roar, a rumble, a blast of air. It encompasses nature and electronics. It is indeed stunning.

A warning: One element in the story is not—to put it kindly—absolutely crystalline in the film.

The Shout is...