The film itself is really strange and not something I would recommend unless you were intoxicated or something. However, I watched this with my mum and brother. My mum wasn't very well at the time and she died shortly after. But this film gave her pleasure, she was laughing for the whole movie. A wonderful memory for my brother and I.
15 Reviews
Novel idea, but result is incredibly bad
grantss8 July 2017
A look at the modern world but with one alteration: people are essentially neanderthals or cavemen in their development and only communicate through grunts and signs.
A very interesting premise, which is why I watched the movie. However, from the first minute the movie doesn't offer anything beyond novelty value. The plot is pretty random and pointless and seems set up mostly to shock the audience. Many scenes which, while aiming to shock, made me just roll my eyes.
Even the main idea - people behaving like they're in the Stone Age - doesn't work well. The people involved live in modern home with modern technology, yet eat with their hands and don't appear to have any degree of intelligence. The concept was not grafted seamlessly into modern life at all.
End result is an absolute mess. Even worse, it's a pretentious mess. One of the worst movies I've ever seen (and I've seen over 5,000 movies).
A very interesting premise, which is why I watched the movie. However, from the first minute the movie doesn't offer anything beyond novelty value. The plot is pretty random and pointless and seems set up mostly to shock the audience. Many scenes which, while aiming to shock, made me just roll my eyes.
Even the main idea - people behaving like they're in the Stone Age - doesn't work well. The people involved live in modern home with modern technology, yet eat with their hands and don't appear to have any degree of intelligence. The concept was not grafted seamlessly into modern life at all.
End result is an absolute mess. Even worse, it's a pretentious mess. One of the worst movies I've ever seen (and I've seen over 5,000 movies).
Possibly the worst film I've ever seen.
medisin-13 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
So. People are like chimps but with modern technology. I'm not sure how they expected that to work, but it really doesn't. Everybody grunts a lot and throws food, but nothing really happens. I'm sure there was supposed to be a storyline and maybe it was trying to make a point, but it's lost amidst all the grunting.
I got really bored after 5 minutes and really wanted someone to say something. Anything. Just to relieve the monotony. It's so disappointing considering that the people involved in this film have done some really great stuff elsewhere.
With the amount of grunting, gurning, and gratuitous masturbation, this is kind of like really bad porn but with less of a plot.
I got really bored after 5 minutes and really wanted someone to say something. Anything. Just to relieve the monotony. It's so disappointing considering that the people involved in this film have done some really great stuff elsewhere.
With the amount of grunting, gurning, and gratuitous masturbation, this is kind of like really bad porn but with less of a plot.
Aaaaaaaah!
jboothmillard14 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Steve Oram made his big screen writing debut with the fantastic Sightseers, I read about this film when it was being broadcast on television, it sounded like an interesting concept, but it was rated the lowest of the low by critics, but I still went ahead and watched it. Basically it is set in a parallel universe, all modern day inventions exist, i.e. clothing, buildings, technology, transport, etc, but humans have not developed the ability of speech, and behave like primitive apes. It is a series of unrelated storylines, with a family and some outside people, and their interactions with each other. This can be anything from simple domestic situations, doing every day things including eating dinner, shopping and much more, then there is of course the underdeveloped, unevolved animal-like behaviour, from urinating and masturbating in public, not wearing clothing properly, not preparing food in a normal way, and a lot of sexual activity, from intercourse and foreplay in various places, and even animalistic sexual harassment. Starring Mindhorn's Julian Barratt as Jupiter, Holli Dempsey as Helen, Noel Fielding as Carl, Lucy Honigman as Denise, Shelley Longworth as Carolla, Alice Lowe as Sitcom Eudora, Tom Meeten as Keith, The Mimic's Terry Mynott as Radio DJ, Bo! in the USA's Barunka O'Shaughnessy as Party guest, Steve Oram as Smith, Sean Reynard as Og, Green Wing's Julian Rhind-Tutt as Ryan, Tony Way as Sitcom Lee and Toyah Willcox as Barabara. The biggest problem is that it is full of offensive and disgusting moments, these include a man urinating and the other man drying his penis, a woman giving a blowjob and then biting off his penis, and a drunken party with one man resting hill testicles on another's head. It could have been an interesting and indeed scary idea, a world with everything we know, but no words, there is not much of a plot, everyone communicates with a series of grunts and indistinct noises, and there is a sort of fight for supremacy thing going on, but it is such a shame to see talented people wasting their time, it is just a gross, unfunny and unwatchable horror comedy. Poor!
One of the very worst pieces of garbage that I ever had the misfortune to suffer through, it isn't fit to even be called a f***ing film.
Foreverisacastironmess1232 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Urgh, this thing, about god knows what, was simply horrendous. It was like watching a group of imbeciles who had all snorted copious amounts of coke and had begun to mime out vague scenarios just as it was kicking in! There was just not one redeeming quality, it was never anything but annoying and boring, there's nothing here! They just screamed at you, it was disgusting, and the sheer idiocy of its concept rapidly p*ssed me off within the first five minutes. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I realised there was no dialogue whatsoever, and that I'd have to listen to that mindless twaddle for the entire duration. Was it intended as a joke? I mean why would they do this? Who looked at this canker sore when it had wrapped and went "Ok, let's put this on TV, for millions of people to watch." Shame on you! I'm disheartened at the thought that there will actually be those 'auteurs' out there who will convince themselves that they'd enjoyed this and that it was in any way shape or form good, just because it was so ~original~, which apparently alone counts for so very much in the movies these days.. Who cares about story when we got originality on our hands, this 'movie' sure didn't! In what world could anyone seriously get anything out of this except for maybe a bad headache? I can occasionally enjoy bad movies and I had no expectations one way or the other when I decided to watch this, but it was way outside my tolerance level of s*it in a movie, at least B-movies can make you laugh. This was no film, it was a tedious comedy sketch stretched out to the point of absurdity. I could perceive no progression from the first minute to the first hour, it was just sequences of idiots screaming and yelling leading into additional scenes of screaming idiots, and then it ended! I did force myself to sit and watch it all because I was determined that such a gruelling monstrosity of a watch wasn't going to get the best of me, and I suppose it was kind of mesmerising in the way that a car wreck is, I could not help but keep staring agog just to see if it was actually going somewhere, and it never did.. Well knowing is half the battle(!) Many shoestring budget movies are very good, but there was no real effort put into this one. It's like they thought the concept of modern humans acting like Neanderthals could carry it, but however you look at it, that concept was horribly executed, as they're in a modern city surrounded by modern technology, so why would they be acting like apes? Not for me thanks, I would never consider myself any kind of expert when it comes to movies but I do know that I prefer them with acting, and a semblance of thematic structure, and not a bad interpretive stage play that I will never watch again ever. "Aah" indeed... Beware!
Aaaaaaaaah!!!
recycler-4419120 January 2016
When I heard that Robert Fripp had contributed music to this film I had to see it. Now I know why it is titled as it is. After 15 minutes, I felt like running away and screaming Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!, from this ridiculous nightmare of a film. I do not see how anyone in they're right mind could give a "brilliant portrayal" or "amazing performance", when the only lines are moronic grunting. I can not even believe Toyah agreed to do this film. She must be close friends with the producer.
Not even Fripp could save this piece of work. Someone finally beat "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", for the worst film ever made.
Bravo!!
Not even Fripp could save this piece of work. Someone finally beat "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", for the worst film ever made.
Bravo!!
Insane but great
johngrantforrest11 October 2015
I was lucky to get the chance to see this at the Cameo in Edinburgh on 9-Oct 2015, followed by a Q&A with Steve Oram. Steve reckons he saw a film/documentary about apes where one tribe attacked another - the males of one tribe killed all the males and youngsters of the other, raped the females then sat in the trees looking highly satisfied with themselves. Aaaaaaaah ! is a kind of adaptation of this story with the apes replaced by humans. Toyah is brilliant, Noel Fielding makes a short but entertaining cameo and the soundtrack, original tracks by Robert Fripp, is immense. Looking forward to seeing the Director's Cut with the extra blancmange.
Dumbest of the dumb
Leofwine_draca4 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
AAAAAAAAH! is undoubtedly the dumbest film I've seen in a long time, which is no surprise given that it's the brain child of the constantly overrated Steve Oram. The aim of the film is to depict a modern society with one key difference - mankind has devolved to the level of apes and can no longer speak a proper language. What sounds like a potentially interesting premise turns out to be a mere excuse for crude gags, bad taste scenes, and the expulsion of bodily fluids. There's sex and violence here presented in a matter-of-fact way, but the most shocking thing is that good actors including Julian Rhind-Tutt and Toyah Wilcox somehow thought it would be a good idea to get involved.
Marvellous
info-3654515 December 2017
An excellent portrayal of the inner human. Of course it doesn't make sense, it's surrealism. Not enough film makers are bold enough to make stuff this loose. If you get David Lynch, you'll probably get this. I would have liked the actors to make a bit more effort with the grunting. Often, it was too close to words (Toyah was particularly bad). The music is stunning. Very Fripp. Lovely little cameo from the instantly recognisable Alice Lowe.
Flawed genius
drjohntas7 July 2017
I love films that are seriously different. This film is exactly that. Why?
Almost all film and TV drama portrays its' characters behaving as humans do, one way or the other, in all sorts of scenarios. Even animation (Shreck, Monster inc) and animal (eg "talking dog genre", Babe, Nemo etc) movies depict the characters behaving in ways consistent with modern humans. You as watcher can easily relate to the characters
even if in violent or extreme scenarios.
Not so Aaaaaaaah !.
In this exceptional film the writer and director have made an attempt to change the depiction of personal, social and sexual behavior to fit a conjecture that humans could have carried full blown ape behavior and mores with them all the way from the jungle to modern post-industrial society.
On that level the film is riveting and a challenge to the cast of professional actors who did pretty well with it. However, on a serious downside . I found myself constantly battling with an endless need to suspend and re-suspend disbelief. It was really difficult to have an immersive experience with the film. You may argue it is not necessarily a bad thing to be forced to cerebrally multitask . but Fantasy and/or Sci-fi works well if it is consistent within itself. Suspension of disbelief is best achieved as a brief hypnotic act and you are in. This film constantly bothered me with its inconsistencies. Examples.. it places non-verbal grunting apes as the equals of our modern humans with exact achievements in science, architecture, technology and so on. Clearly absurd. Intellectual achievement require an extraordinarily complex language structure. All things need to be named and defined. Language is an essential prerequisite for thought. Grunting apes cannot achieve the results. A flat panel TV and iPad have advanced physics behind their creation. You can't grunt your way to an iPad. Also.. the human/apes in this film behaved in ways which were messy/anarchistic/destructive in the extreme. So why were they clothed in such immaculate clothing, and why was the film set in such an over-clean, over-ordered environment where absolutely nothing was out of place. The physical structure of the city environment, street cleanliness and manicure park lands shouted "INCONSISTENCY". And where were the forces of control (police etc) which would need to be present and dominant in a society with such rampantly anarchistic behavior.
And furthermore there were absurd, unnecessary .. school-boy-humour jokes injected into the film (eg a store manager masturbating all over a framed photo of Prince Harry) with no reason plot-wise .. doing nothing but challenging the integrity of the film.
I think many viewers will abandon the film as "this is too silly". However, for me it was a fascinating and rewarding experience. Recommend it?.. sure do.
Not so Aaaaaaaah !.
In this exceptional film the writer and director have made an attempt to change the depiction of personal, social and sexual behavior to fit a conjecture that humans could have carried full blown ape behavior and mores with them all the way from the jungle to modern post-industrial society.
On that level the film is riveting and a challenge to the cast of professional actors who did pretty well with it. However, on a serious downside . I found myself constantly battling with an endless need to suspend and re-suspend disbelief. It was really difficult to have an immersive experience with the film. You may argue it is not necessarily a bad thing to be forced to cerebrally multitask . but Fantasy and/or Sci-fi works well if it is consistent within itself. Suspension of disbelief is best achieved as a brief hypnotic act and you are in. This film constantly bothered me with its inconsistencies. Examples.. it places non-verbal grunting apes as the equals of our modern humans with exact achievements in science, architecture, technology and so on. Clearly absurd. Intellectual achievement require an extraordinarily complex language structure. All things need to be named and defined. Language is an essential prerequisite for thought. Grunting apes cannot achieve the results. A flat panel TV and iPad have advanced physics behind their creation. You can't grunt your way to an iPad. Also.. the human/apes in this film behaved in ways which were messy/anarchistic/destructive in the extreme. So why were they clothed in such immaculate clothing, and why was the film set in such an over-clean, over-ordered environment where absolutely nothing was out of place. The physical structure of the city environment, street cleanliness and manicure park lands shouted "INCONSISTENCY". And where were the forces of control (police etc) which would need to be present and dominant in a society with such rampantly anarchistic behavior.
And furthermore there were absurd, unnecessary .. school-boy-humour jokes injected into the film (eg a store manager masturbating all over a framed photo of Prince Harry) with no reason plot-wise .. doing nothing but challenging the integrity of the film.
I think many viewers will abandon the film as "this is too silly". However, for me it was a fascinating and rewarding experience. Recommend it?.. sure do.
Awful
grantgoldsbrough4 November 2017
Utterly terrible. Probably the worst film (of the thousands) I have ever seen. Shame to see well known actors in this rubbish, especially Steve Oram himself ! Do not waste your time watching this. It is a terrible and embarrassing concept - I was literally cringing whilst watching this.
Worse than Movie 43
devilishdelights-120 April 2021
This film is so repulsive and annoying at the same time that at some point all of this only mixes into one exhausting noise and you can hardly tell what is even going on. This makes it impossible to follow the "arc of suspense" (if you can call it that), so that at a certain point every further scene disappears in complete irrelevance. All I can remember about this film is the never-ending screaming. Thanks for that.
Spoilers follow ...
parry_na23 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Well! Two casually dressed men walk into a rainy woodland. One of them, Smith (writer and director Steve Oram) extracts a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress, possibly his wife, weeps and throws it into the bramble. Sobbing, both men then proceed to urinate on the picture before turning and pointing triumphantly at the city on the distant horizon and march off purposefully towards it, communicating only in grunts as they go.
Aaaaaaaaah! is a most acquired taste to watch, but a delight to review. It removes itself from any definition, featuring an entire cast of present day, well-dressed Neolithic-style throwbacks. It is many things, and as it features an absurdist extreme portrayal of the human condition, why should it not also be seen as horror? Some have called it a kind of mirror to the 'Planet of the Apes' films; instead of civilised primates living in uncivilised conditions, here we have city-dwellers with modern amenities portrayed as base animals. Any scenes of strived-for humour centre around the penis, defecation, violence and sex. Is it a comment on the decline of society? Who knows! And yet any comedy is reflected purely in the characters - the actual playing, although absurd, is approached with commitment. This grotesque 'parody' is serious business.
Lucy Honigman (as Denise) and, yes, Toyah Wilcox (Barbara) live with, provide for, but are repulsed by, their husbands. Honigman has a secret friendship with Jupiter (Julian Barrett), who lives in the garden (in flashbacks, we are given the impression that Jupiter was the head of the family at one time, but has fallen from grace). Noel Fielding, the other half of 'The Mighty Boosh' duo, also has a small part which doesn't last long. If you've seen his scenes, you'll know what I mean.
When Smith and his 'number two' Keith (Tom Meeton) arrive, Smith and Denise appear to get married. And it is Smith's new found dominance over the group that seems to thread any storyline this might offer. I quite enjoyed it. I don't know what it is trying say, but it has inspired me to write these words about it, and you to read them. Bless you.
Aaaaaaaaah! is a most acquired taste to watch, but a delight to review. It removes itself from any definition, featuring an entire cast of present day, well-dressed Neolithic-style throwbacks. It is many things, and as it features an absurdist extreme portrayal of the human condition, why should it not also be seen as horror? Some have called it a kind of mirror to the 'Planet of the Apes' films; instead of civilised primates living in uncivilised conditions, here we have city-dwellers with modern amenities portrayed as base animals. Any scenes of strived-for humour centre around the penis, defecation, violence and sex. Is it a comment on the decline of society? Who knows! And yet any comedy is reflected purely in the characters - the actual playing, although absurd, is approached with commitment. This grotesque 'parody' is serious business.
Lucy Honigman (as Denise) and, yes, Toyah Wilcox (Barbara) live with, provide for, but are repulsed by, their husbands. Honigman has a secret friendship with Jupiter (Julian Barrett), who lives in the garden (in flashbacks, we are given the impression that Jupiter was the head of the family at one time, but has fallen from grace). Noel Fielding, the other half of 'The Mighty Boosh' duo, also has a small part which doesn't last long. If you've seen his scenes, you'll know what I mean.
When Smith and his 'number two' Keith (Tom Meeton) arrive, Smith and Denise appear to get married. And it is Smith's new found dominance over the group that seems to thread any storyline this might offer. I quite enjoyed it. I don't know what it is trying say, but it has inspired me to write these words about it, and you to read them. Bless you.
Ugggggggg !
rotini-5258630 December 2020
Banana splits.......
FlashCallahan11 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Alpha Male Smith and his Beta, Keith, move to take over a local community.
They hook up with restless Female, Denise, igniting a deadly feud in which emotions run high and deep-seated grudges resurface amongst the tribe.........
Watch this film with the sound off, and it's a very strange take on the kitchen sink drama.
Two men, one obviously the leader, walk for what seems a matter of days to a house that seems like your ordinary working class family. You have your rebellious teen, atypical stay at home mother, and the obvious boyfriend who works, comes home, gets drunk and ignores the family unless he reviles them.
And then there's the father who lives in the garden with a penchant for Batenberg cake.
Sounds strange, but coming from the people who gave us The Mighty Boosh, and with a directorial debut from Oram, you sort of know that you are entering some sort of whimsical world.
Turn the sound on, and the cast speak entirely in caveman/ape like sounds, a sort of Quest For Fire meets Shameless.
Once you get used to this guerrilla (he he) style of film making, you really start to take interest in the narrative and the films depiction of the characters and how simple actions make the take a different direction in their journey.
Could the film be a damning report on our civilisations decline, the fact that the government are all too ready to give hand outs so people decide not to work, thus enabling a certain demographic to dumb down, or is it one mans nightmare, bought to the screen for us to share his subliminal suffering?
Whatever the message is, it's a stark vision to watch, Oram appears to have some sort of obsession with the phallus, and if you were expecting some sort of comedy, be very weary of entering this movie, it's a dark, vicious tale about weakness, losing everything, getting it back in a pseudo sort of way, and then being the one who makes the ultimate decision.
Performances are great, especially from Barratt, Honigman, and Wilcox.
Strange scenes that seem to not have anything to do with the film stick with you long after viewing, such as what the family are watching on TV. They make absolutely no sense whatsoever, but I guarantee that you've seen something like this several times on your TV.
It's a Marmite movie for sure, you'll either love it, or hate it, but you'll never say its boring.
An intriguing assault.
They hook up with restless Female, Denise, igniting a deadly feud in which emotions run high and deep-seated grudges resurface amongst the tribe.........
Watch this film with the sound off, and it's a very strange take on the kitchen sink drama.
Two men, one obviously the leader, walk for what seems a matter of days to a house that seems like your ordinary working class family. You have your rebellious teen, atypical stay at home mother, and the obvious boyfriend who works, comes home, gets drunk and ignores the family unless he reviles them.
And then there's the father who lives in the garden with a penchant for Batenberg cake.
Sounds strange, but coming from the people who gave us The Mighty Boosh, and with a directorial debut from Oram, you sort of know that you are entering some sort of whimsical world.
Turn the sound on, and the cast speak entirely in caveman/ape like sounds, a sort of Quest For Fire meets Shameless.
Once you get used to this guerrilla (he he) style of film making, you really start to take interest in the narrative and the films depiction of the characters and how simple actions make the take a different direction in their journey.
Could the film be a damning report on our civilisations decline, the fact that the government are all too ready to give hand outs so people decide not to work, thus enabling a certain demographic to dumb down, or is it one mans nightmare, bought to the screen for us to share his subliminal suffering?
Whatever the message is, it's a stark vision to watch, Oram appears to have some sort of obsession with the phallus, and if you were expecting some sort of comedy, be very weary of entering this movie, it's a dark, vicious tale about weakness, losing everything, getting it back in a pseudo sort of way, and then being the one who makes the ultimate decision.
Performances are great, especially from Barratt, Honigman, and Wilcox.
Strange scenes that seem to not have anything to do with the film stick with you long after viewing, such as what the family are watching on TV. They make absolutely no sense whatsoever, but I guarantee that you've seen something like this several times on your TV.
It's a Marmite movie for sure, you'll either love it, or hate it, but you'll never say its boring.
An intriguing assault.
See also
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