THE CANAL

The Canal Movie Review

The same night film archivist David (Rupert Evans) discovers his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) is cheating on him, Alice goes missing and is discovered dead. David soon finds similar incidents took place in his house more than one hundred years prior when a man murdered his cheating wife, their nanny, and their child. David now struggles to connect the past with the present while also convincing everybody else of his innocence. This Irish horror flick is an odd combination of the really good, the really boring, and the really, really bizarre. The good: the mood is set early on, as we know right off the bat this is going to be a somber ride. The shooting style and music maintain the feel, and Evans does a fantastic job as the lead. There are not a ton a gory scenes, but the ones we do get are rather gruesome.

Ewww

The story itself is nothing terribly original, however, and it will certainly lose points for it's plodding pace. The director (Ivan Kavanagh, also the writer) relies far too much on one of my personal pet peeves of film, television, or any video of any sort for that matter: the jump cut. None of the characters are developed much, and the tension between David and his co-worker Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who I still say looks like Falkor) should have been built better throughout the film. Some of the scenes seem to go completely off the rails as Kavanagh seems to want to take the film in a more "arthouse" direction, and the results are mixed--the wall scene near the end is effective (if not completely original--thanks The Ring), but the birth scene is just--gross, out of place, unnecessary...but certainly memorable. All this leads to an ending that is equal parts jaw-dropping and ridiculous. The Canal is not a typical horror film, yet is very much clichéd, making it one of the more unbalanced films you are likely to encounter--it is worth a viewing, but approach with caution (and patience).

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 6

The Canal Movie Trailer