Review of The Canal (2014) by Kevin D — 16 May 2016

A Slow yet Haunting Film.

The Canal is a rather interesting story about a man's increasing feelings of inadequacy and jealousy, as he tumbles down a macabre corridor of horrific events. It's a fairly simplistic and direct approach to a rather horrid series of events.

Rupert Evans, portrays the central character David, a father and husband who works full time as a film archivist for a local university. He is in constant doubt with himself throughout this film, whether as a father or lover. Although, I found his emotional capacity rather bland at times, Evans does a great job in the first half of the film by showing a man spiraling out of control of his emotions, as his life unravels around him. His increasing anxiety and jealousy plays a large part of who he is as a man, and evidently these emotions lead to his undoing. He has a lot of screen time, so if you don't like this character, you may not enjoy the film itself, but I thought he did a fine job as the main focus of the film. Several other actors, especially Steve Oram as the tough and experienced homicide detective McNamara, did very well in their supporting roles.

The Canal is certainly influenced by other films of this genre. I noticed the main plot devices weren't entirely dissimilar to several popular Japanese horror films, most notably "Ju-on: The Grudge" (2002) as well as "The Ring" (1998). Although, what I really enjoyed from this film was the use of the camera throughout the movie. There are some fantastic tight angles that made this film certainly feel creepy. There are other moments when you feel absolutely claustrophobic, or in complete panic due to the handling of the camera itself. Some of the low budget effects (including a scene with David talking to his son via laptop) were still intriguing enough to surprise me at times. The gorier moments of the movie were well thought out, and didn't rely on jump-scares or bloody reveals. In fact there is some pretty awful imagery and decent background story as well. It does have a rather slow pace, but at only an hour and a half it doesn't go on forever. The Canal is an effective horror film, and it does well for the short screen time it has.

I think the most interesting aspect of the movie wasn't really the horror itself, though. You can watch it as a horror film if you like, but I found myself questioning what kind of film I was really watching. David certainly devolves into paranoia and delusions by the end of the film, but you have to ask yourself... is this because of an evil influence, or is it because David is completely insane. This film could be watched twice with either perspective (horror or psychological thriller), but I think it's pretty clear by the end of the film that the director has an excellent grasp on how to scare an audience.

3/5.