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Canal (The)
R2 - United Kingdom - Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (15th September 2015). |
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The Film
 David (Rupert Evans) and his pregnant Wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) buy a new period house sited not too far from a canal. Five years later and David, who is a film archivist, watches some old police crime film from 1902 that features a murder that happened in his house. David starts to delve into the case and soon becomes obsessed with it. At the same time David suspects that his Wife is having an affair. One evening he follows her and discovers her inside a colleagues house having sex. David, naturally distraught, flees the scene without being seen and later collapses in a public toilet where he is violently sick. Whilst in the toilet a shadowy stranger approaches him and whispers in his ear. David crawls from the toilet and believes he witnesses an attack on his Wife. David is too ill to prevent the attack. Later David recovers and makes it back to his house and his sleeping five year old Son. The next day Alice has failed to show up at the family home and David calls in the police to investigate. Alice’s body is discovered in the canal. The pathologist believes she fell in and drowned by accident. David then starts to see a mysterious, shadowy stranger, whom he believes is the real murderer of Alice. The police, however, suspect that David had something to do with Alice’s demise and start to dig deeper. David now starts to hear whispering through the walls and his behaviour becomes even more erratic. Has David’s state of mind become completely unhinged or are their really ghosts haunting his house? ‘The Canal’ is an effective chiller with a real hint of ambiguity about it. Much of what the viewer sees is not cast in stone. We are unsure of what David witnesses is real or the imagination of a guilty and bereaved mind. Rupert Evans, who is on screen for almost every scene is particularly effective in the role of David. He starts the film as a likeable, mild mannered man and gradually changes into someone who is either very sick or very haunted. Hannah Hoekstra is very good as Alice, very beautiful and aloof and it’s easy to believe she is hiding something beneath her surface. Billy, played by Calum Heath, is excellent. Child actors can often make or break a film and Calum certainly does not let the side down. ‘The Canal’ was written and directed by Ivan Kavanagh and he wears his influences on his sleeve in this film. The most notable influence is the so called ‘J-Horror’ films from Japan. Imagery in ‘The Canal’ mirrors quite a few scenes from films such as ‘The Ring’ and ‘Grudge’ and almost to as good effect. The lighting scenes later in the film, when the Christmas lights have been put up, has some great shots of red and green lighting that puts one in mind of Mario Bava’s ‘Blood and Black Lace’ and ‘Black Sabbath’. The first half of the film is quite the slow boiler but as the film enters it’s second half the tension is turned up quite considerably. The ambiguity of whether David has lost his mind or that the ghosts of the house are real keeps the viewer guessing right until the end and even then the answer is not completely clear. For anyone that likes psychological thrillers with a more than a hint of spookiness will surely enjoy ‘The Canal’.
Video
‘The Canal’ is presented in it’s original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphic. The picture is very good with blacks being quite deep. There are one or two scenes which are quite dark, and it can be difficult to make out exactly what is going on, but overall the presentation is fine. The scare scenes are handled well with the red of the blood looking particularly vivid.
Audio
The viewer has two choices for their listening pleasure, English Dolby Digital stereo 2.0 and English Dolby Digital 5.1. The 5.1 option is the preferred option. Whilst the sub woofer hardly comes into the equation (bar one or two moments on the musical soundtrack) the rear speakers get a good workout. The are plenty of good sound effects that permeate the rear speakers, most notably footsteps, a clock and rain, and these all add to the effectiveness of the film as a whole. Subtitles are, sadly, not provided.
Extras
The only extra available is the trailer for the film which runs for 1 minute and 40 seconds and accurately portrays the film. There are a further two trailers on start up of the DVD and these are for ‘Unconscious’ (1.26) and ‘Let Us Pray’ (1.35).
Overall
An effective chiller that will have lovers of ghost stories enraptured. The acting is of a high standard, as is the production as a whole. Some of the imagery is quite spine tingling, and some of it quite disgusting, ‘The Canal’ is an intelligent horror/thriller that will please most fans of the genre. 
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