The Canal does for canals what Jaws did for sharks... okay, so that's not true. Maybe if you're really prone to taking ghost stories too seriously, this would make you not move near a canal. Or at least, not near a canal that is attached to your home by a series of secret tunnels. But I think that's just plain old good advice period - fear of horror movies or no.
Anyways, The Canal is a well-made psychological-thriller/ghost story hybrid about a man named David (Rupert Evans) - he's a film archivist and has a seemingly happy life. He likes his job, is happily married to his lovely wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra), and has a precocious five-year-old son that he loves dearly. But that all changes when he's at work looking at some turn-of-the century (1900) footage of a crime scene - unbeknownst to David and Alice, their home was once the scene of a brutal murder. Around that same time, David starts to get a sneaking suspicion that Alice may be cheating on him. And when Alice mysteriously disappears, David is the prime suspect - the investigating officer says "people always suspect the husband. You know why that is? Because it's always the husband, every f---ing time." David is steadfast in his innocence, and begins to think that the ghosts that he's beginning to see - in his house and in the nearby canal - may be at fault. Is David just going mad? Or has he unleashed a heretofore hidden paranormal energy feeding off the history of occult worship and murder in his house? Tune in to find out!
The Canal is pretty tense as far as ghost movies go. It's got a great foreboding sense of doom to it - you can sense David's panic as he comes across a bunch of different kinds of ghosts - The Canal draws on a lot of different styles for it's scares. You get some rotting J-horror type things, creepy kids, shadow figures, and just plain old bloody dudes. And although it's never made entirely clear just what kind of threat they present, they're all well-designed and their presentation is almost always effective. And there are some pretty nasty scenes of gore in there as well - including one unforgettably disgusting bit. But most of what you get is just snippets... a lot of scenes of violence in this film are edited together in quick, almost music video-y type flashes. Although there's something to be said about not dwelling on any gore for too long - sort of half-knowing/seeing what's going on can be more disturbing than a long drawn out scene. But ultimately, The Canal is less of a gory or jump scare type film and more of a creeping dread type thing.
And the sound design plays a big role in the film's overall effectiveness. I would say I jumped more at the sound mix than any visuals on screen. It's actually a little annoying at times - how it goes quiet quiet LOUD so often (especially if you're watching it with someone trying to sleep the next room over). But I get that it's by design, and it does a good job keeping you off balance. Another example of the good use of sound is the old film/projectors David uses in his quest to find the ghosts - he tries to film them with his old-timey camera, and whenever he loops the film to watch it the projector noise is just amped up to ridiculous levels. I think the idea is that the past is terrifying, and the projector plays into that. Especially as a movie nerd, there is this sort of Pavlovian response to the sound of a projector - but here you end up being wary of it. You also get a lot of eerie/creaky wailing/noises in the background which amps up the tension a little more, and there is a surprising lack of music on the soundtrack. (I think that total silence is often a lot scarier than any score could be, and The Canal uses that concept to great effect.)
It's a well-put together film, all things considered. In hindsight, not a lot actually happens - there aren't a lot of moving parts and the cast is relatively small (aside from a few scenes with extras). But it's evenly paced and never loses momentum. It's shot with enough style, and keeps you off balance and guessing enough, that it moves along quickly.
It's also very well cast/acted. Rupert Evans is excellent as David. The Canal is essentially a one man show when you get down to it, and Evans is able to show the full range of emotions necessary to sell a character under extreme duress - you get anger, nausea, disgust, depression... think of any negative emotion, and he has it here at one point or another. And Hannah Hoekstra is good as Alice - she gets a much more subdued supporting role, but is able to convey her discontent with David and their life together with a few subtle moves/looks. Also, Calum Heath is good as Billy, David and Alice's five-year-old son. I generally hate on little kids in movies, but he's a good presence. I don't know, it might have something to do with his little Irish accent. (It's an Irish film, although the accents aren't terribly thick as a general rule.) But at any rate, he does a good job even if being in distress is his only real purpose. He absolutely makes the end of the movie though.
So The Canal is more well-crafted than much of the ghost fare you come across. And definitely one of the best canal movies I've come across. Kudos to director Ivan Kavanagh for taking a script (which he also wrote) that could have easily gone either way - the story alone is not strong enough to survive weak direction or a lack of technical prowess. But he knows how to build tension well, and the whole film looks really nice - from the sets to the old-timey film to the look/feel of the various ghosts, the production design is great.
The Canal may not be a great film... there just isn't enough plot there to tickle the story-telling loving part of my brain. But it's still a really, really good one. Recommended if you're open to having a little style over substance.
I would recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment