The Canal (2015) - Review

Originally published May 2015.

The Babadook is a small horror film that has managed to garner a fair amount of praise and attention for one reason or another. It seems to be making some waves among my friends and over YouTube, even though I'm not sure there was much marketing for the film at the time of its initial release. I enjoyed it, but I still found the movie somewhat disappointing in certain respects, so I'm surprised that seems to be getting so much attention (even though I contributed in my own way by reviewing it). It's unfortunate then that I feel it has overshadowed The Canal, another somewhat low-budget, but well-made horror film that managed to evoke a much stronger reaction out of me.

I bring up The Babadook because both films seem to fit with the same audience, both focus on the ethereal and psychological, and both are still fresh in my mind. It just seems like enough people who normally don't watch horror movies saw The Babadook and thought it was the greatest and they're suddenly experts in the genre now; much like how people became super into B-movies when Sharknado came out. Maybe if I review The Canal, it will get more attention, since I'm sure the entire internet is waiting on bated breath for what I have to say.

Before going any further, I feel it necessary to disclose that I did not see this movie in its entirety. For one reason or another, I only saw bits and pieces of the beginning while I was busy working on other tasks before finally joining my girlfriend on the couch. However, I did see more than half of the film up to its end, and the latter half is when a majority of the interesting stuff happens, so I feel confident in giving an overall review, just keep in mind that I didn't see much of the beginning.

Judging from what my girlfriend told me, I didn't miss much. There were a plethora of jump scares, hallucinations, and various hints of a more sinister element of their house. Scattered in there were a few sex scenes and some minor characterization, but that characterization was likely unnecessary as it didn't really hinder my experience much. What I did gather on my own was that our protagonist, David, is living with his wife and son in their new house in a small neighborhood by a canal. David seems to have a pleasant life: he has a young son who is much more tolerable than the one in the Babadook, he still has an active sexual relationship with his wife (one of those sex scenes I mentioned is theirs), and he must have a quite successful job as an Archivist to pay for such a big house-- we have to assume this considering he never went to work during the parts that I saw.

Image: Netflix

Oh, but wouldn't you know it? The other sex scene I mentioned is with his wife and another man! So it's not so great after all. And wouldn't you know it? She ends up dead with her body discovered in the canal. Obviously, the police and the audience assume that David is responsible, but he seems genuinely surprised when the police inform him of her demise, even after the traumatic experience of walking in on her cheating. After a quick autopsy, the blame is shifted away from David as they suspect no foul play and think it was likely "an accident." David is not so easily convinced as his grief and desire to find out who might be responsible for his wife's mysterious death begin to consume him. His investigation into the history of his house, who may have killed his wife, and the horrors he uncovers is what a majority of the movie is about. I may have missed all the sections of this movie that would normally lower its grade in my book, but from what I got, it was quite a ride up to the end.

Pros

• Minimal CGI with solid and disturbing practical effects and camera tricks

• Decent acting from most of the cast

• The mystery and investigation managed to pull me in and make me interested despite the slow pace

• Some genuinely creepy moments throughout the movie using the "less is more" philosophy

• When it tries to be creepy, it succeeds

• The climax of the film is crazy and well-done

• The psychological strain on the protagonist definitely creates some thought-provoking ambiguity in the plot, making you wonder if the horrors he's seeing are real; it does a slightly better job than Babadook in this respect

• The kid is not annoying

Cons

• Many of the characters fall into the behavior that is very typical of this genre with some really poor judgment or the inability to explain something in a rational manner; in other words, they're really dumb for no reason

• Some actors are not so great...

• The movie's pace can drag at times and is rather slow in the beginning

• It doesn't really do anything new and is somewhat predictable once you get to the second half

• While relying on familiar horror tropes, it doesn't quite evoke an homage feeling that The Babadook had to fall back on

Additional Thoughts

Even though I wouldn't necessarily call The Canal "innovative," and the pacing can drag at times, it still managed to get under my skin a little bit when I watched it, which I attribute mostly to the simple "less is more" techniques they used to make the movie creepy.

One of the best creepy moments in the movie is when the main character is outside by the canal with an old windup camera. He sees a shadow by the canal so he pulls out the camera and starts winding it up as he sees the shadow being to move toward him. All we see as an audience is him closing his eyes as a shadow is cast over his face from something getting closer and closer as he winds up the camera. The noise of the camera, the act of doing something repetitive without being able to move, and the fact that we see nothing other than a shadow on David's face while he closes his eyes, it all builds the tension to a fever pitch, so that when the climax finally hit, it felt justified and exciting.

Image: Netflix

Worth Seeing?

The Canal doesn't do anything I haven't seen before in other films like it and I only saw the latter half of it, so I may have missed some crucial elements of the movie that make it far worse or better than I thought. However, what it did in the parts I saw, was done well enough to make it memorable and even better than some of its competition.

Worth a watch. Available on Netflix streaming at the time of this review: May 2015 Subscribe to our