The Canal (2014 film)

The Canal
Directed by Ivan Kavanagh
Written by Ivan Kavanagh
Starring Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Rupert Evans
Steve Oram
Music by Ceiri Torjussen
Cinematography Piers McGrail
Edited by Robin Hill
Production
company
Park Films, Treasure Entertainment, Western Edge Pictures
Release dates
Running time
 92 minutes
Country Ireland
Language English

The Canal is a 2014 Irish horror film that was directed and written by Ivan Kavanagh. The film had its world premiere on April 18, 2014 at the Tribeca Film Festival, and stars Rupert Evans as a father investigating a horrific murder that took place in his home in the early 1900s.[1]

Synopsis

Film archivist David (Rupert Evans) has been having a rough time lately, as he suspects that his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) has been cheating on him with Alex (Carl Shaaban), one of her work clients. This stress is compounded when David's work partner Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) gives him a reel of to-be-archived footage that shows that his house was the setting for a brutal murder in 1902. Becoming progressively more unsettled and unhinged, David begins to believe that a spectral presence is in his house and ends up following his wife to a nearby canal, where he discovers that she is indeed having an affair with Alex. When Alice goes missing shortly afterwards, David contacts the police- only to become the prime suspect in her disappearance. As the police grow more convinced that David has murdered his wife, he struggles to find proof of his growing suspicion that something otherworldly was instead responsible.

Cast

Production

Filming for The Canal took place in Dublin, Ireland during the summer of 2013, with funding from the Irish Film Board and Section 481, Ireland's tax incentive for films and television.[2] While creating the script, Kavanagh decided to draw upon his own fears and wrote the script in a "start-to-finish" manner, beginning with the first page of the script.[3][4] He also heavily focused on the movie's sound, as he wanted it to be "as important as the picture" and did not utilize any pre-recorded archived sounds.[4][3] Kavanagh experienced some difficulty with filming the footage for the 1902 reel, as he wanted it to look identical to Louis Lumière's Feeding the Baby. He tested out different camera formats before finally filming the finished product with a 1915 Universal movie camera and using the "lowest speed B&W 35mm stock we could get our hands on".[3]

Reception

Critical reception for The Canal has been positive and the film holds a rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews.[5] Twitch Film praised the acting of Steve Oram and child actor Calum Heath, as they considered them to be some of the highlights of the movie.[6] HorrorNews.net and Fangoria both gave the movie glowing reviews, and Fangoria commented that it was "an unnerving, dread-fueled piece of work".[7][8] Bloody Disgusting stated that although the movie will "test the patients [sic] of some viewers, and could really use a more impactful finale", it was overall "an old-school genre haunter".[9] In contrast, Slant Magazine panned The Canal overall, remarking that while the movie had some elements they enjoyed, they felt that the movie did not delve deep enough into the potential imagery and themes, making things feel more shallow.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Umstead, Ben. "Tribeca 2014: Watch The Pulse Pounding Trailer For Midnighter THE CANAL". Twitch Film. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Molumby, Deidre. "Ivan Kavanagh’s ‘The Canal’ to have World Premiere at Tribeca". IFTN. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Meet the 2014 Tribeca Filmmakers #35: Ivan Kavanagh On Putting His Own Fears Into 'The Canal'". IndieWire. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Barone, Matt. "Tribeca: The Festival's Best Horror Movie Comes From...Ireland? You Better Believe It". Complex. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Canal (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Chaplinsky, Joshua. "Tribeca 2014 Review: Ivan Kavanagh Dumps All of His Fears into THE CANAL". Twitch Film. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  7. ↑ Stryker, Jonathan. "FIlm Review: THE CANAL". HN.n. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Zimmerman, Samuel. "“THE CANAL” (Tribeca Movie Review)". Fangoria. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "‘The Canal’ Is Brooding, Dark and Scary!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  10. ↑ Gonzalez, Ed. "Film Review: The Canal". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2014.

External links