The story begins with a series of powerful events about David, a man in crisis when he discovered that his wife and Alex - one of her clients - were deceiving him. Maybe it was not quite so, when something strange appeared shortly after. When David received a tape from his colleague explaining that his house was a place of savage killing in 1902, things might change completely.
Writer-director Ivan Kavanagh and cinematographer Piers McGrail fashion something properly cinematic from their watery, nondescript locations: an overcast, portal-like towpath, and a dilapidated public loo ...
A truly original horror film isn't easy to come by these days... The Canal, isn't the film that's going to change that, but it does have its positives.
Injecting explicit imagery into an old-fashioned possession story, writer-director Ivan Kavanagh brandishes his unusual mix of styles right from the beginning.
Making the most of its modest attributes and a wrenching central performance by TV regular and Hellboy veteran Rupert Evans, this Irish chiller lurches from unspoken eeriness to outright horror as it plots a familiar paranormal trajectory.
Rupert Evans' performance as David is alarming in the shift from unassuming and tender husband and father to demonic neurotic and delusional obsessive.
Though some of the plot doesn't entirely add up, with a few ill thought-out reveals towards the end, the sinister atmosphere is enough to keep you teetering on the edge of your seat for most of the running time.
