Mikes Film Talk

This Irish horror film serves its terror with a skill that leaves one breathless by the end of The Canal. An Irish terror movie that does indeed cross three genres; horror, thriller and mystery. Ivan Kavanagh (Tin Can Man, The Fading Light) writes and directs this film. It stars Rupert Evans (Hellboy, Agora), Steve Oram (Sightseers, The World’s End) and Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Bright Star, Albert Nobbs). Newcomer Kelly Byrne is the nanny. The Canal is full of disturbing imagery.

It will haunt your dreams after you’ve seen it.

The Story

Film archivist David Williams and his wife Alice live with their son Billy in a mid terrace property. One that they picked out when she was pregnant with the boy. David has been watching some pretty disturbing film archives from 1902. He learns that a horrible murder took place in their home. Around the same time he catches Alice in mid coitus with another man. Enraged he grabs a hammer and then seemingly blacks out.

On the way back home, he finds that hammer still clenched in his fist and he throws it in the canal. He stops in a derelict public toilet. David vomits and passes out. The next day he calls the police to report Alice missing. David is convinces himself that the ghost of the 1902 murderer killed his wife. He now fears for Billy and the nanny.

The police find Alice. Thus beginning a downward spiral that threatens his sanity and those around him. Is David really going mad or are the ghosts in his house going to kill him?

Musings

This film features some scenes that are difficult to watch. We fear for everyone that David (Evans) comes into contact with. David sees things. He believes the house is haunted. It appears he, the murderer, and his victims are all trapped together.

Is David losing his grip on reality? Or he is really being haunted by the house? We feel the nanny and his son Billy (played quite well by young Calum Heath in his second film) are in danger. We also find it easy to that Williams has been driven mad by the archive footage he is watching.

Director Kavanagh does a great job piling up the pressure on the audience. We start feeling just as disjointed as Williams. There is one scene which will make you flinch, if not jerk away from the screen, towards the end of the film. The placement is perfect. Our nerves are shot by the time the scene appears.

Overall

The Canal is not overly gory and does not contain a lot of “jump-scares” but it delivers. Kudos to Sightseers star Steve Oram. No matter the role, Oram shows that he rocks. His detective constable with the weak stomach is brilliantly off putting. The moment where he offers some acid reflux medicine to David is just one such moment.

The blend of characters is perfect: Byrne’s pot smoking nanny His boss Claire (Campbell-Hughes) and Oram’s McNamara all fit well with Williams. He starts out so different from where he ends up. You can see The Canal on AMC+, Tubi, Crackle and can be rented or purchased on Prime. This Irish horror film is a real treat and a definite 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Do not watch this alone, in the dark or at night.

You have been warned.

The trailer