Prepare
yourself for the dark side of film preservation. When an archivist happens upon
century-old newsreel footage of a grisly murder committed in his very home, it
rather unsettles the family man. History may soon repeat itself, but it is
unclear whether the evil agency is supernatural or psychotic in Ivan Kavanagh’s
The Canal (trailer here), which opens
today in New York.
Initially,
it would seem David has it all: a cool job, a hot Dutch wife, and a kid who is
crazy about dinosaurs. However, he does not seem to command much respect at
work or from Alice, the superior breadwinner in the family—a fact she is not
about to let him forget. Long suspecting she is having an affair, David finally
confirms her infidelity with his own eyes. Inconveniently, her murdered corpse
is fished out of the canal behind their house shortly thereafter.
Naturally,
the police immediately suspect David, because he could not possibly be more
guilty looking. However, he quickly becomes convinced the malevolent spirit of
their house’s former occupant is somehow to blame. He will duly wrestle with
issues of haunting and possession while trying to help his son process his
grief. He still looks guilty though.
Without
question, The Canal takes the honors
for the scariest public lavatory ever seen on film, right there on the banks of
the canal. The entire film is a master class in horror film production design
and cinematography, starting with the creepy as all get-out silent newsreel. Refreshingly,
Canal is long on mood and short on
gore, but it’s sexually charged waking dream sequences are definitely intended
for a mature audience.
At
times, there is almost too much interpersonal drama in The Canal, especially with regards to the mousy co-worker who only will
carry her torch for David just so far. It is also an example why kids in horror
movies should be used more sparingly. Nonetheless, the film’s ambiance and real
estate are uncommonly creepy.
Rupert
Evans maintains the ambiguity of cuckolded David’s sanity rather adroitly, but
he is so pathetically whiny, we just want to slap him silly. In contrast, Steve
Oram dials it down quite effectively as McNamara, the slightly cynical copper
working the case. Sadly for all involved, Hannah Hoekstra is not around for
long, but she makes a strong impression as Alice.
