I found "The Canal" to be quite comedic in its crafting, having laughed several times while trying to take it seriously, not because it wasn't scary, but at the production value itself.I admire Rupert Evans as an actor, but he couldn't save his fellow cast members from doing what probably they shouldn't have been doing in the first place, starting of with the kid's strange accent and ending with the teen nanny's unrealistic acting.Apart from that, I felt that the film editing was awful, with cuts and scene transitions that were completely random, furthermore the sound edition was not the best either. The writing didn't help the movie, although some scenes were written to be at most engaging, noting the hole in the wall scenes in particular.This movie isn't one of those "it's so bad it's good" and neither a decent horror film, I wouldn't recommended even for a mock night with friends.

The Shining is a sure inspiration and influence on the story, we have also a married couple with a male child moving into a haunted home where a terrible murder once took place by a husband who killed his cheating wife and kids. David (Evans) gets the same taste of poison when he finds out his wife Claire is cheating on him and then she ends up dead in the canal, supposedly drowned. We get a fair share of psychological horror mixed with bits of a ghost story ala The Ring with some elements of found footage but in this case, David shoots those footages and imagines the ghosts. Subtle direction on Kavanagh's part with creepy and eerie slow zoom ins and just plain fixed shots for an extended time and exquisite compositions layered with nice color schemes of blue, gold, and red and flavored with insane and psychotic violin music. Constrained chills and scares are scattered well throughout the movie until the story goes full throttle towards the end with thrilling scenes especially in the canal where his abhorrent-faced wife Claire covered with mud and sewer stuff all over gives birth and chases David with his son in his arms. The sharp editing and sound editing especially where they are used as transitions between scenes add to a lot of effect to the movie replacing the clichéd sudden jerks and bangs and appearances of certain things that is usually found and incorporated in horror movies.

This movie is garbage it is nothing but a waste of time simply put. I will not ruin the ending for those of you who want to subject yourselves to a movie playing off the oldest movie trope ever in 2014 no less. Once you get halfway through this film know that what you think this movie is going to end like is exactly correct it is over done. If you think this movie will pull itself out of the gutters on the last moments, you are wrong it is about exactly the way you predicted. This movie is predictable straight from 30 minutes in and you think that it couldn't possibly go there because it is so over done but it actually has the gall to do it. Its pathetic and i don't understand how it was publicized at all, this movie has already been made hundreds of times over. PLease do not waste your time it is utter garbage and does not even deserve its current ratings with people trying to come up with a defense for a poorly written movie. 1 out of 10 never watch again!

The story of David (a absolutely perfect Rupert Evans), a timid softhearted man who slowly looses control of his life after loosing his wife, in this well crafted whodunnit/ghost story.To call this pure horror would be incorrect. It's really more of a psychological thriller. And the way David breaks down in his obsession of finding out whodunnit is the true horror. The fact that there's a very young and innocent boy involved makes it even more so. It is however all disguised as a ghost story, and this is done brilliantly. The atmosphere is just great, the colors and lighting are also wonderful. I love what they've managed to do with a (I suspect) small budget. As mentioned before, the lead Rupert Evans can't get enough praise (hard to imagine he's the same guy as the nerdy young man who get's appointed to hold Hellboy's hand). And the kid, even though apparently hardly scared of anything, also does a great job. I also liked the fact that David's wife Alice is Dutch (at least a Dutch actress, with notable accent) and that they choose her mother to be a Dutch actress as well (more notable accent). Nice bit of realistic casting. More praise to that poor nanny Sophie, who also kind of goes through hell.Atmospheric, stylish, moody and gloomy as hell. Just my cup of tea 8/10