The Canal (2014)

This movie was well-made, and the acting was technically good, but I had a hard time connecting to the male lead. I didn't care enough about his character to be riveted to his story. I liked the creepy macabre flashes throughout, and the storyline had promise, but I found myself a little bored and watching the clock for most of the movie. However, in the league of indie horror movies, this one was better than a lot of them, and I can see why it got so many positive reviews.

Let me save you a lot of time. The cop tells the husband "You know why everyone always suspects it's the husband? Because it's always the husband." Guess what? It's the husband. And you know it's the husband. Not for a second does any of the slightly supernatural nonsense make sense. Nor is his psychosis really explained. He killed his wife...but the ghost of his wife kills him? So we have supernatural/not supernatural....and then, the dad is suddenly some evil dude living in the wall who orders his five year old son to kill himself so they can all be together? YOU DON'T KILL OFF A SMALL KID IN THE FINAL 60 SECONDS JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE IT. Oh, and just to make it more ambiguous, apparently, the woman "sees" the ghost son in the house at the end. I could barely get through this movie, but I thought, huh, really decent reviews, it's got to be worth this crippling slow repetitive garbage. The only reason I'm giving this a two is because the child was such a great actor.

After reading description on IMDb before watching this flick, thought like its kind of haunted house or another sinister like movie & i guess i was right...But if you using already used concept in your current movie, then you should be able to give something more interesting to audiences than its original version. Fortunately director & script writer tried to do so but unfortunately as end product the film wasn't that effective.Movie is horror thriller but apart from some good jump scares, it doesn't gives you much more as movie to remember. Thriller & Fear element is badly missing.Off course you can watch this movie, but even if you don't watch, you are not going to miss anything important...

I don't know why the IMDb score and Metacritic score are so low on this one. That's one of the reasons I put off watching it for a while but I'm so glad I finally got around to seeing it; it's one of the better horror films of recent years, and I'm a huge horror junkie. If you like disturbing horror that gets under your skin and doesn't rely on jump scares or constant gore then this is for you. The film is beautifully shot and has some exceptionally creepy visuals. It's sporadically violent and cruel but every moment of blood letting or grotesquerie is expertly handled and actually frightening rather than pure gross-out. I urge you not to watch the trailer as it contains spoilers I wish I hadn't known before going into it. If you want to know what to expect, I'd say it's got elements of films such as The Shining and The Ring, but it has a very unique feel. There's a nice dose of drama along with the horror and Rupert Evans is thoroughly believable and engaging in the lead role, much more so than your average modern horror protagonist. Highly recommended!