the canal ( 2014 film )
reviewed at sitges film festival, oct. 6, 2014. (also in tribeca, busan film festivals .) running time: 94 min .
an empowering narrative from inside the war. when multicultural and heterogenous allies give hope. in december 2014 isis militants ...
the film is beset in imagery that references pregnancy and childbirth; water plays a big factor, as does duality. the references in the canal are two - fold – there is the canal where david’s wife’s body is found, and the birth canal is referenced in a scene of unnerving horror. the canal is a visceral, gripping film experience, one to be experienced theatrically .
the world premiere of ‘the canal’ will take place in the midnight section of the tribeca film festival at 10pm on friday april 18 .
download a. srt file of the jump scares in the canal [ more info ] .
for treasure entertainment, a feature film written and directed by conor mcpherson which won the award for best actor at the tribeca film festival for ciaran hinds and also won the ifta for best film. in 2009, rebecca produced the feature film
there’s no 2014 horror film that was more critically acclaimed than the babadook, which used tragedy - induced madness as the springboard for a truly effective horror story. it’s a shame that so few seem to have seen it, because the canal does much the same thing, and is every bit as impressive as last year’s horror darling .
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one of the least “horror” looking titles at the tribeca film festival is ivan kavanagh’s irish ghost story, the canal, which is surprisingly dark and scary .
the canal review: this movie will scare you silly | birth. movies. death .
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 .
i’m home alone right now and as i sit here writing this review, with all the lights in the house intentionally turned on, i can’t help but feel incredibly unsettled, like a kid who’s convinced there’s a monster in his bedroom closet. if that’s not the hallmark of a potent horror film then i’m not sure what is – and if the canal isn’t the scariest horror film of 2014, then i’m also not sure what is .
as we ramp up for the 2014 tribeca film festival in nyc this april 16 - 27, more and more material on the films that will be playing the fest come pouring in. today we' ve discovered that the festival page has a mighty fine trailer for one of its midnight selections .
starring andrew scott, fionn o' shea and nick galitzine. the film premiered in toronto international film festival in september 2016. most recently robert produced hugh o' conor' s debut feature film
the canal (2014) is one of those films with an ending that nobody saw coming. it’s a “ghost in the house” story that may or may not have any ghosts, and follows the downward spiral of a man versus his family. the film’s ending not only slaps you in the mouth with a sack of rocks, it makes you reconsider everything you’ve just watched. but the film is deliberately constructed to be ambiguous, so there’s no concrete answer as to what happened at the end .
the cops stationed outside hear claire’s scream and break into the house. david grabs billy and flees into the canal through the manhole .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the canal near you .
jump scare rating: only a few jumpscares in the latter half of the film .
david williams works as an archivist at the national film archives alongside claire mcmanus. david and his wife alice move into a new home situated near a canal to start a family .
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she has worked as a lecturer in screenwriting at the huston film school; dun laoghaire film school; filmbase and dcu and delivered training for screen training ireland .
david and billy take a walk along the canal. david spots the shadow of a woman in the grass. he retrieves the camera and films the shape while he closes his eyes and billy hides. david then drops off the film with claire for processing .
just as the events of this one are a waking nightmare for its main character, so too is the film a waking nightmare for the viewer. if you like your horror scary, turn off the lights and take a dip in the canal .
paddy considine as dai donovan alongside bill nighy in the film pride. photograph: nicola dove
rebecca lectures on the ma in screenwriting course at the school of film and digital media in nui galway, as well as guest lecturing at on a number of other film courses .
rupert evans plays a film archivist who uncovers a film reel that shows that their house was the subject of a multiple murder in 1902. while he explores this reel –
through ghastly imagery and a chilling score, ivan kavanagh' s the canal is an irish ghost story that will leave you with a fear of the dark and a dripping chill down your spine long after the film' s conclusion .
in the canal, david suddenly remembers that it was actually he who just strangled claire to death. he also recalls confronting alice after she left alex’s house and drowning her in the canal. david then has a vision of alice’s corpse giving birth to a grotesque child .
the film will have its world premiere on april 18. now check out that trailer below !
first and foremost, it is by no means a perfect film. if i had to the…
claire is a graduate of the national film school, iadt where she specialised in drama production .
she regularly co - ordinates and organises workshops and symposia with the national film school, iadt .
with the possible exception of “puddle, ” the film’s title and thus its central setting is perhaps the most benign water body for which a word exists. “the canal” doesn’t exactly suggest swift movement in the way “waterfall” or “rapids” might, and it certainly doesn’t scream horror, either. add in that the featured protagonist works as a film archivist, a profession one character confuses for a librarian, and the setup is upfront from its outset that “the canal” is unlikely to be heavy on smash - mouth thrills .
a depressed and stressed film archivist finds his sanity crumbling after he is given an old 16mm film reel with footage from a horrific murder that occurred in the early 1900' s .
a graduate of ucd and king’s inns, rebecca worked in a freelance capacity for a number of years in the irish film industry before she moved to the irish film board to work as a development manager, selecting and managing the board’s vast development slate including shorts, animation, television and film .
the commission and the floating cinema were supported by arts council england' s strategic touring programme, bfi, film hub north, esmée fairbairn foundation, canal & river trust, hull city council and forms part of hull city of culture 2017 .
“we hope ‘the canal’ can be watched and re - watched, and the events can be debated and interpreted in different ways, keeping the audience guessing until the very end. ”
there was a special sdcc screening of writer / director ivan kavanagh' s highly anticipated irish indie horror the canal last night, the single event i was most excited for this year, after hearing repeatedly that this movie is the real deal. after seeing it, i can only agree. the canal is the real fucking deal .
the canal, though reliant on atmospherics and superb sound design, looks and feels more than genre cinema than kavanagh' s earlier, freakier one .
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written and directed by irish filmmaker ivan kavanagh, the canal centers on film archivist david, who learns through vintage crime scene videos that a man killed his entire family in the home he shares with his wife and young son, back in the early 1900s. after his wife drowns in the titular canal, david becomes convinced that a demonic entity is to blame, and his happy life unravels into a waking nightmare .
“the film is filled with the director’s own fears, which we hope will be transferred to the audience. the goal was always to make a frightening horror film, pushing the genre and the medium almost to breaking point. it’s a very visceral cinematic experience. ”
the police start trailing david regularly. david finds old photographs hidden behind his bedroom wall depicting an occult ritual taking place inside the house. he then investigates the manhole in his backyard and follows a tunnel connecting to the canal. there, david discovers a small corpse and realizes that the dark man was sacrificing children and dumping their bodies in the canal .
‘the canal’ tells the story of a family which consists of a mother, father and young son who move into a period house by a canal. david (played by evans) suspects his wife, alice, is cheating on him. he also starts to have frightening visions of a haunting presence in the house .
an empowering narrative from inside the war. when multicultural and heterogenous allies give hope. in december 2014 isis militants managed to completely surround the town of sinjar in iraq. the yedezi kurdish residents of the mountain town, which lies about 50km from the syrian border, are trapped. but they are not beaten. xavier muntz was dropped by helicopter into sinjar and spent ...
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jessica gunning, left, as siân james, with imelda staunton in the film pride. photograph: nicola dove
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rather than relying completely on cheap jump scares, the canal delivers an atmosphere that is genuinely unnerving from nearly the moment the film begins, building to a point that you’re likely to contemplate turning the lights on for the remainder of its runtime. an inherently creepy hand - crank camera and an ominous hole in the wall make for some of the film’s best scares, and when all is said and done you can expect your sleeping patterns to be disrupted .
an irish, british, dutch co - production, the film marks writer / director ivan kavanagh’s third production with park films after ‘tin can man’ and ‘the fading light’. ‘the canal’ was produced by anne marie naughton for park films with treasure entertainment’s rebecca o’ flanagan and robert walpole as executive producers .
“who wants to see ghosts? ” a cinema archivist asks a theater full of restless kids in “the canal, ” making a clever pitch to convince those who’ve never watched anything before the dawn of sound or color to give silent pics a try: it’s the best way to see dead people. little does the mild - mannered film buff realize, however, that the next reel to pass through his hands will plunge him into a ghost story of his own, an unnerving but not terribly original nor especially commercial irish chiller that blends edwardian - era intrigue with more recent j - horror tricks. following a busy 2014 festival run, the orchard release opened oct. 10 stateside .
the canal is an eerie, atmospheric film which follows the descent of a man into potential insanity (or possible demon - possession) as he grieves the death of his wife. it’s got a strong lead in the ever - earnest rupert evans, who leads us along with him into a bit of madness .
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here, kavanagh discusses the canal & apos; s many genre influences, the importance of sound design and limitless visuals to generate scares, and the plus side of not making every viewer happy .
there’s nothing particularly original about the canal, and comparisons to films like sinister are inevitable, but that’s beside the point. what’s remarkable about the film is how effective it is at getting under your skin and unnerving you, managing to do both things better than any other horror film released last year. this is psychological horror at its finest, making even the scariest modern day hollywood horror films look like child’s play .
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in 2004 she left the board and established rubicon films. in that year she also produced the rte / film base - funded short
oh, man. that poster. for this great of a film? this great! ? wow .
she joined treasure entertainment in 2013, working on feature films the stag, dare to be wild and the canal. in 2015 she was appointed development executive for the company, overseeing their film and tv slate as well as co - producing feature films viva (2015) and handsome devil (2016) .
the couple spent friday night celebrating with their respective friends and relatives, she emerging from the grand canal in a flowing red gown and he sailing in a dinner jacket and unbuttoned shirt aboard the amore .
the film is about david who is a specialist in film archiving; he is actually going through tough times, as he knew that his wife is cheating on him, with (alex), his work colleague. furthermore ,
“the canal” doesn’t mount momentum through an expanding and contracting accordion of action and pauses. rather, the tension is a persistent ratchet that seldom relaxes, yet is always tightening, albeit gradually. there are the occasional “reset” scenes like “breakfast the next morning” giving brief respite. though for the most part, once “the canal” starts taking on weight, it keeps adding straws until the camel’s legs buckle for a breakneck climax .
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the canal does nothing new with its ghost story plot but that is part of its simple charm. it keeps its cards close to its chest, uses scares sparingly and hooks the audience in as we watch david go through this journey. in many respects, the canal is one of the better examples of a ghost story movie, especially to come out of a country other than america. it carries the same notes and flavours of the babadook (which is also being shown at frightfest), but the film doesn’t quite hit the mark .
park films are delighted to announce that their upcoming horror feature, ‘the canal’ will have its world premiere at the opening weekend at the tribeca film festival in april. the feature was directed and written by ivan kavanagh and stars rupert evans (‘hellboy’) and ifta nominee antonia campbell - hughes (‘3096 days’, ‘albert nobbs’) .
david williams wants nothing more than to give his wife alice the perfect life. working as a film archivist, the young, pregnant couple finally save enough to buy their first home. residing on the picturesque, irish canal it seems as though their prayers have finally been answered. an eerie coincidence unfolds at david’s office one day to threaten it all. in the screening room, he views a silent film from 1902 documenting an unsolved murder. even more bizarre is the scene of the crime, the williams new home. will david be able to come to grips with their dream home being the sight of such grisly turmoil or will he become completely undone before the canal ?
strange when two very similar movies come out on the same year and both are equally great for very different reasons. the canal has a lot in common with the babadook but dealing with very different themes and a very different approach. whilst babadook was more traditional on its narrative, giving an ambiguous but flawed ending; the canal is ambiguous right from the start and gives a conclusion that' s too neat and tidy. still, with lush cinematography and sound design, a very strong but quiet performance from the lead, the canal is a rather solid entre for kavanagh' s filmography .
two major conclusions about what happened during this film' s ending can be reached: one, the house was possessed by evil spirits from the actions that took place there in 1902, which caused david to go insane. it took the form of his murdered wife in the canal to murder him, then took the form of david himself to “murder” the son .
we are in a great time for horror. all types of themes / ideas are being explored by new talent everyday. i love to discover new filmmakers and their new films that they unleash onto us everyday. so i' m happy to say that new comer (and soon to be master of horror) ivan kavanagh is a filmmaker, who' s unleashed the very terrifying, emotional, and sinister the canal onto us! now, ivan kavanagh has been around for some time now, but i promise you that the canal is the film that people will remember him for, as the film is absolutely terrifying and intriguing! the film follows a man, who suspects his wife is cheating, as he descends into madness! that is all…
after hearing about the canal via twitter, i obviously took an interest in checking it out. i watched it and found very little to connect to, here' s why :
much later, some time after alice’s body is discovered, detective mcnamara arrives at david’s house with questions following the police department’s discovery of the hammer in the canal. i have questions about this, as well .
kavanagh’s film relies heavily on the atmosphere and mood to create suspense, and the constant bizarre imagery and tremendous sound design help deliver in spades .
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“the canal” doesn’t connect all of its plot dots with straight lines, and that includes how needlessly complex it gets with filling in the house’s background. once the revelations play out in act three, the final picture is one of blurred logic and faulty arithmetic that doesn’t fully add up. yet by the time you realize how unsatisfactory the explanation behind the mystery is, “the canal” has already glamoured you with stylish eeriness that chills far deeper than conscious context ever could .
sarah holds a ba in german and russian from trinity college dublin and an ma in screenwriting from the national film school, iadt .
culture crypt looks at a few fantasia film festival features shaping up to be hot topics among horror fans in 2018 .
the canal has a pitch - black, serious - minded tone, starting with its opening monologue all the way through to the bleak ending. a lot of horror filmmakers feel the need to insert moments of levity into otherwise bleak movies, whether it & apos; s the introduction of goofy paranormal investigators or a bumbling cop. how important was it for you to maintain the film & apos; s straight - faced bleakness throughout? yeah, and that & apos; s what i loved about certain films in the genre. if you & apos; re going to make a horror film, then make a horror film. just really go for broke and make a waking nightmare, like that experience i had with the texas chainsaw massacre. but there & apos; s maybe one or two moments of humor in the canal, maybe with the detective .
claire brings over the processed film and david insists that she watch it with him. while david prepares the projector, claire mentions how david called her in hysterics the night before, although he claims that it was not he on the phone. together, they view the footage david shot at the canal and they watch as the shadowy woman rises from the grass and approaches the camera. simultaneously, the woman emerges from the hole in david’s bedroom wall and pulls claire into the crawlspace .
mcnamara informs david that the police found a hammer in the canal with david’s fingerprints on it. david tells mcnamara about the 1902 murders and the ghost he believes is haunting the home. mcnamara reports david’s mental state to the authorities and children’s services threatens to take away billy .
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things get worse for david after that—much, much worse. as he begins losing his mind, kavanagh goes all out with the canal & apos; s horrific imagery. david sees the 1902 murder take place in his bedroom, and it & apos; s an ferociously brutal stabbing incident partly seen as an old - school film reel; he later sees a grime - covered, possibly inhuman female figure standing in the tall grass alongside the canal; figures in the film reels break the fourth wall, the - ending - of - the - ring style; and there & apos; s a child birthing sequence that, well, just needs to be seen. words won & apos; t do it justice here .
“who wants to see ghosts? ” a cinema archivist asks a theater full of restless kids in “the canal, ” making a clever pitch to convince those who’ve never watched anything before the dawn of sound or color to give silent pics a try: it’s the best way to see dead people. little does the mild - mannered film buff realize, [ … ]
the discovery of his home & apos; s bloody past coincides with david & apos; s mounting suspicions that his wife is cheating on him, which he confirms by catching her and another guy in the act. that night, though, alice goes missing, later to be found dead in a canal. mere feet away from the same canal where, the morning after seeing her having sex with someone else, david woke up on the floor of a dirty, graffiti - laden bathroom, having seen what he believed to be the man in the
crime scene
film strangling alice the night before .
the film, which follows the story of a five - man tank crew during the last two weeks of wwii, has received mixed reviews, but undoubtedly had some effect on the audience, as evidenced by the audible energy in the room every time a cannon or gunshot rang out. after the two hour, 14 minute film played for the packed theater, ayer and the core cast members ,
rachel has served as an ifta jury member and was one of the best in film / animation judges for the satellite broadband digital media awards (2010) .
its karlovy vary international film festival time! we will be here for a few more days soaking up the films, the people, and this beautiful town .
vivian maier at fundación canal isabel ii virtually unknown photographer vivian maier took close to 200, 000 photographs while she worked for over 40 years as a nanny primarily on chicago’s ...
rachel o’flanagan has worked in the irish film industry for 17 years. she is experienced in developing and script editing feature films and television dramas .
as effective as the cinematic experience is, “the canal” is not without cracks in its foundation. although the film works as a supernatural mystery, the script aims for a two - front assault on david by giving him a more earthly police investigation to contend with, too. the problem is, the angle of david’s possible involvement in his wife’s disappearance doesn’t have the same teeth as a crime drama that it does as a hallucinogenic haunting .
the canal has plenty of jump scares, often born out of the loud, discordant clangs of the soundtrack (particularly when david is changing the reels on a projector to torment himself with more unsettling footage of the sins that were once committed in his house), and it has plenty of gore. but the terror of the canal stems from something much deeper than blood or loud bangs. it is the terror of abject certainty - certainty that everything will get worse, much worse, before all of this is over .
sat down to discuss the rigorous training required of them for the film. given the cast’s reflections, ayer’s directorial style and pre - production process clearly took a toll on the actors physically and emotionally .
and yet, the canal doesn’t feel like anything special. it doesn’t hook the same way movies like the babadook or sinister do and that’s its biggest downfall. rupert evans gives a fantastic performance, but the character of david is bland and uninteresting. the movie also goes through a lull period where very little happens and the stock - scares that you’ve seen a dozen times this year alone fail to cut the mustard. if the movie didn’t have a terrific close and a few other great scenes, the canal really wouldn’t be worth your time .
in the wake of his wife’s unexplained disappearance, a film archivist uncovers a supernatural link between his house and a 100 - year - old murder .
demented and darkly hilarious, ben wheatley’s film gets a perfectly acceptable dvd transfer, as well as some insightful interview - based extras .
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the movie’s simple plot follows film archivist david, who is currently in a seemingly loveless relationship with the mother of his only child. but while following her and a co - worker, he discovers that she is having an affair and when she turns up dead in a canal, he is the number one suspect. however, david seems to think the house is haunted and the sinister happenings are what caused her death .
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david ayer ’s graphic world war ii film, “ fury, ” had its final press screening on thursday night at lincoln center before its wide theatrical release today. the director and his star - studded cast have been all over the place promoting the film, even at fort benning, home to the u. s. armor and infantry schools .
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a good psychological horror that ably blends the line between reality and psychosis. probably elevated by the skills of the lead more than anything else, and my favourite police officer in horror film history .
as the canal progresses, david starts to become unhinged. when his wife prepares to go to work, david pleads with her to come straight him and she promises to. after work, david follows her as she and alex, their affair now obviously confirmed, walk to alex’s house which is opposite a canal. david follows them from a distance, and catches them in the midst of sexual passion, leaving him feeling betrayed. he stumbles into the worst cinematic toilet seen since danny boyle’s trainspotting (1996) and begins to see flashes of the murder that occurred well over 100 years ago. like the best ghost stories, the canal presents us with images that give us pause to determine if they are real or are just happening in the mind of the protagonist .
there’s a lot of james wan inspiration going on in the canal, and kavanagh proves that he can do wan as well as wan can do wan. from the color palette to the sound design, the canal feels very much like something wan would make, which is needless to say a major compliment. but there’s also a good deal of japanese horror inspiration going on here, particularly when it comes to one scene during the finale that is sure to make those little hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention .
as far as the acting, everyone comports themselves admirably. inexperienced (read: bad) actors can relegate a genre film to the status of b - movie, a problem which
and while the canal is brooding, it will test the patients of some viewers, and could really use a more impactful finale. still, it’s refreshing to see a filmmaker show such restraint and put together such an old - school genre haunter .
with fans massed on the banks of the grand canal, a drone flying overhead, and waterborne paparazzi swarming behind his taxi all the way from the island of giudecca, george clooney arrived at sunset for his wedding reception in the kind of grand spectacle that only the very rich and very glamorous can ever hope to pull off .
is a ghost story, and from the looks of this trailer probably one that comes in the best sense of those words. one of our top priorities to see during the fest, tribeca describes the film as such :
' the stag' (which is renamed' the bachelor weekend' for the american market) will also screen at the film festival, at which it will receive its us premiere.' the stag' is out in irish cinemas today .
due to concerns over public safety and circulation caused by the large numbers of people expected to be “drawn by the event’s star quality”, it said, police had requested restrictions to be put in place around ca’ farsetti and ca’loredan, the historic buildings which house the council. the main stretch affected, the riva del carbon, runs alongside the grand canal .
the canal has ingredients we' ve all seen before: couple moves into a house. is it haunted? murder mystery. shadowy creature lurking in the corners of the room. is he insane or is he not? the kid! protect the kid! is there someone living in the walls? the babysitter. demons. occult rituals... well, you get the point. but i' ve seldom, in more modern times, seen all of these ingredients being so well executed as in the canal, i even got one of those fantastic endings that i love (which maybe is the biggest reason for the four star rating) .
injecting explicit imagery into an old - fashioned possession story, writer - director ivan kavanagh brandishes his unusual mix of styles right from the beginning. no sooner has david williams (rupert evans, handsome but bland) introduced the aforementioned film screening than “the canal” launches into a quick - cut archival footage montage, not unlike the one seen in “the ring” — though it’s clearly not the movie he’d planned to show the kids, setting the tone with appetite - endangering imagery of naked corpses, exposed entrails and an eyeball being probed .
flash forward five years: david and his wife, alice (hannah hoekstra), are living in a century - old house in dublin. his job as a film archivist typically isn’t all that exciting (one of alice’s colleagues dismisses him as a “librarian”), until a box of old crime - scene film strips lands on his desk. among them are a few reels from 1902 that depict a woman’s body being hauled from the canal that runs alongside david’s home. to his considerable shock, david realizes that the murder actually took place at the address where he lives now .
david secretly trails his wife one evening and follows her to alex’s house. david sneaks inside and observes the couple having sex. david grabs a hammer, but leaves without taking any action and without being seen. on his walk home, david throws the hammer into the canal. feeling nauseous over what he just witnessed, david stumbles into the public toilet next to the waterway and vomits. he then sees an image of a mysterious man outside the stall door. david stumbles back outside in a haze and collapses. before passing out, david appears to see the strange man assaulting alice alongside the canal .
the canal is the biggest surprise that i' ve come across in the horror genre for a while now (if it can even be classified as horror; i' d almost rather go with the term experimental thriller). it is also, however, an immensely depressing plunge into one of the darkest abysses that the genre has to offer .
annecy international animation film festival has just finished with a historic number of visitors including 11, 700 badgeholders, which was 17% more than in 2017 .
which images in the canal surprised you the most after you came up with them? to where you were like ,
wow, i came up with that? i & apos; m sick .
[ laughs. ] at the premiere, one thing that occurred to me is that there & apos; s actually very little violence in the film, but the violence that is in there, particularly the stabbing scene, i wanted to be very forceful. by making that stabbing scene so hardcore and visceral and happening so early into the film, it leaves a heavy shadow over the rest of the film, so that you don & apos; t really have to out anymore violence in after that. i think that works and unsettles people. also, the birth scene at the end of the film—to me, that felt like the perfect nightmare image. he was literally being confronted by the awful thing he & apos; s done. this should be a joyous thing—she should be giving birth to this child but he & apos; s denied her that, and this is now the true horror of what he & apos; s done .
david reports alice’s disappearance to the police when she doesn’t come home. detective mcnamara immediately suspects that david killed her. alice’s body is eventually found in the canal, but the coroner finds no signs of foul play and rules her death an accidental drowning. the coroner also reveals that alice was pregnant at the time of her death .
david (rupert evans) is a film archivist who appears to have a wonderful home life. but as we learned in eden lake (2008), the appearance of normalcy at the start of the film will soon give way to murder and mayhem. david and his very obviously expectant wife alice (hannah hoekstra) visit a prospective house to settle in as a family .
i was going to go into a rant about how the word
canal
is the most disgusting sounding word to ever come out of my mouth thanks to my western new york - learned pronunciation, but i' ll spare you the navel - gazing (no i won' t, i still mentioned it, you still know that if you heard me say the word
canal
you' d probably have to ask me to repeat it a few times while stifling laughter, the disgusting sounding word is only rivaled by my pronunciation of
bagel
) .
sound design plays a major role in building the tension, especially during the surreal montages and newsreel footage utilized throughout the film. the crackle and hiss of audio noise highlights every synaptic misfire of david' s deteriorating mindstate. props are also due the atmospheric score from
an authentic universal movie camera from 1915
to film some scenes, which was
thought to have filmed some action in the trenches during world war 1 .
pretty cool .
but instead of looking for heat from the first match strike and a fiery flame, those who let the wick wither and light the room with subtle atmosphere will find their patience rewarded. combining elements of “the shining” and “the ring” for a ghost story built on supernatural suspense, “the canal” is the very definition of a slow - burn psychological thriller, and an excellent one at that .
going back to the film & apos; s visuals, do those come into your head first and then you backtrack from there and develop the story, or do the story and characters come first and dictate the imagery? the way i work is, i start with an initial idea. i wanted to make a film with an archivist who suspects his wife is cheating on him. it & apos; s almost like a stream - of - consciousness style of writing. i begin at the beginning of the script and work my way through it. for this film, i wanted to create a nightmare - like atmosphere throughout it, to have it remain in the main character & apos; s point - of - view as if he & apos; s stuck in a nightmare; the further the film goes on, the more and more nightmarish it becomes .
chalkroom a. k. a. la camera insabbiata by laurie anderson + hsin - chien huang received the award for best vr experience at the 74th venice international film festival. it was the first time that the festival has held a vr competition .
it’s bizarre because kavanagh produces some genuinly creepy moments and good scares. his shot choices can be very chilling and his use of sound will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. he never uses his scares in quick succession either so you’re constantly on the edge of your seat waiting for the next one to come. the final moments of the film are superb and easily the best parts of the film as kavanagh pushes the boundaries of socially acceptable images with frightening visuals that will linger with you long after the credits roll .
before joining treasure she worked for the darklight film festival and with sister production company still films, working on shorts, animation, documentaries and feature films, including tommy palotta’s emmy - winning the last hijack .
the canal isn & apos; t your first horror film, correct? i made a really low - budget horror film called tin can man (2008) which is actually being released at the end of this month here in america. i made that for under 1, 000 euro. i loved working on that because horror films allow you to do absolutely anything. you can push the visuals and sound design as far as you want. i just love the freedom of the genre, so i was really, really eager to get back to it. and any chance to make something about early cinema is exciting for me because i love early cinema and silent cinema .
david williams lives an average, yet idyllic life. a film archivist by trade, david has a gorgeous wife in alice, and a happy young son named billy. five years after moving into a curious little house situated near a canal, david’s mind begins a trip down a jack torrance - like rabbit hole inspired by suspicions of his wife’s infidelity and the discovery of a horrific slaughter that once took place in his home .
i say this because it increasingly seems as if slant is swinging towards criticism over reviewing by posting articles that appear to assume that the viewer has seen the film. reading this article, i don' t have the foggiest idea what the premise is .
with shades of sinister and the shining, the canal follows david williams (an impressive rupert evans), a film archivist who & apos; s married to a much more financially successful wife, alice (hannah hoekstra) and the father of a dinosaur - loving, five - year - old son, billy (calum heath). one day, david & apos; s colleague claire (antonia campbell - hughes) tells him that a mysterious reel of film has shown up, addressed to him—it & apos; s titled
crime scene ,
made in 1902 and shows the aftermath of a triple murder that took place in the house where david and his family currently live .
upon secretly spying his wife alice engaged in sexual intercourse with her lover alex, david grasps a hammer and briefly contemplates brutal vengeance. a cooler head prevails however, and david makes his unnoticed exit without taking action. into the canal he tosses the hammer before shuffling towards home in frustration .
most of the real people who were involved are alive to tell their tales, although aids casts its shadow in the events of the film and has taken several lgsm members (this is not pride' s primary subject but readers who would prefer not to know anything about its impact on the film should stop reading here). beresford' s problem was how to make contact with the survivors from the mining community and lgsm with no obvious internet trail to help him .
but thankfully it does have these moments which certainly means the canal gets a recommendation. it will scare the easily squeamish and kavanagh’s direction is first class, but you won’t find anything truly groundbreaking. it’s a lot better than some of the ghost story movies that have come out in recent years, but it also isn’t among the best .
the precise arrangements are being kept under wraps due to strict confidentiality agreements, but according to italian reports the main reception is to take place on saturday at the “7 - star” aman canal grande resort and is to be attended by a select group of startlingly stellar guests including angelina jolie, brad pitt and matt damon .
a film that at first seemed worthy of an heir to lynch, fincher or polanski' s cinema but ends up bordering on ridicule. [ full review in spanish ]
at work, claire gives david some old crime scene film to process for the police. david watches the footage and learns of a man who murdered his wife in 1902 inside the same house on black street where david now lives with alice .
david tells claire about the dark man he saw on the night of alice’s disappearance. he begins researching the 1902 murders as well as other crimes connected to his house. david also starts filming with the camera from the early 1900s when he realizes that it can seemingly capture ghosts on film .
watch the film in vod english version order the dvd english version buzzing on youtube pro gmo lobbyist tells that monsanto herbicide is safe enough to drink, then refuses to drink it. in the wake of the world health organization' s designation in march 2015 of the active ingredient ...
the ending takes david into the depths underneath the canal, carrying his son, billy (calum heath). david sees the decomposing body of his dead wife down there, giving birth to a dead baby (she was pregnant when murdered). david finds himself with his son under the canal’s water, where he’s held under by his dead wife as his son floats to safety. in the next scene, billy is in the custody of his grandmother who is putting the house up for sale. billy goes inside to get his dinosaur book when a voice from behind the wall, which claims to be his father, says the family can be together again. we then see billy toss himself out of his grandmother’s moving car. it’s rough .
synopsis: film archivist david suspects that his wife alice has been cheating on him. he soon discovers that his home was once the setting of a brutal murder and something otherworldly is responsible for the events that later unfold .
i know people have already commented on the poster, but... a seriously well crafted psychological horror film is going to get passed up by a lot of people for a very unfortunate reason .
film archivist david and his wife are perfectly happy or so he believes. when a looming secret shatters their marriage at the same time as a turn - of - the - century film reel he is studying reveals their house to be the site of a 1902 multiple - murder, david begins to unravel, and the house’s eerie history threatens to repeat itself. dripping with tension and chilling to the core, this visceral irish ghost story is a visually arresting and genuinely shocking journey into the darkness within .
director ivan kavangh somehow proves once again that he is capable of taking a tired premise, handling it poorly, and yet still somehow manage to churn out quite a good film .
for me, any chance to push visuals and sounds is a no - brainer. we spent as much time on the film & apos; s sound design as we did on the picture. working with sound is my favorite part of the process. we recorded all new sounds for the film; we didn & apos; t use any library stuff. we spent a very long time on it, and it was really a joy to work on.
the canal is a 2014 irish horror film that was directed and written by ivan kavanagh . the film had its world premiere on april 18 , 2014 , at the tribeca film festival , and stars rupert evans as a father investigating a horrific murder that took place in his home in the early 1900s . 
the canal is a 2014 irish horror film that was directed and written by ivan kavanagh. the film had its world premiere on april 18, 2014, at the tribeca film festival, and stars rupert evans as a father investigating a horrific murder that took place in his home in the early 1900s.
the canal is a 2014 irish horror film that was directed and written by ivan kavanagh. the film had its world premiere on april 18, 2014, at the tribeca film festival, and stars rupert evans as a father investigating a horrific murder that took place in his home in the early 1900s.