hnhovitz 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.

Nigel P This is a tremendous low-budget shocker from Ireland and it stars one of the most convincing casts I've seen in a long, long time. From dinosaur-obsessed little scamp Billy (Calum Heath – one of the most appealing child actors you will see) to a truly incredible performance from Rupert Evans as David, everyone plays their parts to perfection, and I don't use the word lightly.If I'm brutally honest, 'The Canal' could have done with being perhaps ten minutes shorter. The ordeals faced by David are plentiful, but sometimes – as is often the case in these films – the continual reversion to 'normality' after a particularly frightening incident occurs once or twice too often. Other than that, the writing, direction and acting truly place the audience in the position of not knowing whether David is being shadowed by a ghostly child-murderer or he is the killer himself. Even as the end credits roll, we're still not entirely sure.This is a close-knit, intimate horror that unfurls at its own pace, slowly revealing – or appearing to reveal – clues as to the truth of events. We are in skillful hands here. Writer/director Ivan Kavanagh ensures that any confusion we experience is entirely deliberate, and when the scares become graphic, we really feel for the characters affected by them.If there is any justice, Ivan Kavanagh has a fine future.

erolsabadosh 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!

lathe-of-heaven Heh, I swear... I don't think I've had to wade through SO damn many Bull$hit reviews in all my life. "10 stars!" "MOST BRILLIANT HORROR FILM! GO SEE IT NOW!" "BEST FILM EVER!" Please... Anyway, ultimately I guess I did enjoy the movie; I did give it a '7', which at the beginning, I wasn't even sure whether I even wanted to finish watching it.But, as the story goes on it DOES get better. Without giving anything away, it's interesting how they gave us a surprisingly effective ending (meaning the whole last 'movement', not just the last few minutes) that wasn't your usual cop-out ending that you normally see in these types of films. I really don't want to get more specific than that because I do not wish to ruin it for you. Let's just say that it kind of leans one way and then kind of twists the other way : )I felt that the style was a little off-putting at first, employing techniques making it a BIT too jumpy at times. It could be kind of jarring. I mean, it's not that I cannot appreciate good jump-scares with loud noises if it is done well. But, to me at the very beginning I think they did it a bit too much in conjunction with normal, mundane things. Like when he was just simply loading the film. BUT... thankfully, as the substance and mood of the film began to solidify and build more and more tension, these elements seemed to fit and merge with the overall tone of the movie better, rather than seeming quite as out of place as it had in the beginning. The A/V style kind of struck me as about 65% David Lynch (excellent) and about 35% MTV (not so much) Heh, maybe not quite THAT bad... One thing that I REALLY did like was the haunting, ambient sound throughout much of the film, which is more consistent with the Lynchian mood that I like.The acting overall was fine; the main guy played it with just about the right 'balance' (in a manner of speaking) between uncovering the past evidence and history of what happened with his house and still raising our concern somewhat about his mental state (that is all I'd better say about this, but like I mentioned before, the film doesn't 'cop out' stupidly like others that have similar themes) Without revealing any details, I personally liked the way they resolved the ending; because I think it really gave it a nice 'punch'... One thing I WILL say though is that no matter whether ultimately he was right or wrong, the main policeman was a complete and TOTAL D*ck.For me personally, the A/V style of this film would not be among my very favourites, but trying to view the movie objectively in order to help others determine whether they might enjoy it or not, I feel that overall this film was suspenseful and creepy with an effective ending which added to it's entertainment value. So, maybe for ME it wouldn't quite be a '7', but I think that for people in general it would be a good film (considering that there are SO many really LAME Horror films out there) So, IF you like your Horror movies with strong Psychological undercurrents and you don't mind some Supernatural elements being thrown in, there is a good chance that you may very well enjoy this film.