Best of Netflix: The Canal



(imdb.com)

Sometimes it can feel way too easy to run out of passable horror movies on streaming sites like Netflix. Sure, you could settle into a movie so unbearable it's hard to watch (for the record, I don't find it's-so-bad-it's-funny to be funny), but In all honesty, you'd have an easier time watching paint dry. In this section, I will cover various horror movies on Netflix that are worth the watch. I will hold from saying they're amazing, but given a chance the movies listed on these days will at least be watchable. This post looks at 2014's The Canal.

The Canal stars Rupert Evans (The Boy) as David, a film archivist whose wife, Alice, played by Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Storage 24), turns up dead. All of this becomes problematic when it becomes clear that foul play was involved and Alice had just been discovered cheating on David. The Canal devolves into David attempting to pull together the night of his wife's disappearance and the roles he may have played. The movie is then blasted with possibilities of devil worshipping and ghosts running amuck. 

While sometimes more mystery than horror, The Canal is a must see for horror fans running out of movies to watch. I'll be honest, the first time I turned The Canal on. I turned it off. From its promotional poster and the slider on Netflix, one would expect this film to fall apart with cheap, paper thin jump scares and bad effects, but what actually results is an above average murder-mystery of supernatural proportions.

For the horror genre, a lot of movies are ruined firstly by bad acting. Luckily, The Canal is a passable feature with actors who don't seem pulled from the street onto a camera. In addition, The Canal does offer up a few creepier moments, namely the canal bathroom scene where David first encounters the supernatural.   

The Canal feels like a novel; it’s an era murder-mystery that inevitably ends up as a motion picture. At varying points, this book-like quality works against the movie- namely the dense plot points that would better serve with an in-depth explanation as to what is happening. Because of its limited runtime though, these moments are left rather shallow. The second feature that suffers because of the movie's broad net is its character building. For supporting characters, this becomes evens more prevalent. Claire, a coworker of David flutters in and out of scenes with little depth and explanation.

The Canal is most effective when it stays simple. David's unreliable narrative on the night of Alice's death is entertaining enough and the idea that there may be some other-worldly force involved is equally as great, but additional plot points only muddle the movie. I'm not saying it's perfect, but The Canal is an easy watch for horror fans looking for noncommittal movies with tension.