Popular reviews

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 28

  Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.
  Hahahahahahahahahaaahahahahhhhhhaahaaaaaaahh.

  Hah.

  Oh, man.
  That poster.
  For this great of a film?
  This great!? Wow.

  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.

  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.

  First and foremost, it is by no means a perfect film. If I had to the…

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 3

  Spooktober III: The Haunting of the Blood October

  An Irish take on the "The Amityville Horror" plot, in which a guy who spends his days at work watching old murder recordings moves into a home where he is tormented by the soul of the killer who lived there.

  This picture, for the most part, lacks anything unusual or distinctive. It has a lot of the conventions of the genre, but the acting is solid, and the mystery and the way it unfolds held my attention throughout, building to a shocking climax. The make-up work is great and a little unsettling. Furthermore, the direction is really great, and the cinematography is top-notch.

  All in all, this is a great choice if you enjoy horror films about possessed people or haunted houses.

  TODAY SCHEDULE
  Hellbound: Hellraiser II
  Hellraiser (2022)
  Captain James Cook
  The Canal

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  Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★ 5

  Wouldn't watch it again even if you offered to pay me!

  Someone described the film as the cream that rises to the top!

  It rises to the top alright but I think a more accurate appraisal would be.. The floater that will not flush!

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 6

  legitimately THE cutest kid in any film I've ever seen

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  Review by Jim Drew ★★★★★ 6

  Bloody hell.

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  Review by Fred 🇵🇷 ★★★½

  The Canal is a sleek, effective, and superbly directed horror film. It's one of those surprisingly under-the-radar features that deserve more love from horror fiends.

  While the film does a fine job exploring themes like betrayal, its the psychological journey at the heart of it that proves to be its most salient selling point. Like the film's protagonist (Rupert Evans in a more than convincing outing), the film's fractured--and muddled, at times--descent is consistently compelling. Of course, it helps that director Ivan Kavanagh chose to use creepy turn-of-the-century film footage as a medium for some added frights.

  This a moody piece that is awash in a deeply unsettling aura. The way that Kavanagh plays with sound and frenetic editing adds…

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  Review by Terése Flynn ★★★★

  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).

  With this said, I'm not sure how fun and effective this movie is if you haven't had a fear of shadowy creatures…

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  Review by Waldo ★★★★ 4

  This was a complete surprise. An Irish horror story with a genuine scary atmosphere and also dares to go into deep, dark places. A guy discovers his home was the scene of a crime like 100 years ago and suspects his wife is cheating on him. A double whammy! The less you know about it the better. Horror fans will really appreciate the skills behind and in front of the camera. Ignore the low ratings, horror fans!

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  Review by bree1981 ★★★ 3

  Dundead 2015

  This is another movie that i wanted to like a little more than i did. It's a ghost story/haunted house movie and while it's well made and acted it's nothing we haven't seen before.
  David (Rupert Evans) is a film archivist who restores old home movies, after moving into a new home with his wife and son he receive's an old reel of film that shows his house was once part of a brutal murder. As David starts to look into this further he begins to see the presence of a man and starts to suspect the house may be haunted. To say any more about the plot would spoil the movie but as David becomes more and…

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  Review by Herb Gallow ★★★ 1

  Well, that was an unexpected Cat People homage. Ivan Kavanagh's call-back to the paranoid walk down the stone-lined path was pleasing, but more so the ongoing sexual tension between David (Rupert Evans) and Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), however one-sided it may have been for most of the film.

  Like Cat People, The Canal plumbs the depths of the horrors of marriage, the yawning abyss of which should be pretty familiar to anyone that's been married. It may be that the weakest aspect of the film is how little the disintegration of David and Alice's (Hannah Hoekstra) relationship is explored. The weakening of the marriage's foundations is apparently enough to drive David to fugue states and murder, but why that marriage is…

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  Review by Boof65 ★★★★

  The ratings and reviews for this Irish horror flick may be all over the shop, but trust me, it's a ripper!

  The Canal is essentially a haunted house tale with psychological horror elements wrapped within a murder/mystery framework, and it works beautifully.

  The story is as dark as hell with dread oozing from every frame.

  The main characters are authentic and engaging despite their implied flaws and from the outset you just know that terrible things await them.... All is not going to end well.

  As many have pointed out there's nothing particularly original about the plot here and similar scenarios have been used in many previous works, but director Ivan Kavanagh imbues this film with a highly uncomfortable atmosphere…

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  Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★

  Some films came in from the police archive... would you look at them for me?
  -Claire

  The overall plot has been overdone in horror films for a good 40 to 50 years, probably more, but it's not the story being told that counts, it's how it's told. Take joy in watching Rupert Evans being mentally tortured for 92 minutes with a great performance.

  Director Ivan Kavanagh just creates a sense of dread that is almost unbearable and oh so disturbing. Felt like I had evil incarnate sitting next to me on the couch showing me home movies.

  Also kudos for them going with the film's well deserved ending.