THE CANAL is a truly intense horror film. The lack of conventional transitions gives the audience no rest or repose. The extreme close-up of a vintage projector, accompanied by the glaring white light and intermittent sound, creates a very unsettling atmosphere between scenes. Ivan Kavanagh shows us that surrealism has not faded into the background of cinema, and still seeps into the horror genre.

Kavanagh merges a vintage aesthetic with the modern world, using photographs and film to create an obscurity which submerges any clear understanding of David’s (Rupert Evans) struggle until the very end. Not only does this perpetuate the intrigue within the narrative, it also forces questions about David’s sanity. Kavanagh uses clever jolting jump-cuts during seemingly ordinary conversation, illustrating the gaps in David’s memory and bringing his delusion to the foreground.

David Lynch is clearly no small influence on Ivan Kavanagh. A very Lynch-esque scene occurs when David stumbles into a grotty public toilet. The steady sound of steps coming ever closer to his cubicle creates an almost unbearable suspense. This steady rhythm of horror gets worse as incongruously clean, shiny black shoes appear beneath the cubicle door. Kavanagh’s mastery of timing in this scene is evident.

Kavanagh knows ‘the horror, the horror’ lies within the implicit…

Kavanagh’s use of colour to increase the emotional intensity is notable. As David surreptitiously follows his wife into her lover’s apartment, a grotesque reality imposes itself onto David’s mind and germinates his thoughts, penetrating his sanity. David stands in front of a red screen with a light source behind it, his silhouette illuminated. The red symbolises his anger and utter contempt for his wife; but also, perversely, the graphic nature of her lusts. The duality and complexity of this scene builds a web of emotions which is not easily untangled, and which makes it difficult to find the strand which leads to the truth.

Furthermore, the repetition of the phrase ‘the canal, the canal the canal’ – a clue, perhaps? –  is a grounding convention which prevents the narrative from straying into pure abstraction. All at once, Kavanagh easily entices his audience, but cleverly remains aloof. THE CANAL is a combination of classic and modern horror story, giving it a new sharper edge. The presence of the past in the present is strangely alienating. Kavanagh seems to comment that the past is not truly the past, as long as it has a presence in our mind. The gap between the past and present is blurred, and it is in this blurred space, David’s setting, that we find the horror.

Ivan Kavanagh has certainly grasped the essence of horror, and uses surrealist stylisation to capture our imaginations. Kavanagh knows ‘the horror, the horror’ lies within the implicit, covered with ambiguity and submerged beneath anticipation.

httpvh://youtu.be/5tt6C_X_8wA