How Does “The Canal” Use Sound and Score to Amplify Its Atmospheric Terror?
Unlike many contemporary horror films which rely on shock, gore, jump scares and outward frights to get their thrills, The Canal (2014) uses the often more successful tactic of creating a slow-building atmosphere of fear to keep the viewer uneasy during the entire narrative.
The Dissolve says, “What happens in The Canal isn’t as important as how it happens. The climax derails into silliness, but by that point, the film has done most of the necessary work. Whether a ghost is actually haunting David and his family becomes almost irrelevant in the face of Evans’ performance of a man driven mad by jealousy and grief. Kavanagh is interested in the spaces between people: He often places two characters facing each other as they talk, their stillness and the space between them growing more and more unbearable as the scene continues. Kavanagh frames things carefully. He withholds. He reveals things only partially. He lets the silences yawn out around the characters, coming at them through open doors, and up empty stairs. When the scares finally do come, the effect is even more terrifying because they emerge out of such stillness.”
There’s a tremendous amount of stillness in The Canal. Nothing explodes onto the screen in an attempt to surprise the viewer. The fear is created by forcing the viewer to experience the film’s events with the characters, in a world where uncertainty and menace are all encompassing.
“Kavanagh hardly sees fit to rely on old-school techniques to generate suspense, amping up the tension via jump cuts, red-lit interiors and a meticulously engineered soundscape that makes sparing yet effective use of eerie tones and spine-tingling scratching noises (even to accompany the old silent footage).” - Variety
“Kavanagh, Hill and their sound design team push their skills to experimental extremes here with shuddering jump cuts, subliminal single-frame edits and blood-curdling offscreen noises. The cumulative effect is an intense and unsettling trip into the twilight zone.” - Hollywood Reporter
Those who appreciate the artistry of a slow-burning dramatic horror atmosphere will appreciate The Canal in its very tactful execution of the style.