[1] Film archivist David has been having a rough time lately, as he suspects that his wife Alice has been cheating on him with Alex, one of her work clients.

This stress is compounded when David's work partner Claire gives him a reel of footage to be archived that shows that his house was the setting for a brutal murder in 1902.

As David grieves, he becomes obsessed with a series of unsolved, 100-year-old murders that took place around the canal and his home, worrying Claire and putting an increasing strain on his relationship with Billy's nanny, Sophie.

David's behaviour grows erratic, and he borrows early 20th-century cameras to shoot footage around his home and the canal, where he hopes to capture evidence of supernatural activity.

Back in the house, the real estate salesperson smiles as she sees Billy in his upstairs room closing a door.

[3][4] Kavanagh experienced difficulty with filming the footage for the 1902 reel, as he wanted it to look identical to Louis Lumière's Feeding the Baby.

[7][8] Bloody Disgusting stated that although the film will "test the patients [sic] of some viewers, and could really use a more impactful finale", it was overall "an old-school genre haunter".

[9] In contrast, Slant Magazine's reviewer criticised The Canal for not delving deeply enough into the imagery and themes, leaving an impression of superficiality.