"A darker and spookier spin on Branagh's Poirot, A Haunting in Venice is a decent Halloween snack whose undemanding mystery gets a lift from nifty visuals and an all-star cast."
-Rotten Tomatoes
I remember seeing the adaptation of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS not too long after it had been released, and although I didn't love the movie I certainly enjoyed it. It's exactly the sort of classic CLUE-style mystery you wanted to be, but I must admit the ending wasn't too impactful. When DEATH ON THE NILE came out a few years later, I never watched it. With KNIVES OUT bursting its way onto the scene with a more self-aware modern style, if I needed a mystery fix that's where I would go to get one. But you know me, I'm a horror fan till the day I die, and if you throw haunting in the title, I'll probably watch it at least once.
A Haunting in Venice is a 2023 American mystery film produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh from a screenplay by Michael Green loosely based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe'en Party. It serves as a sequel to Death on the Nile (2022) and is the third film in which Branagh reprises his role as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The ensemble cast includes Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh. In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again to uncover the killer.
A couple of things to mention before we get started properly:
All of the modern (for now) film adaptations in the trilogy of Christie Mysteries have been written by Micheal Green, who has also written or co-written several other mighty fine scripts in his day. Logan, Blade Runner 2049, HEROES, he even worked on the delightfully bizarre AMERICAN GODS TV show.
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh, in the whole of this series, is both directing the movie and starring in it at the same time. If he looks a little familiar, you may recognize him from Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Valkyrie (2008). His portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2011) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has also played supporting roles in Christopher Nolan's films Dunkirk (2017), Tenet (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023).
Greek cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos is currently filming around the Princess Helena College in Preston, England. For what project you may ask? Oh, nothing much just... BEETLEJUICE 2?!?!?!
Like I already mentioned, I didn't necessarily have fond memories of this series or character, so going in I didn't have any real expectations at all. But pretty darn quickly. I found myself really enjoying this movie, and it has one hell of an atmosphere that sucks you in right away. As a white boy from Canada, my exposure to Italy has mostly been through classic horror movies, EAT PRAY LOVE style movies that seem to be filmed in a booking.com commercial.
This movie manages to blend together the bright and sunny Italy that were used to, with something that feels a little bit closer to Jack, the ripper's London. Dark tunnels full of sea fog and shadows, narrow cobblestone streets, and plenty of small windows flickering with light overhead. It doesn't take long for us to get locked inside the Palazzo, which is certainly a more traditional style haunted abode, and the perfect place to have all these crazy characters running around.
This is a movie that will occasionally let you forget It's a supernatural thriller as you try and piece things together, and manages to have quite a few moments that made me jump. I'm a little shocked I got away with just straight up showing a rotting dead kid in the basement, I'm guessing that's exactly what they were going for.
The only real issues I have with this movie are pretty common in the genre in general, and as far as Agatha Christie mystery movies go This is hands down one of my favourites. It's nice to know that someone's keeping that William Castle classic spookiness alive.
9/10 cuz is a lil long uwu
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