A Haunting in Venice (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – 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 uncover the killer.

My Take – Hercule Poirot is back! Serving as the next chapter in the mystery franchise, following Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022), which stars actor/director Kenneth Branagh‘s as the famed sleuth, this cinematic adaptation surprisingly moves away from author Agatha Christie’s highest-profile novels to something a little more obscure: a 1969 book called Hallowe’en Party, one of her lesser known works.

A work which despite possessing the familiar aesthetics, manages to be very different from the previous straightforward whodunits. In the sense, whilst the usual interviews and lining up of alibis take place, there is also a very distinct supernatural element here, which may or may not be real.

The resulting feature being yet another pleasant enough addition to the series. From its backdrop of Venice, to the horror elements, to the engaging performances and some of the most interesting cinematography and production design seen in recent memory, this one is without a doubt filmmaker Branagh‘s most cinematic Christie adaptation.

Once again collaborating with screenwriter Michael Green, the film more than proves that as a director Branagh is capable of changing up the formula, something which his adaption of Death on the Nile struggled to do. Like the super train and the cruise ship, there’s simply no way to resist the haunted house.

An hour or so of the film’s runtime is dedicated to Poirot questioning his own convictions regarding the supernatural and the great beyond. And director Branagh creates anxious enough moments through the scarier sequences, which are amplified by its brilliant score and the setting.

Constantly delivering guilty-pleasure fun, there’s no reason why this one should be the last of director Branagh’s forays into Christie’s compulsively page-turning world of murder.

Set in 1947, the story once again follows Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), the famed detective, who having lost his faith in God and humanity, has retired to Venice and refuses to accept new cases. To avoid being bothered by people wanting his services, he’s hired Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio), a recently retired police commissario, to be his bodyguard.

However, his dull life finally finds some light with the appearance of Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a famous mystery writer who has based her works on Poirot, shows up at his door and invites him to a séance at the home of opera star Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) following her Halloween party. A séance to call upon Drake’s daughter, Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who ostensibly committed suicide.

Presented as an opportunity to unmask the fraudulent techniques of spiritualist Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) and her two assistants, Nicholas Holland (Ali Khan) and Desdemona Holland (Emma Laird). Other participants at the séance include Rowan’s housekeeper, Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), Alicia’s former doctor, Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), and Ferrier’s precocious young son, Leopold (Jude Hill). Even Alicia’s former fiancée, Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), shows up having mysteriously received an invitation.

But soon after the first séance ends, a murder takes place. And with continuing foul weather making it impossible for the Venetian police to come, the solving is once again left to Poirot. Who unfortunately himself is not feeling so hot, especially after someone tried to drown the poor man, following which he has been hearing and seeing unexplained things at the supposedly historically haunted palazzo.

What follows is a suitably creepy film that literally keeps you guessing as to whether or not Poirot is hallucinating from survivor’s guilt as the tension, the body count, and the flood waters just outside the crumbling palazzo all steadily rise. Those flood waters being the result of an almost stereotypical thunderstorm that, nevertheless, enhances the aforementioned creepiness quite effectively. Isolating Poirot and his suspects not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

Yes, the usual Christie elements are present from a closed, claustrophobic location to a limited number of suspects, each seemingly with both a motive and an alibi. But the film elaborately builds up an atmosphere of horror right from when Poirot enters the haunted Palazzo until the survivors exit at daybreak.

The horror helps the cinematography, production design and sound work to shine and allows director Branagh to dive deeper into Poirot making this the most captivating examination of the character yet. One sequence is filmed from Poirot’s perspective, putting us in his shoes and ramping up the terror.

Sadly, as the film has several daunting tasks in hand, not all of which are fulfilled. The best parts of the previous films were learning about the cast of characters and seeing how their journey plays out. Most of the characters here aren’t too interesting, with backstories that had me thinking about the case rather than their role in it.

Performance wise, Kenneth Branagh once again masterfully plays Hercule Poirot. He inserts the same amount of sophistication and depth to him as he did earlier, but it is indeed deeper owing to Poirot seeing things he never expected to see.

Tina Fey makes for a fun addition to the subtle and funny moments, while Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Camille Cottin, Kyle Allen, Emma Laird and Ali Khan are decent enough. Jude Hill stands out as the young Leopold Ferrier, who was oddly off-putting and yet heartwarming at the same time. On the whole, ‘A Haunting in Venice’ is yet another entertaining whodunit that is surprisingly wicked.