TMS Movie Review: A Haunting in Venice

(20th Century Studios)

Since it’s mid-September, and most movie fans have already forgotten Justin Simien’s The Haunted Mansion was released back in July, we’ve now pivoted to Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice being the first official release for 2023 Halloween movie season. And what a bizarre scenario this is. Based on Agatha Chrisie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party, A Haunting in Venice is Branagh’s third installment in his film adaptations of Christie’s classic detective character Hercule Poirot. But this isn’t your average murder mystery set in the general WWII era with the French sleuth. It’s also a haunted house setting with magic and ghosts. If you’ve seen the trailer, you might be thinking, “Uh, when did this series suddenly get scary?” Unlike Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, I didn’t even know Hallowe’en Party existed until this movie was out. Surely it’s not as fantasy heavy as the marketing leads on…

Replacing Devon, England with Venice, Italy for this interpretation, Poirot (Branagh) has retired since solving his previous murder case on the African river. His old friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) convinces him to tag along with her to a Halloween party on a rather stormy October evening. What he expects to be a night of games and tricks, including supposed medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), quickly turns so dark and dangerous, the gumshoe vet needs to slip back into his old position for the night to end smoothly.

(20th Century Studios)

A Haunting in Venice features yet another stacked cast of recognizable faces, here with Branagh, Fey, Yeoh, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Kyle Allen, Emma Laird, Camille Cottin and Riccardo Scamarcio. Though these mystery flicks are usually star-studded, of the recent Poirot pictures, I think the actors in Venice are best utilized so far. Fey, Yeoh and Reilly in particular are the stand-outs. Branagh’s direction for these movies has ranged from decent to mediocre, and while it’s not perfect here either [i.e. some strange editing decisions and too many teary-eyed close-ups of the ladies]; it might be his most interesting effort yet. Most fortunately, the combination of horror and mystery successfully lands by the end. The first half is basically a horror period piece, while the second half is the typical Poirot breakdown. It’s an unexpected mix, but a welcome one in a genre where we get countless slashers and exorcism themed flicks. If you like Christie whodunits and Halloween appropriate movies, A Haunting in Venice could possibly be for you this season.