A Haunting in Venice review.
Kenneth Branagh dips his toe (back) into the horror world with his latest Agatha Christie adaptation. It’s pretty much exactly what you think it is.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
A Haunting in Venice
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Screenplay by Michael Green
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Jamie Dornan, Camille Cottin, Emma Laird, Kyle Allen and Michelle Yeoh
A Haunting in Venice Review
I debated whether to cover A Haunting in Venice. That’s why the review is coming almost a week after it hit theaters. Despite its trailer’s focus on the horror elements of the story…I kind of assumed that it would be less of a ghost story and more of the same. Nothing against Kenneth Branagh and his Hercule Poirot series…I enjoy his films…more or less. But this is a horror movie website. A Haunting in Venice isn’t a horror movie. It is, however, horror adjacent. We like horror adjacent. We like anything that attempts to spread horror elements of any kind to the masses of people who don’t seek it out. So that’s where we’re going to start.
Branagh’s goal with A Haunting in Venice isn’t to scare anyone. The atmosphere is pure Agatha Christie mystery and while there are moments of seemingly supernatural fun…there is a purposeful absence of attempted terror. That doesn’t mean that the entire horror concept is dismissed out of hand. On the contrary, A Haunting in Venice uses its tricks and treats with great purpose. The spooky season elements of the film are fully intertwined to both Poirot’s investigation and his character arc.
The Poirot (Branagh) we meet this time out has lost his faith and beliefs in anything beyond this world. He’s also recently retired and is living without purpose. Old friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) challenges him to accompany her to a séance to try and spot the con that she has been unable to. Psychic medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) has plenty of tricks that Poirot quickly dispels. The haunted house where the séance takes place, however, contains secrets not so easily dismissed.
As is standard with the series…there is a large cast of characters to serve as suspects and potential victims. Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) owns the home…her late daughter Alicia is the spirit she hopes to contact. Reynolds assistants Desdemona (Emma Laird) and Nicholas (Ali Khan) have a shady past. Other party guests include Rowena’s housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin), Alicia’s former fiancé Maxime (Kyle Allen), Dr. Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his young son Leopold (Jude Hill) as well as Poirot’s bodyguard (Riccardo Scamarcio).
The horror aspects of A Haunting in Venice amount to strange noises that can be heard throughout the home, unexplainable visions of children that aren’t there…and a ghoulish legend involving children and the haunting of doctors and nurses who come to the property. As mentioned, it’s never scary…but it is all important. Michael Green’s screenplay (based on Christie’s Hallowe’en Party) cleverly ties in what ends up being the film’s marketing pitch (a spooky season mystery!) to Poirot’s character. As a man who doesn’t believe in anything…finding truth in the unexplainable would open him up to a world beyond his understating. It would open him to possibilities that give his life, and perhaps after-life, purpose.
Investigating the unexplainable is the driving force of A Haunting in Venice. Alicia’s reported suicide quickly becomes connected to more than one party guest. When someone attempts to murder Poirot…he has no choice but to take up the investigation into Alicia’s death, the house’s history and any other bodies that pop up along the way.
As you’d expect, the ensemble cast does a great job here. Given the nature of the story…everyone must play multiple sides of their characters. Are they suspects or victims? What secrets are they hiding for Poirot to uncover? Are they being haunted, hunted…or neither? There are several mysteries for Poirot to solve in A Haunting in Venice. Which leads to the film’s greatest strength. The multiple payoffs that fill the third act of the story allow everything to wrap up in an exciting and satisfying way.
A Haunting in Venice is a well-paced film through two acts. There’s enough fine character moments and intrigue to hold your attention. The third act finally reveals everything behind the curtain…some more expected than others. I was able to guess the ultimate villain of the piece…but it was just a guess. There are a couple of other mysteries for Poirot to uncover on top of the standard whodunnit. Those offer more surprises…as do the discoveries of each characters’ true nature. There’s more than enough here to satiate mystery movie fans.
Branagh and company haven’t made a horror movie in A Haunting in Venice…but they have quietly made a case for the importance of horror stories. Oliver says early in the movie that horror stories make life less scary. It’s an interesting thought. A seemingly off-handed comment about the purpose of the genre. The film that follows makes a different argument. An argument that the things we don’t understand…the things we fear, allow us to believe in something beyond our own end. While A Haunting in Venice may not attempt to push the envelope and scare its audience…it is crafted to honor the genre and, in some ways, praise it.
Scare Value
A Haunting in Venice is a decent Agatha Christie movie. You pretty much know what you’re going to get when Branagh drops a new one of them. The inclusion of some light horror elements gives it something a little fresher than his last outing…but it’s still a Poirot story first and foremost. It’s a good one this time. More reveals and a tighter story help. As for the horror elements…well…it dabbles in an old school haunted house story but never goes for the throat.
3.5/5
A Haunting in Venice Link
In theaters now – Fandango
