Do you like murder mysteries? Are you a fan of old period dramas? If you said yes to any of those, then “A Haunting in Venice” is just right for you! The movie itself is based on a short story by Agatha Christie called “Halloween Party”, from the Hercule Poirot series.
Hercule Poirot, having seemingly retired from his detective duties, is called to attend a seance in Venice, Italy, which is where he has taken up residency. As he is called to investigate one of the guests who may be scamming people, the seance goes wrong when there is a murderer on the loose. As a result, Hercule Poirot decides to come out of retirement after all to investigate the murders until someone confesses. To all my readers, this review might contain spoilers.
As someone who loved Kenneth Branagh in “Murder on the Orient Express” a few years ago, he proves that he still has that charisma and determination as Hercule Poirot, which proves why he was perfectly cast as him. While this film does have scary and serious moments like Mrs. Reynolds tries to contact the spirit of one of the dead characters during the seance and she supposedly gets possessed, and Hercule Poirot getting attacked by a masked figure while trying to bob for apples alone and almost drowning, it also has its light-hearted moments. An example of funny moments is when the medium Joyce is briefly possessed by Alicia’s spirit, she makes terrifying noises and the pet parrot curses when she comes back to reality.
While I do want to say that the script was perfect, from the seance to the revelation about a place called the villa which was originally an orphanage until a plague caused the adult caretakers to leave the children alone, what I loved the most was the historically accurate setting and costume designs. The attire, ranging from the traditional suit and tie for men in the 1940s to women’s elegant evening dresses and the timeless overcoats adorned by both, impeccably mirrored the era. Alongside this, the traditional Halloween festivities embraced by Venice, Italy added a rich texture to the narrative. Overall, this movie cleverly intertwines murder mystery with horror elements, transporting me to the detective films of the 1930s and 1940s.
With the Halloween season approaching, this can be the perfect movie to kick off the spooky holiday season so you can be on the edge of your seat while figuring out who is the real suspect in the movie. Without revealing too much, the movie’s ending left me stunned with the unveiling of the real culprit—a twist I never anticipated throughout the narrative, making the film still memorable to me. Kenneth Branagh has done it once again with the Hercule Poirot movies!
