Movie Review: A Haunting in Venice (2023)

A Haunting in Venice (2023) directed by Kenneth Branagh

Based on the Agatha Christie novel Hallowe'en Party, this mystery has a retired Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) living in Venice, Italy. He is visited by an old friend, the mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who wants him to go to a special Halloween party where a seance will be held. The palazzo is said to be haunted by orphan children who died there; the most recent death was the daughter of opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). Drake wants to reconnect with her daughter and has accepted the intrusion of psychic Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). Oliver wants to debunk the seance and needs Poirot's help. He reluctantly agrees. He successfully debunks the seance but then a murder happens. The situation is intriguing enough to pull him out of retirement, though is he really starting to hear and see the ghosts of the house?

The movie has an odd and not quite compelling premise--Poirot has given up investigations and is content to eat pastries on his rooftop patio. He's drawn in by an old friend but the movie seems more like a horror flick than a murder mystery for the first twenty minutes or so. Branagh as director goes for a lot of stylish angles and jump scares to amp up the horror but the production is never really strong enough to be a convincing horror. The disjointed tone does not help the story, making the fantastic twists appear more unbelievable than they should be. The actors do a good job though no one is outstanding and the large cast is more there to provide lots of suspects rather than lots of star-power or glamor. The ultimate resolution is less satisfying than it should be. This film was a ho-hum outing for Branagh's Poirot.

The plot is very far from the original novel, with a lot of the same character names but almost no one has the same personality. I don't mind doing something different for a movie version of a book (sometimes such changes are required to make a good movie out of a good book) but there aren't any real improvements here.

Not quite recommended.