A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Happy Spooktober to you, friends! It’s been a while and I’m joyful to be writing again, especially now, the spookiest time of the year. For my first review of the season, I saw the newest film in the Poirot series, A Haunting in Venice. I’m not overly familiar with Poirot, I’ve only seen the recent Murder on the Orient Express and haven’t read any of the books, but I generally like Kenneth Branagh and I can’t say no to a spooky period piece, so I checked it out. Right after seeing this I also went to Six Flags for Frightfest, which isn’t related at all but I just wanted to mention it in case anyone wants to talk about Frightfest. Please, I’m begging you. Anyway, A Haunting in Venice!

A Haunting in Venice takes place in, shockingly, Venice, where we find ourselves following Hercule Poirot. Due to events that probably happened in the last film that I didn’t see, Poirot has taken up a self-imposed exile and sworn off mystery-solving, content to eat pastries and chill on a Venetian rooftop, which actually sounds lovely. Because there’s no way you could think for a second that Poirot isn’t going to solve a mystery, his old friend shows up and drags him out for a Halloween party followed by a spooky seance in a creepy building on a dark and stormy night. Poirot is challenged by his friend and the medium to somehow prove that she does not have the psychic powers she claims to have, and this kicks off a wild night of general unpleasantness, especially when things start happening that Poirot may not have an explanation for.

In addition to everything above, there is so much more plot and so many characters that I’m surprised at how dense this movie managed to be while still being well-paced. Plot points pop up frequently and character relationships get more and more complicated, but there were a few times that I didn’t know what was happening or why it was happening, or why certain characters were doing what they were doing. The character dialogue is efficient, and it’s helped by the generally high caliber of acting that everyone is pulling out here. Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, and Branagh himself as Poirot; all did well, and even some of the less front and center cast were excellent, bringing what could be one-note stock characters to life.

The acting is good, the characters are good, but the real star of this show is the atmosphere, A Haunting in Venice oozes style and those spooky Halloween vibes make this excellent seasonal viewing. Essentially shot in one large, crumbling, Venetian building, the cinematography goes into overdrive to keep everything visually interesting and atmospheric without going into creepy crumbling mansion cliches. Part of what makes this atmosphere work so well is how determined the movie is to not be tongue in cheek, it takes itself very seriously and that helped me to take it seriously, even when the plot took a few turns that seemed slightly out of left field.

I realize that sudden plot developments and leaps of logic that turn out to be completely accurate are standard for this type of movie, so I’m trying not to hold that against it, but it did break my immersion slightly. That’s more of a minor thing though, as I did enjoy the acting, characters, atmosphere, and most of the plot. If you’re a fan at all of mysteries there’s definitely a lot you’d get out of A Haunting in Venice, and I’d even go so far as to recommend it to people who may not have any real interest in the mystery genre, I’m not particularly, and even I had a good time with this.