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A moody, gothic mystery with stronger atmosphere than puzzle-box ingenuity. It leans into haunted-house dread, Venice gloom, and a more haunted Poirot, but the mystery itself is fairly transparent and the tonal seriousness may not satisfy viewers expecting a breezier Christie adaptation.
Where to watch: Buy
Wed · 1h 44m
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin
Celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin
A moody, gothic mystery with stronger atmosphere than puzzle-box ingenuity. It leans into haunted-house dread, Venice gloom, and a more haunted Poirot, but the mystery itself is fairly transparent and the tonal seriousness may not satisfy viewers expecting a breezier Christie adaptation.
A Haunting in Venice is the most visually controlled of Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot films, trading the glossy travelogue feel of the earlier entries for damp stone, candlelight, and a genuine sense of enclosure. The Venice setting and Halloween séance framing give it an appealing gothic texture, and the movie is often more effective as mood piece than as whodunit.
The tradeoff is that the central mystery is not especially difficult to solve, and the film’s attempts to deepen the emotional stakes can feel heavier than the material needs. Still, Branagh’s direction is more disciplined here, and the haunted-palazzo setting gives the story a pleasingly sinister shape.
If you come for atmosphere, period detail, and a Poirot who feels more isolated and vulnerable than usual, it delivers. If you want a clever, twisty Christie adaptation that keeps you guessing until the end, this is more likely to be admired than loved.
aliyah · 6134 likes
lots of mysteries in this one like ‘who’s the killer?’ and ‘why is the camera angled like that?’
júlia (3.5★) · 6105 likes
i understand kenneth branagh bc i'm also obsessed with using the 0.5 camera setting feature on my phone
Kevin Tarazi. (3.5★) · 3145 likes
The real crime was that Michelle Yeoh wasn't in every scene.
MarMar (2.5★) · 2770 likes
The twist is so obvious that Benoit Blanc would have solved the case after he had his first drink.
ash (3★) · 2693 likes
I just want someone to love me the way Kenneth Branagh loves using that damn French accent
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gothic mystery, whodunit, grief and guilt, haunted house, psychological suspense, Halloween, seance, isolation
gothic, mystery, thriller, whodunit, period piece, Halloween, haunted house, psychological suspense, atmospheric