Is 'A Haunting in Venice' a Worthy Agatha Christie Adaptation?
In spring of 2022, Gal Gabot's Linnet Ridgeway shouted, "And enough champagne to fill the Nile!" and was promptly shot in the head during Kenneth Branagh's second middling Agatha Christie adaptation. Most would have predicted the franchise's chances at survival as likely as its latest murder victim. Death on the Nile, after all, barely earned back its budget, and while Gadot's line delivery became a campy internet meme, the film received tepid reviews from critics. The plot, based on acclaimed and oft-adapted Christie novel, was obviously strong, but was the film doing anything new? The same critique had been aimed at its predecessor Murder on the Orient Express, which despite a starrier cast and bigger box office haul, earned similar feedback.
Clearly, however, Branagh, who directs and stars in the series as detective Hercule Poirot, has an affinity for the material, since he's followed up his Oscar-winning Belfast with not one, but two, Christie mysteries. And that brings us to the third entry in this trilogy, A Haunting in Venice.
Unlike its two predecessors, which stuck closely to two of Christie's most famous novels, the third outing from Branagh and returning screenwriter Michael Green opted for a different strategy. The pair selected a lesser known Christie novel, Hallowe'en Party, transformed the setting from the English countryside to Venice, Italy, and largely invented a whole new plot. Even Christie's most loyal fans will be able to enjoy this mystery without knowing "whodunit." In Hallowe'een Party, Poirot is brought in to uncover who drowned a young girl in an apple bobbing tub (how macabre), while in A Haunting in Venice, a retired Poirot is dragged begrudgingly to a seance in hopes he'll be able to debunk a charlatan.
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Of course, as with the previous two films, part three includes a star-studded cast of murder suspects/victims to creep around corridors and stare moodily from the shadows. The Venetian police lineup includes 30 Rock's Tina Fey as a struggling detective/novelist coming off three lackluster mysteries, two of Branagh's Belfast alumni Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill as a jumpy doctor and his creepy, death-obsessed child, West Side Story's Kyle Allen as an American restauranteur, Yellowstone's Kelly Reilly as a grieving widow and Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh as the medium leading the seance.
Fox Searchlight
Ten years after Death on the Nile, Poirot reluctantly trades eating boxes (plural) of pastries on his villa's rooftop for attending the world's most depressing Halloween party in a dilapidated mansion said to be haunted by the ghosts of orphans who were locked inside and starved to death. It's also now haunted by the daughter of its owner, who fell to her death a year prior, and whose defenestrated spirit is now being channeled in a late-night huddle with medium Joyce (Yeoh). While revealing any more would give up the delightfully demented Act 1 kill, the film moves through the standard beats of a detective narrative, with the witnesses questioned, additional corpses piled up and eventually a lengthy explanation as to exactly how the killer did their killing.
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Of the three Branagh x Christie collabs, this is certainly the most entertaining. It's not trying to adhere closely to a book and so has full reign to shuffle furtively (candle in hand) down odd corridors. For better and worse, however, Haunting feels more like end-of-the-night, sleep-deprived, delirious entertainment than a precisely architected Poirot mystery. The suspense created with an original narrative, however, does pump some newfound energy into the mix, and to the screenplay's credit, the reveal is compelling despite not being one of Christie's own.
Other welcome additions are the spooky horror elements that weren't present aboard the snowy luxury train cars or sun-drenched Egyptian cruise of the previous two films. Gruesome kills, creepy dolls and the ghosts of dead orphans (not to mention a Phantom of the Opera-style chandelier crash) go a long way to setting the mood. The horror vibes, however, don't go too far past that, and after a strong first act, the movie settles into the usual schtick without much to shock the audience.
Similarly, while the film showcases some strong performances, its about 50/50 in its hit/miss ratio. Tina Fey, as a quippy intellectual with a mid-century accent, is better than she has been in years, and Michelle Yeoh is having a blast as the unhinged psychic, arms akimbo in spectral possession. Dornan and Hill, however, are severely miscast, with Dornan (who proved his charisma and range in Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar) spending most of the film just looking pained, and Hill, forever cherubic, filling a role meant for a more sinister Barry Keoghan-type. Branagh is still doing Branagh. Take from that what you will.
Searchlight Pictures
Ultimately, A Haunting in Venice is exactly what you imagine it to be, a spooky Halloween mystery that takes viewers on a satisfying, if slightly bland, whodunit adventure. Fans of Christie and/or the first two films will certainly enjoy this one, and those looking for an October flick less blood-stained than The Exorcist or Saw have an obvious choice. This third Poirot outing, however, fails yet again to answer the question, "Why isn't this just a BBC special?" But maybe it's that nagging question and the lukewarm reviews that have been goading Branagh into making these. He doesn't strike me as a quitter. Perhaps fourth time's a charm?
Grade: C
