Opinion: A Haunting in Venice (2023)

The latest installment of Kenneth Branagh's Poirot franchise is based on Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party. Once again, Branagh reprises his role as Hercule Poirot while directing the picture.

The film is exactly as the title suggests, proving to be much more sinister than the previous films a seance in Venice sets the mystery in motion.

Michelle Yeoh plays a medium who is the subject of Ariadne Oliver's (Tina Fey) book. Oliver invited Poirot to witness and potentially challenge the authenticity of the medium's abilities.

Poirot remains doubtful of the seemingly supernatural throughout the film. I would have been curious to see Yeoh's character in the film for a longer period of time to see what kind of confusion and twists she could've added along the way to the big reveal.

This is a lesser known story compared to the ones adapted for Branagh's previous Poirot films so I was giving the story my full attention throughout and unlike some I did not feel as though the film was uninteresting especially given how quickly, but smoothly, the mystery unravelled.

I think the cast and director were successful in delivering a haunting story. I think the title is appropriate because the film can't be considered a horror despite the fear on screen, and perhaps in the audience, but the supernatural backdrop definitely had

a distinct tone compared to the previous Poirot movies.