A Haunting In Venice - Movie Review

This September the new Hercule Poirot movie 'A Haunting In Venice' premiered in US cinemas.

This story is the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Halloween Party. This time Hercule Poirot will have to solve the murder of Alicia Drake, a girl who supposedly died at the hands of ghosts. As Poirot does not believe in anything otherworldly, he is determined to find the real killer but turns out to be surrounded by ghosts himself.

If in the two previous movies directors focused on the detective part of the story, this time they changed their approach and focused more on the mystery side. Such a change of focus seemed questionable, as the viewer was unaware of what was happening until the last 15 minutes of the movie when Hercule Poirot magically solves the case. We only get one or two clues which makes it impossible for us to think and try to solve the case together with the famous detective. Instead, this time we merely follow the story without taking part in it.

At the same time, it is fair to say that the mystery part was done very well. The music, dark colors, and the Halloween setting definitely made a difference. Throughout the movie I got chills and thrills, I wanted to understand what was happening, and every scene with a ghost terrified me.

This was a new format not only for the directors of the movie but also for Hercule Poirot himself. He, a skeptic and a very down-to-earth man had to deal with something supernatural. We see the detective in a different environment, and it is interesting to follow him in this unique new case.

And of course, the cast that was chosen very well played a big role in my overall impression. Each of the actors plays professionally and lets us as viewers fully dive into the story.

Compared to the other two Hercule Poirot movies, Murder In The Orient Express and Death On The Nile released in previous years, A Haunting In Venice was the weakest one for me, but it was done very well for the mystery part and definitely deserves your attention. I am excited to see other Agatha Christie novels adapted in this series, and we will hopefully see a new movie next year.

Article by Mary Zakharova