Every Murderer is Somebody's Old Friend.
3.5 / 5
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo.
A much-needed reinvention after the unremarkable Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot returns with a case that comes with an unexpected supernatural angle as he investigates A Haunting in Venice.
Kenneth Branagh is back in the director's chair as well as sporting cinema's finest moustache as the famous detective as he miraculously finds himself at the centre of yet another murderous mystery. Based on Agatha Christie's 'Hallowe'en Party', the film takes advantage of the source materials' scary nature, turning a simple whodunnit on its head - introducing supernatural elements that Poirot struggles to apply his methodical lens to.
Another star cast joins Branagh locked in a haunted house in the centre of Venice in the late 1940s but it was Haris Zambarloukos' stunning cinematography - both the vast open landscapes of Venice's architecture with countless canals and the claustrophobic and paranormal nature of the house that helped this stand out from its visual effect filled predecessor and made me wish I had hunted for an IMAX presentation.
Though the narrative lacked the punch I was anticipating, I loved that Branagh and his team took the opportunity to reimagine what these films could be, leaving me hopeful for another case in the near future.
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