TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 of 2026 (No. 2049) by Leroy Douresseaux
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Running time: 103 minutes
Rating: MPA – PG-13 for some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
WRITER: Michael Green (based on the novel by Agatha Christie)
PRODUCERS: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Hofflund, Simon Kinberg, and Ridley Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haris Zambarloukos (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Lucy Donaldson
COMPOSER: Hildur Gudnadottir
MYSTERY
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cotton, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Rowan Robinson, Ricardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh
A Haunting in Venice is a 2023 mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh. It is based on the 1969 novel, Hallowe'en Party, written by Agatha Christie (1890-1976). Set in post-World War II Venice, A Haunting in Venice finds Hercule Poirot retired and living in exile until he attends a séance where one of the guests is murdered.
A Haunting in Venice opens in Venice, Italy in 1947. There, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) lives in retirement and in exile, having lost his faith in nearly everything. He employs an ex-Venetian police officer, Vitale Portfoglio (Ricardo Scamarcio), as a bodyguard to keep perspective clients away. On Halloween, novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a friend of Poirot's, convinces him to attend a séance at the Palazzo Lacrime dei Giovani, the home of retired opera singer, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly).
The palazzo was once an orphanage, reputed to be haunted. In fact, the building is known for “the children's vendetta,” because the ghosts of the orphanage's murdered children haunt the place and sometimes kill people who visit the palazzo.
Rowena Drake's daughter, Alicia (Rowena Robinson), apparently committed suicide at the palazzo after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), broke off their engagement... or was she a victim of “the children's vendetta.” Rowena has hired controversial medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), to help her commune with Alicia. Ariadne is attending the séance because she wants to expose Reynolds as a fraud – with Poirot's help – and make it the subject of a new book.
However, the séance turns out to be more shocking than anyone expected, and one of the guests ends up murdered. Now, the retired Poirot must once again uncover a killer, but he finds himself with a house full of suspects. And some of them border on the supernatural.
A Haunting in Venice is the third film adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel directed by and starring Oscar-winner, Kenneth Branagh (Belfast, 2021). It follows Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022). I had been planning on seeing this film for some time, but I kept forgetting. It was not until the release of Wake Up Dead Man (2025), director Rian Johnson's third film in his Poirot-like “Benoit Blanc” mystery film series, that I remembered I'd missed A Haunting in Venice.
A Haunting in Venice is a darker spin on Branagh's interpretation of Hercule Poirot, and this new spin also wants to be spookier, which ends up being a mistake for this film. In Michael Green's screenplay for A Haunting in Venice, the ghostly, supernatural, horror-like elements seem tacked-on more than they feel like natural elements. In turn, the whodunit narrative of this film becomes like a car stuck in the mud. Before I even reached the half way mark of this films' runtime, I was already struggling to stay involved in the mystery. I must also must admit that there were times when I was utterly bored with A Haunting in Venice.
However, the film's last act offers a reward for those patient enough to stick around, and that is a happy ending that returns a sense of normalcy to the world of Poirot. Also, I liked the cast because they did their best, even when the screenplay and their characters came across as anemic. I loved Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver, as she proved once again to be a lovable movie star who makes the characters she plays seem endearing even when they don't deserve it.
I like A Haunting in Venice because I feel like I need to like it. Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot intrigues me, and I can never get enough of him. Still, I can only honestly recommend A Haunting in Venice to dedicated fans of this film series.
6 out of 10
B
★★★ out of 4 stars
Saturday, February 7, 2026
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