A Haunting in Venice movie review

MOVIE TITLE: A Haunting in Venice

This spooky murder mystery is now playing in theaters, timed to release on Dame Agatha Christie’s 133rd birthday!

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 43 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: A-

IN A NUTSHELL:

I love Sir Kenneth Branagh both in front of a behind the camera. He directs the movie, as well as stars in it, featuring that multi-layered mustache. He also wears the hat of a producer, along with Ridley Scott, Judy Hofflund, and Simon Kinberg.

Supposedly, the movie is based on the novel “Hallowe’en Party” by Dame Agatha Christie published in 1969. https://amzn.to/3PtoX5U

While the whodunnit book takes place in England, the movie’s location is Venice, Italy. Surprisingly, this is the very first time a movie adaptation has been made about the book!

THINGS I LIKED:

The cast is fantastic and includes Sir Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Camille Cottin, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kelly Reilly, Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Rowan Robinson, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Laird, Kyle Allen, and Ali Khan. Everyone does an excellent job.
Perfectly timed for the Halloween season in the USA, the movie offers an extremely creepy setting with plenty of jumps and scares. I got to see this in the theater on opening night. While walking down the hallways in the large theater, I saw a TON of movie posters for creepy movies coming out in time for Halloween. One thing I really liked about this film is that it doesn’t have all of the violence, blood, and gore of some of the upcoming scary movies.
In order to get genuine scares out of the actors, the director worked with the technical department to cause things to happen without their knowing beforehand. Actor Kelly Reilly admitted that all of the scary moments in the seance scene scared the “bejesus” out of her.
We get to see some absolutely gorgeous images of Venice. I’ve been there twice and love its look and feel. It’s such a unique location, allowing for the cinematographer, Haris Zambarloukos, to make perfect postcard shots. The bird’s-eye view of the entire city at the end of the movie is stunning, and the palazzo’s interior makes for the perfect haunted house.
Despite its very dark setting and story, there is still a lot of clever humor to be had.
Each scene was so carefully crafted that you could see that much attention to detail was given by the director. I always admire that in a director.
A clever element of this dark addition to the Hercule Poirot franchise is that he is very much rattled by what he experiences. He second-guesses himself and is faced with questions about God, Satan, and the afterlife.
The clues are there but it’s easy to miss them when so many other things are happening around the characters. I didn’t figure out who the murderer was at all. I love how Hercule Poirot is able to catch the little details in order to solve the crime.
The movie poster is unsettling.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie’s book, you might be a little disappointed because the film only loosely follows that story. In good news, many viewers are saying the movie is actually better than the book!
Many scenes are visually dark, so try to watch this on the biggest screen you can.
I like Tina Fey in comedy but wasn’t sure she was perfectly cast in this role.
I wish I had been able to turn on subtitles in the theater. Some of the accents made it difficult to understand what everyone was saying.
Act 3 wraps up very quickly and suddenly.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

This will be way too scary for many kids, especially young ones.
We see some dead bodies.
There is some blood.
We hear and see ghosts.
A seance is held and many scary things happen.

THEMES:

Family
Power
Control
Supernatural forces
The afterlife
Revenge
Trickery
Friendship
Deception

FUNNY LINES:

“I’m the first smartest person I’ve ever met, so to figure it out, I came to the second.” – Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey)

INTERESTING LINES:

* “Tell the police not to worry; Hercule Poirot is on the case.” – Hercule Poirot (Sir Kenneth Branaugh)

“In Venice, we say every house is haunted or cursed.” – Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio)
“Fear makes people to terrible things.” – puppet show narrator
“This one will be very sad.” – Mrs. Reynolds (Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh)
“I have lost my faith.” – Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) “How sad for you.” – Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh)
“Some things can’t be seen.” – Leopold Ferrier (Jude Hill)
“Battle scars are not always of the body.” – Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branaugh)
“You have sympathy for the dead?” – Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branaugh) “Some of them are my friends. (Leopold Ferrier (Jude Hill)