FILM: A Haunting In Venice

Since we’re not horror flick fans, we’d been glossing over A Haunting in Venice in the movie listings, until we finally realized that it’s a Kenneth Branagh Agatha Christie film. Branagh returns as inspector Hercule Poirot, lured out of retirement to discredit a medium (Michelle Yeoh) as she holds a séance for a famous opera singer mourning her beloved daughter who fell (or jumped? or was pushed?) to her death from her room in their home, which happens to be a haunted palazzo in Venice. There’s a whole cast of characters, all of whom have secrets and potential motives, and everyone is locked in the palazzo on Halloween night during a storm, as more bodies start to pile up. Nothing is predictable, except of course that Poirot will figure it all out by the end. But along the way, even the great skeptic starts to wonder if there might actually be ghosts after all. The Venetian scenery is gorgeous, and the whole film is very spookily atmospheric. Our kind of Halloween film!