Movie · 2023 · Mystery, Thriller, Crime · 1h 44m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 2.5/10 (532.3K ratings)
Death was only the beginning.
Overview
Celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.5/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.00/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 63
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Kenneth Branagh
Production
20th Century Studios, Scott Free Productions, Genre Films, Agatha Christie, Mark Gordon Pictures
Cast
Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, Michelle Yeoh, Dylan Corbett-Bader, Amir El-Masry, Fernando Piloni, Lorenzo Acquaviva, David Menkin, Yaw Nimako-Asameah, Clara Duczmal, Rowan Robinson, Stella Harris
Where to watch
Hulu
Curator Review
Verdict
A moody, gothic mystery with stronger atmosphere than puzzle-box ingenuity. It leans into haunted-house dread, Venice gloom, and a more haunted Poirot, but the mystery itself is fairly transparent and the tonal seriousness may not satisfy viewers expecting a breezier Christie adaptation.
Best for
Viewers who like gothic period mysteries
Fans of moody, rain-soaked atmosphere and production design
Audiences open to a more somber, psychological Poirot
People who enjoy ensemble whodunits with a supernatural veneer
Skip if
You want a tightly engineered, hard-to-guess mystery
You prefer the lighter, more playful side of Agatha Christie
You are tired of Kenneth Branagh’s stylized Poirot approach
You want a horror film that fully commits to scares
Overview
A Haunting in Venice is the most visually controlled of Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot films, trading the glossy travelogue feel of the earlier entries for damp stone, candlelight, and a genuine sense of enclosure. The Venice setting and Halloween séance framing give it an appealing gothic texture, and the movie is often more effective as mood piece than as whodunit.
Worth noting
The tradeoff is that the central mystery is not especially difficult to solve, and the film’s attempts to deepen the emotional stakes can feel heavier than the material needs. Still, Branagh’s direction is more disciplined here, and the haunted-palazzo setting gives the story a pleasingly sinister shape.
Bottom line
If you come for atmosphere, period detail, and a Poirot who feels more isolated and vulnerable than usual, it delivers. If you want a clever, twisty Christie adaptation that keeps you guessing until the end, this is more likely to be admired than loved.
Top Letterboxd reviews
aliyah · 6134 likes
lots of mysteries in this one like ‘who’s the killer?’ and ‘why is the camera angled like that?’
júlia (3.5★) · 6105 likes
i understand kenneth branagh bc i'm also obsessed with using the 0.5 camera setting feature on my phone
Kevin Tarazi. (3.5★) · 3145 likes
The real crime was that Michelle Yeoh wasn't in every scene.
MarMar (2.5★) · 2770 likes
The twist is so obvious that Benoit Blanc would have solved the case after he had his first drink.
ash (3★) · 2693 likes
I just want someone to love me the way Kenneth Branagh loves using that damn French accent
2019 · Comedy, Crime, Mystery · 2h 11m · PG-13 · Curator 8.4/10 (4.7M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A modern whodunit that balances playful suspicion, ensemble dynamics, and a strong sense of style.
1949 · Thriller, Mystery · 1h 45m · NR · Curator 9.6/10 (377K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, IndieFlix, Cineverse, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A classic of shadowy suspense and postwar moral rot, with unforgettable visual texture.