Watch A Haunting in Venice, 2023’s best murder mystery, this Halloween

Don’t let the goofy mustache or the funny accent fool you: Kenneth Branagh has gotten really good at adapting Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot stories. The movie is a good one. Murder on the Orient Express The film was good enough and an updated version of the classic Whodunit. Venice’s Haunting, now on Hulu just in time for Halloween, is his best mystery yet (and let’s just agree not to talk about (Death on the Nile)..

Venice’s Haunting is adapted from Christie’s novel Hallowe’en PartyThe story is not altered much, although the characters are. Poirot has to come out of retirement on the behest a mystery-writer pal in order investigate the dubious claims of a psychic medium. Of course, things don’t go as planned and a murder occurs, giving our heroic mustachioed Belgian detective no choice but to investigate.

20th Century Studios

Branagh’s confidence is growing as a filmmaker in the crime mystery genre after directing three Poirot movies. Haunting It is full of style and visual flourishes that pay homage to great directors, such as Orson Welles or Fritz Lang. The Venetian villa where most of the movie’s action takes place is shot like a Gothic castle, with massive, looming shadows that stretch all the way across the frame and swallow all the light in the room. As if to threaten to become real, armored suits of armour lurk in the background and on the edge of the picture. This movie has a great mood, with a lot of mystery and creeping dread. But it doesn’t lose its energy or fun. Branagh can’t quite match the true masters in their originality of vision, but he’s becoming as adept at adapting and repurposing directing styles and camera movements as he’s always been at adapting stories.

The movie is far and away the scariest of Branagh’s detective movies, so it’s a great fit for a Halloween watch, but it doesn’t quite reach full horror-movie levels of terror. The movie is filled with convincing evidence that specters are walking around and dead objects, as well as claims about a haunted school.

20th Century Studios

It is a real shame that some of the actors in the movie are not up to par with the script or the direction. Branagh is better than he’s ever been as Poirot: arch, knowing, and just the right amount of silly, but with the pain and sorrow of someone who has encountered a tremendous amount of death. Camille Cottin also does a good job as the suspicious housekeeper. Michelle Yeoh, in her brief role as Poirot’s medium to investigate, is outstanding. Tina Fey, however, is not one of them. As Poirot’s author friend, she doesn’t have the charisma to match the rest of the cast, and overplays her intrigue enough to give more of the movie away than she should. But that’s ultimately a pretty minor quibble with an otherwise very fun movie.

Branagh loves to make his Poirot flicks. And that’s great, because they’re Branagh at his most fun, both as an actor and a filmmaker. The actor can do all mannerisms and accents possible in a single performance. But Branagh is also at his best as a filmmaker when he has clear references to pull from, whether it’s novels or entire eras of filmmaking, and this series gives him both. And it’s a good thing he enjoys these, because they’re starting to get really good. Here’s to as many more as he wants to make.

Venice’s Haunting Now you can stream the latest movies and TV shows. Hulu.