A Haunting in Venice

This weekend, A Haunting in Venice, the newest Kenneth Branagh-directed Agatha Christie adaption releases in theaters. A Haunting in Venice follows world-famous detective Hercule Poirot as he gets invited to a seance in a supposed haunted house. When a murder takes place, it is up to Detective Poirot to uncover the truth.

Much like the last two films in the series, I have a good amount of enjoyment with these murder mystery films. I found this film to be the best of the three films having a much more cohesive story and much better pacing. The biggest issue with the previous two films is that it took too long to get going. However, with this film, I thought the movie did a very good job of building up to the murder with the story moving at a natural pace. The best thing about this movie was the horror aspect. This movie takes the typical murder mystery formula and gives it a horror skin. I felt this was a very effective way to tell the story. The film uses horror tactics such as jump scares to really build up the story and the mystery. It also does a great job of building up tension in some of the dark scenes that really keep you on the edge. I also liked some of the camera work that they did where they had some scenes have a handled home video camera feel to them. I think the movie did a great job of balancing the scary with the mystery. It isn't too scary that I would call it a true horror movie but just scary enough that it keeps you excited. I would describe this horror as a more adult Scooby Doo or on the same level as the second Doctor Strange movie.

However, a few things are holding this film down for me. The first issue is that the characters are all so forgettable. They don't have any fun personalities and just get a single character trait. There is the jerk ex-boyfriend, the religious nut, the hysterical mother, and just so many typical horror characters. The other movies at least had a few stand-out performers. I also felt that the movie didn't quite resolve everything that needed to. There were a few supernatural-like things that happened that were never fully explained.

In the end, this is another good enough murder mystery film with a fun horror skin on it. While it may not be the most groundbreaking in the genre, it still got a good bit of enjoyment out of it.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B Recommendation: Check it out if you like murder mystery movies