Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice is now streaming, with the article presenting it as a distinctive entry in his Hercule Poirot films because it combines a traditional murder mystery with gothic horror. The change matters because it challenges Poirot’s usual certainty that every crime has a rational explanation, making both the detective and audience less sure of what is real.

Adapted from Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, the film follows the retired Poirot as he attends a Halloween séance in a supposedly haunted Venetian palazzo with novelist Ariadne Oliver. When a guest is murdered, he investigates amid sightings and sounds that may be supernatural; the cast includes Branagh, Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh, while the film uses distorted shots, Dutch angles and restrained jump scares to build unease.