Kenneth Branagh returns as Hercule Poirot (and in the director’s chair) in A Haunting in Venice, now available on Blu-ray from Disney/20th Century Studios.
The Production: 4/5
Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) has been living out his retirement in relative seclusion in 1947 Venice with help from his bodyguard, Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scarmacio), who has been keeping Poirot’s followers at a distance. An old friend, American author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), comes to visit and invite the retired detective to a séance to be held at the palazzo owned by Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to help determine if medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) is legitimate and if so, to help solve the mystery of the death of Ms. Drake’s daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who’s ghost is said to be one of the many that are haunting the estate. Poirot reluctantly agrees to attend the séance, joined by Dr. Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his son Leopold (Jude Hill), housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), and Alicia’s former fiancé Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen). Poirot quickly sees through the trickery performed by Ms. Reynolds and her assistants, Desdemona Holland (Emma Laird) and her half-brother Nicholas (Ali Khan). When Ms. Reynolds is killed, seemingly pushed out of a window and impaled on a statue, Poirot demands that the palazzo be locked down while he and Ms. Oliver interrogate the suspects, hoping to reveal the murderer. But Poirot senses that something isn’t right, often distracted by a young girl’s faint singing and a feeling of heightened tension in the air. Is the palazzo actually haunted and who murdered Ms. Reynolds?
Based on the lesser-known Agatha Christie novel Hallowe’en Party, screenwriter Michael Green and director Kenneth Branagh team up for a third time to bring us another intriguing and entertaining Poirot whodunnit (the previous entries being the better-known Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile). Like those prior films, A Haunting in Venice showcases a terrific ensemble cast, with Branagh talking on the role of Poirot once again (he has the character down pat), with Tina Fey playing her character straight rather than comedic (although she does have a few good lines here and there). Although the film tends to use a lot of jolt scares to keep the audience on their feet, it rarely feels like a cheap scare since Poirot is often the subject of those jolt scares and hence they feel more organic in how they are presented. This is a fun and often beautifully photographed film, and definitely had me guessing as to who the actual suspect was until the very end.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Unlike the two previous entries in the series which were shot mostly on 65mm film stock, A Haunting in Venice was captured digitally in 6K resolution on Sony CineAlta Venice cameras and completed as a 4K digital intermediate in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. While the film is available in 4K from digital retailers, Disney/20th Century Studios has opted to only release the film on Blu-ray physical media. This is still a mostly excellent 1080p AVC encode, with excellent detail such as fabric and skin textures, vivid colors, and near-perfect black levels. However, I did notice a few establishing shots of Venice early on that exhibited some minor banding on my LG C1 OLED display. Other than that, this is an excellent Blu-ray video presentation.
Audio: 4.5/5
Released theatrically with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack that is also included with 4K digitals on both Apple TV and Vudu, as per Disney policy, the Blu-ray is limited to a still very good 7.1 mix in DTS-HD MA. Even without the height channels that a spatial audio mix would provide, this is a very immersive mix, with frequent surround activity that adds to the haunted house theme of the story. LFE lends some nice low- end support to many of the jolt scares implored in the film. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout despite some of the characters rather thick accents.
Special Features: 2/5
Murder, Death, and Haunting (1080p; 26:08): This is a pretty entertaining featurette that covers most of the bases on the making of the film, including the decisions to use a lesser-known novel and to relocate it to Venice, as well as a few other liberties.
Deleted Scenes (1080p; 8:14): A total of eleven sequences are included, mostly scene trims many of which run well under a minute each.
Digital Copy: A Movies Anywhere code is included to redeem an HD digital copy of the film plus 150 Disney Movie Insider rewards points.
Overall: 4/5
A Haunting in Venice is a fun and often beautifully photographed film with excellent performances from is ensemble cast.
Haunting in Venice, A
$19.30 $21.50
Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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