Has any franchise except maybe Dune had as much bad luck with release dates as Kenneth Branagh‘s Hercule Poirot movies? While Murder on the Orient Express was a solid hit back in 2017, the follow-up, Death on the Nile, found itself at the centre of COVID-19 released delays and the fact that its star, Armie Hammer, found himself cancelled after a bunch of lurid claims. A Haunting in Venice was supposed to be another star-studded blockbuster. Still, given the current SAG-AFTRA strike, it seems doomed to open to little fanfare, even if, like its predecessor, it’s actually a decent movie.
Nevertheless, 20th Century Studios is doing its best to market the latest horror-tinged Agatha Christie adaptation, released a new featurette and some stylish character posters revealing the star-studded cast, which included newly minted Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Branagh as Poirot, and two of his stars from Belfast, Jude Hill and Jamie Dornan.
A Haunting in Venice is an adaptation of Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party” and picks up a decade after Death on the Nile, moving the action to post-WW2 Venice. Here’s the official synopsis:
“A Haunting in Venice” is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a 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.
A Haunting in Venice comes out on September 15th, and if its anything like the last two Poirot movies, it’s well worth seeing on the big screen as Branagh and his DP Haris Zambarloukos shoot these movies in 70mm, so they’re always a feast for the eyes.
Will you be checking out A Haunting in Venice? Let us know in the comments! Here are those character posters: