Movie #17 : A Haunting in Venice

 My friend called me to go see this movie with her friend from college and I had no plans, so I went. She knew I love watching movies and I have seen the other Hercule Poirot movies. They were nothing too special, but I enjoy a good mystery now and then and I feel like these movies always had a good twist. And of course, who could say no to a movie with Michelle Yeoh.

"A Haunting in Venice" takes place in you guessed it, Venice. Hercule gets commissioned by his old friend, Ariadne Oliver played by Tina Fey, to come to a children's party and then a seance after. Hercule, forever the skeptic, reluctantly follows his friend, where they experience a particularly creepy seance which was wonderfully performed by Yeoh's character Joyce Reynolds. The seance quickly ends as Hercule sees some of its lies, but the story just begins as someone in the party is murdered. Was it the ghost of those who have past or will Hercule solve another crime? Go to your local theaters to find out!

As I have said, I have watched both of the other movies with Hercule and as they were suspenseful, I was not particularly scared. I would never have to close my eyes or anything, but I was gripping onto my friend's hand in the theater because I was scared. There were many jump scares and eerie noises that could be heard around the theater. I will admit that I am easily frightened, so while I might find this scary, you might not. But I don't recommend you see this at night. 

One aspect that I really liked was that there was sort of a double mystery, and I thought I had found out who was behind the murders, but I was wrong and right in a way. The mystery was also too difficult for me to solve, and I did not see the ending coming. I do wish it was a little easier so I would have been able to put the pieces together and it was hard to focus on solving it because there were many jump scares. This film was definitely different from the last too.

The cast was still stacked though as usual. Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, Yeoh, Fey, Kyle Allen, and Kenneth Branagh playing Hercule, were all part of the seance. Many find a cast with too many famous actors to be distracting, but all of these actors are actually good at their jobs, so I didn't find it distracting. Reilly and Dornan in particular really wowed me because I have seen them in roles like "Yellowstone" and "Fifty Shades of Gray", where they have just played completely different characters, and this really showed me that they both have incredible range. 

I also really enjoyed that set that they worked on. Venezia, or Venice, is such a beautiful place to be and I would really love to visit, but they made it seem like a dark and scary place. The inside of the house was also beautiful and had many gorgeous rooms perfect for a murder mystery. The gateway to the rivers was really quite interested to see and it really added to the creepiness of it all. 

I definitely recommend this movie to those who like a tough mystery with a bit of scariness. If you don't like jump scares, maybe this is not for you. It is available now in theaters, but I suspect you will be able to get in on streaming in a few weeks. But support your local theaters! And fuck streaming places for not paying their writers and actors. #Union