Kenneth Branagh’s spin on Agatha Christie’s Belgian super-sleuth Hercule Poirot has grown into a full-fledged film series and I couldn’t be happier. Branagh has directed and starred in two previous Poirot whodunnits starting with 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” which was followed it with 2022’s “Death on the Nile”. Both were entertaining star-studded movies that played like delightfully fun relics of a bygone movie era.

Branagh’s third venture into Poirot’s world of mystery and murder is “A Haunting in Venice”, another tasty period feature yet one with a supernatural twist. It’s based on Christie’s 1969 novel “Hallowe’en Party” and once again brings together an intriguing ensemble that includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jude Hill, Emma Laird, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Ali Khan.

Set in 1947, we first meet Hercule Poirot (once again played with steely charm and sophistication by Branagh) tucked away in Venice where he pretends to enjoy his retirement from detective work. One day he’s surprised by an old friend, Ariadne Oliver (Fey). She’s a successful American mystery novelist who’s in Venice to attend a séance being performed by a self-proclaimed medium named Joyce Reynolds (Yeoh). Ariadne is out to expose Reynolds as a fraud and maybe get a little inspiration for her new novel.

Ariadne convinces the skeptical and reclusive Poirot to loosen up, get out of the house, and accompany her to the séance. It’s being held at a creepy old palazzo owned by Rowena Drake (Reilly), a grieving mother who desperately wants to make contact with her recently deceased daughter Alicia. Joining them is an eclectic array of guests including Alicia’s former doctor Leslie Ferrier (Dornan) and his precocious young son Leopold (Hill), Rowena’s superstitious housekeeper Olga (Cottin), and Alicia’s pompous ex-fiancé Maxime (Allen) among others.

Returning screenwriter Michael Green does a good job opening up his characters. He gives each of them their own nicely defined personalities and histories. Most importantly, after one among them winds up dead, Green gives them all believable motives. And in a snap we have ourselves a good ol’ mystery and it’s up to Poirot to sort through the conflicting stories to find the murderer. But what’s with the creepy voices and shifting shadows? Could something supernatural be to blame?

The movie has fun toying with the horror genre, but it’s never what I would call scary. That said, Branagh does create a genuinely spooky atmosphere with the help of some nice production design, terrific cinematography from Haris Zambarloukos, and the sparse yet ever eerie score from Oscar winner Hildur Guðnadóttir. But the film also has a subtle sense of humor which comes out at some of the most unexpected times.

Yet at its core “A Haunting in Venice” remains a straight-up whodunnit and everything (the horror bits included) feeds into that ambition. Branagh once again proves to be the right fit for these films, both in front of and behind the camera. Will the film find an audience? That’s the big question, especially in this frustratingly fickle box office world we currently exist in. I hope it does. Branagh now sits 3 for 3 in his Poirot universe, and I for one hope there will be more of these films coming down the pipeline. “A Haunting in Venice” opens today exclusively in theaters.

VERDICT – 4 STARS