Kenneth Branagh is back as Hercule Poirot and as director of the latest Agatha Christie mystery. This one’s set in post-war Venice, when an admiring writer (Tina Fey in a slightly-sassy period-perfect turn) escorts him to a Halloween séance that ends in murder. The big difference in this movie is the darkness. Whereas the other recent films in the series featured elegant settings, this one is set almost entirely in a run-down palazzo, with very little lighting. This is motivated by the spooky elements that border on supernatural. While the cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos is stylish, Branagh relies too often of sudden crashes for scares. The merging of two genres doesn’t make the suspense or mystery any stronger, but the film is OK as a mildly interesting whodunit. (2 / 5)

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