I rarely recommend whodunit movies. Every once in a while, one like "Knives Out" impresses me enough to give the genre another try, but then so many turn out to be predictable bores where the culprit practically has "killer" tattooed across the forehead from the moment they step on screen. Still, I'll watch anything with Tina Fey in it, so when "A Haunting in Venice," Kenneth Branagh's third run as Agatha Christie's iconic detective Hercule Poirot, returned to Hulu at the top of the month, it caught my eye.
Its spooky vibes were what sealed the deal, as I'm a huge fan of horror movies. I wasn't disappointed. Branagh and his screenwriter, Michael Green, reimagine the cozy conventions of your typical detective story as a haunted-house thriller with scares that nearly made me jump out of my seat several times. Its central mystery takes a while to really get cooking, but once it does, I was glued to my seat. Branagh and Fey have great chemistry, the rest of the cast is equally stellar, and the Venice setting and creative cinematography are pushed to the fullest to craft an undeniable sense of dread and suspense throughout. It's definitely worth adding to your watchlist this week if you prefer mysteries with a flair for the dramatic and an unsettling atmosphere that keeps you on your toes.
