Endearing Halloween whodunit hokum.

Elbow-deep into the 21st century as we are, it’s quite astonishing that the good old whodunit remains as popular now as it has ever been. For decades, the pulling power of the murder mystery genre has remained remarkably consistent, and it’s oddly comforting that these seemingly outdated films still manage to draw in audiences at a time when much of the cinematic landscape has changed beyond all recognition.

At their best, there are few viewing experiences quite as satisfying as a well told whodunit. Whatever the period or setting, the thrill of a gradually unravelling murder mystery is one of those simple cinematic pleasures that still wields the power to hook audiences of all shapes and sizes, even against their better judgement.

Sure, they can be cheesy as hell and positively riddled with cliché, yet that hasn’t lessened the genre’s endurance. Despite, or even because of, its dated appearance, the murder mystery has lasted the test of time, and no one has been wiser to this eternal appeal in recent years than Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), reluctantly attends a séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective finds himself thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets that he must unravel to escape.

Whether it’s Knives Out, See How They Run, or even horror-inflicted fare like Bodies Bodies Bodies, modern interpretations of the old school whodunit have been having quite the moment of late, yet it’s somewhat surprising that the biggest success of this trend is one that has had little desire to modernise the genre at all.

Despite having an iconic whodunit name like Poirot attached, the ongoing success of these Agatha Christie adaptations is nonetheless an impressive one, especially when you consider just how outdated they seem. Catering to an audience that have perhaps grown weary of the bloated, franchise-heavy state of modern mainstream cinema, the simple, throwback nature of Kenneth Branagh’s series has clearly struck a chord with many.

From Murder on the Orient Express to Death on the Nile, this series of adaptations have managed to garner success via a very wily tactic of sticking to the source material’s basics, loading the cast with glitzy names, and finishing it off with a thick layer of gloss. Leaning into an “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” filmmaking approach, Branagh once again plays it simple with A Haunting in Venice, however, there’s more than enough on display to make things interesting and to make this one of the better entries in the series.

Embracing the spookier side of the Poirot playbook, A Haunting in Venice (as the title suggests) fully channels the supernatural, and while it certainly won’t be winning any prizes on the scare front any time soon, there’s something to be said for the eerie, atmospheric edge it offers. Coming off more like a theme park haunted house ride than anything outrageously scary, Branagh’s decision to replace the gloss and glamour of the first two films with a more morbid, mournful, horror-tinged tone manages to reinvigorate the franchise just when you thought it was on its last legs.

Stuffed with serviceable scares, a grimy gothic atmosphere, and Dutch angles aplenty, A Haunting in Venice is a solidly spooky, if unspectacular, viewing experience that makes no bones about what it is and what it’s here to offer. Wearing its clichés - both of the horror and whodunit variety - on its sleeve, Branagh’s film lays out a veritable smorgasbord of jump scares, red herrings, and convoluted exposition for us to indulge in.

If that all sounds a little old fashioned and predictable, that’s because it is. While there are always twists and turns along the way, there’s a lot to be said for the comforting predictability that murder mysteries offer, and Kenneth Branagh knows this all too well as, despite A Haunting in Venice’s welcome tonal shift from its predecessors, it steadfastly refuses to budge from the classic whodunit formula.

That tonal shift, however, is key and is, ultimately, what saves A Haunting in Venice from becoming a whodunit dud. With a gleeful gothic twist, the film revels in its broad ghost story strokes, offering something a little different while authentically rooting itself in its location in a way neither of the first two films did.

Honestly, it’s really not too hard to make Venice look the part on screen, however, this takes away nothing from Kenneth Branagh and his team as they milk the famous city’s winding canals and crooked, creaking palazzos for all their worth. In a manner that neither Murder on the Orient Express nor Death on the Nile accomplished, A Haunting in Venice anchors itself in its location, laying out a beautifully creepy, storm-slicked city canvas for its murders to play out upon.

The result is an aesthetically pleasing blend of Venice’s natural charm and a playful, easily accessible level of horror-tinged Halloween creepiness. With jump scares and cliches galore, nothing on offer is in any way revolutionary, yet there’s something about it that hits just that little bit harder than its predecessors.

What A Haunting in Venice also has on the first two instalments is a cast that don’t just feel like they’ve been brought in purely to see how many A-list names you can squeeze onto a movie poster. At times, both Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile found themselves drowning under the weight of their own star power, yet this latest outing, while certainly not lacking in recognisable names, undoubtedly benefits from a far more low-key ensemble.

With Kenneth Branagh’s exquisite moustache leading the way once again, the likes of Jamie Dornan and Michelle Yeoh inject a little glitz into proceedings, with the latter in particular clearly having a blast chewing the creeping Venetian scenery, while Tina Fey brings the fun operating as an excellent comedic foil for Branagh’s stoic Poirot.

Granted, the sense of grandeur that the first two films had is lost somewhat with such a scaled down ensemble, yet there’s certainly something to be said for the condensed nature of the cast, especially considering the film’s location. It feels more confined, more cramped, and entirely in keeping with the creeping claustrophobia of its compact Venetian setting.

Wherever the series and Branagh’s moustache go from here - if they indeed go anywhere - it at least feels like it has demonstrated an ability to shift gears and tone when necessary, something that the franchise felt in desperate need of after the disappointment of Death on the Nile. Sure, a lot of A Haunting in Venice treads a well-worn path while never truly escaping its whodunit confines, yet there remains much to enjoy with the film’s endearingly humdrum Halloween hokum.

With a decidedly different tonal approach from its Poirot predecessors, A Haunting in Venice is a solidly spooky watch and arguably the best of Kenneth Branagh’s series so far. Full of Dutch angles, classic whodunnit clichés, and a playful eeriness, Branagh manages to mix things up a little while never truly pushing the boat out.

A Haunting in Venice is in cinemas now.