Kenneth Branagh’s third Agatha Christie-based film is the best of the bunch so far, a far spookier and creepier effort that finds his enigmatic Detective Poirot trying to solve a murder case at Halloween in Italy (which isn’t really a thing, but moving on…). Skewed camera angles, the occasional fish-eye lens, and a fantastic, moody score by the always-great Hildur Guðnadóttir all lend to the atmosphere, and the top-shelf cast (which also includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, and Michelle Yeoh) elevates the film to be a worthy entry in the Christie canon. It takes a bit to get up and running, but once it does, ‘Haunting’ delivers.
4/5 stars