A Haunting in Venice
spoiler for Agatha Christie ’s Poirot novel Hallowe’en Party
The next Kenneth Branagh Poirot picture show , A Haunting In Venice , is based on the Agatha Christie novelHallowe’en Party , a voluminous mystery with a killer ending . Agatha Christie remains one of the best - selling author in history , and the peculiar police detective Hercule Poirot is perhaps the most famous introduction of the prolific author ’s historied calling . A veritable master of murder closed book , Poirot solved over 80 cases in Christie ’s many novels , play , and inadequate stories . The kinky fictional character has been portray onscreen by almost a twelve different actors . Over the decade , David Suchet , Albert Finney , and Peter Ustinov contend to provide the definitive take on Poirot .
Now , director / actor Kenneth Branagh ’s Poirotis the latest take on the iconic type to hit screens . Branagh ’s Poirot moving picture to date have been a pair of expectant - budget , starry execution mystery story , 2017’sMurder on the Orient Expressand 2022’sDeath on the Nile . While both of these movies featured stacked cast and earned solid follow-up , Branagh ’s Poirot movies have hold fast comparatively close to the tone of Christie ’s source stuff . Branagh ’s movies have a little more blockbuster bombast ( as witness inDeath on the Nile ’s explosive backstory for Poirot ’s moustache ) , but by and large , Branagh ’s Poirot maintains Christie ’s conversant , cosy blend of law-breaking and comedy .
Hallowe’en Party Is Set In England (Not Italy)
However , 2023’sA Haunting in Veniceis set to hitch this trend . Branagh ’s Modern movie will accommodate Christie ’s Poirot 1969 novelHallowe’en Party . However , Hallowe’en Partytakes place in the quiet English settlement of Woodleigh Common rather than the Italian city of Venice . moreover , althoughHallowe’en Partydoes boast the nominal fête , the novel does n’t include the séance that feature prominently in the trailer forA Haunting in Venice(although another Poirot novel , Dumb Witness , does boast a séance as a plot power point ) . SinceDeath on the Nileretcons Poirot ’s backstory , it is not too big a shock to see thatA Haunting in Venice somewhatdeparts fromHallowe’en Party ’s story .
Hallowe’en Party Opens With 2 Murders
However , outside of its setting , A Haunting in Venicecould still stick reasonably close to the level of theHallowe’en Party . A former Poirot story , Hallowe’en Party , also has the in question preeminence of being one of Christie ’s sorry stories featuring the fictitious character . The novel open up with the 13 - twelvemonth - old Joyce Reynolds telling anyone who will heed that she once witnessed a murder before Joyce herself is then drowned in an apple - bobsled tub during the eponymic event . The death of a tiddler is relatively uncommon in Christie ’s stories which , while spooky , only occasionally take a turn for the outright bleak . However , Hallowe’en Partydoesn’t shy away from this taboo .
2022’sChristie homageSee How They RunreferencedThe Mousetrap , whose enduring success could have encouraged Christie to research a glum storyline inHallowe’en Party . After Joyce ’s destruction , Poirot ’s friend Ariadne Oliver calls him to Woodleigh Common to look into the mystic murder , and before long , Poirot has uncovered an entire seedy underbelly in this idyllic rural burg . It is potential thatA Haunting in Venicewill transplantHallowe’en Party ’s minuscule - town story to a enceinte city to make the concentration of malefactor seem more believable since the occupants of Woodleigh Common are a veritable rogue ’s gallery in the Christie novel .
Poirot Uncovers Various Crimes In Hallowe’en Party’s Plot
DuringHallowe’en Party ’s undeniably convoluted game , Poirot uncovers a forgery entrust by a career criminal named Mr. Ferrier , the murder of Leslie Ferrier and Charlotte Benfield , and the disappearance of Olga Seminoff ( which is soon reveal to be another execution when her consistence is detect in a well ) . These discovery unveil a hidden world of deception , crime , and killing as Poirot come closer to work out the villain . The people of Woodleigh Common locate on one possibility , but it is miss some meaning details .
Hallowe’en Party’s Story Is A Classic Agatha Christie Mystery
Mrs. Llewellyn - Smythe was a moneyed widow who die before the novel begin . The little hamlet of Woodleigh Common mostly believes that her au pair Olga Seminoff ( who vanished shortly after Llewellyn - Smythe ’s death ) and the forger Mr. Ferrier bolt down the sure-enough woman after falsify a codicil that stated Olga would receive Llewellyn - Smythe ’s fortune after her last . Since Olga is nowhere to be found and a forged codicil pass on everything to her is excavate , the police are quenched with this explanation .
Hallowe’en Party’s Twist Is A Third Murder
Joyce ’s brother Leopold is found drowned in a brook over halfway throughHallowe’en Party . This leads Poirot to bring out the killer whale , although it is too belated for the novel ’s second child dupe . WhileMurder On The Orient Express ’s endingis more notorious than the winding ofHallowe’en Party , the book thatA Haunting in Veniceis based on is arguably more brutal thanks to this ghastly accession . It is not yet clear whetherA Haunting in Venicewill age up its dupe , but sticking to the vernal age of the original novel ’s dead characters could be too saturnine for a fun blockbuster .
Rowena Drake And Michael Garfield Are Hallowe’en Party’s Killers
It turn out that Llewellyn - Smythe ’s niece Rowena Drake had an affair with Llewellyn - Smythe ’s landscapist Michael Garfield . Rowena ’s aunt Llewellyn - Smythe wrote Rowena out of her will as a termination , leaving everything to Olga . As such , Rowena and Michael hire Ferrier to make an plain forge codicil that would swan doubt on Olga ’s title to the fortune . When that failed , the duet kill both Olga and Ferrier , but Joyce ’s admirer Miranda run across them disposing of Olga ’s corpse . Joyce , hop to move Ariadna at the titular political party , exact she was the one who witnessed this , so Rowena killed her .
Hallowe’en Party Features One Of Poirot’s Darkest Endings
bring in that Miranda witness him underprice Olga ’s body with Miranda , Garfield kidnaps Miranda and attempts to kill her . However , he is caught by Poirot in the gouge of time . Michael Garfield kills himself or else , and Poirot correctly deduces that he was secretly Miranda ’s Father-God , having fathered the child before beginning his affair with Ms. Drake . InHallowe’en Party ’s atypically dark termination , Poirot question whether the innocent Miranda will develop up to be a killer whale like her egotistical father . Hopefully , A Haunting in Venicewill regain a more cheerful note to end on .
