A third Hercule Poirot murder mystery from Kenneth Branaugh? I guess it’s officially a franchise now. The title sounds like the latest Z grade horror movie… perhaps a sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia? Turns out it’s based on Agatha Christie’s book Halloween Party which, yeah, sounds like the latest Disney+ spooky move for kids. So maybe a good title change? Maybe not.

Poirot is retired in Venice when he’s asked to debunk a psychic medium in a “haunted” orphanage. He sees through the scam… until people start dying and now maybe he’s seeing real ghosties himself…

All of these Poirot movies are in the middle ground of ok to pretty good and this one is too. It’s handsomely crafted, the mustache is bushy, the loud bangs are LOUD, and the mystery is, I guess, pretty good. Honestly maybe it’s not… I’ve never been good at solving whodunits.

Brannaugh is back but his cast is decidedly less glitzy. I assume the budget keeps getting cut so the salaries for a top shelf cast gets cut in turn. Here we have Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, and other less name brand actors (with all apologies to their superfans… who surely are out there).

The sober melancholic tone of Murder on the Orient Express returns. You want your Belgian super sleuth (figuratively) listening to My Chemical Romance? Brannaugh’s got your sad, sad back. I left the theater feeling a little blue… and feeling anything is a win.

This is probably the second best of this trilogy. I rather liked Murder and thought Death on the Nile was fine. This slots between them. It’s a good cast in a good mystery that helps keep whodunits alive.

Score: 81