Film / A Haunting in Venice

"Tonight, we are all afraid."

"For once in your life, admit that you are up against something bigger than you."

— Ariadne Oliver

A Haunting in Venice is a 2023 American supernatural mystery thriller and the third film in Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot film series after 2017's Murder on the Orient Express and 2022's Death on the Nile. It is an adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party. Branagh stars once again as Hercule Poirot, with a screenplay by Michael Green, once again. It is the second adaptation of Hallowe'en Party after a 2010 episode of the Poirot television series.

Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in Venice, must solve the murder of a guest at a séance (spiritism session) he attended.

Joining Branagh on this outing are Tina Fey (as Ariadne Oliver), Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly and Riccardo Scamarcio.

The film was released on September 15, 2023.

Previews: Teaser, Trailer.

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A Haunting in Venice contains examples of:

• Accidental Murder: Ultimately Alicia's death amounted to this, as she was accidentally given an overdose of what was believed to be a calming tea which was actually spiked with hallucinogens.
• Achilles in His Tent: Poirot has apparently been doing this since he arrived in Venice, going so far as to hire a bodyguard to keep away potential clients.
• Actor Allusion: Tina Fey's character, Ariadne Oliver, is an opportunistic mystery writer who has no qualms about manipulating and exploiting people smarter and more capable than herself, making her an early twentieth century equivalent of podcaster Cinda Canning.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • While still a creepy child, Leopold isn't the budding sociopath he is in the novel and his blackmail scheme is presented in a significantly more sympathetic light.
  • The tormented PTSD-ridden Dr. Leslie Ferrier from the film is a far cry from the novel's Leslie Ferrier, a lawyer's clerk who was complicit in forging a will to strip a poor immigrant from her rightful inheritance.
  • Rowena Drake's original murder that she is trying to cover up was an accident, instead of the cold and calculated crime she and her accomplice commited in the novel. Also, unlike her literary counterpart, this version of Rowena doesn't murder a child (though she certainly threatened to).
• Adaptational Jerkass: Ariadne Oliver was simply Poirot's friend in canon, but here, while Poirot acknowledges her as at least some kind of friend, she takes credit for making him so famous by writing about versions of his cases and manipulates him into attending the séance just so that she can get new material for a new book.
• Adaptational Location Change: Hallowe'en Party takes place in the fictional village of Woodleigh Common, England, while this film takes place in an old palazzo in Venice, Italy.
• Adaptational Nationality: This film's version of Ariadne Oliver retains Tina Fey's American accent, implying that nationality for the character, rather than British like in previous Poirot adaptatations^note since the character is meant to be Agatha Christie's Author Avatar.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: A mild example. In the novels, Poirot was already an internationally renowned and celebrated Private Detective long before he first met Mrs. Oliver. The film however suggests that it was Mrs. Oliver's Sven Hjerson novels, loosely based on Poirot's cases, that propelled both of them to stardom in their respective domains. As such, Mrs. Oliver considers herself to have played a vital role in Poirot's success.
• Adaptational Personality Change:
  • The traditionally Catholic Poirot is confirmed to be an atheist in this film, with a case of Evil Stole My Faith.
  • In the books, Mrs. Oliver is a rather eccentric Cool Old Lady who is often prone to Self-Deprecation when it comes to her novels. This version appears to be much more satisfied with her literary creations, as well as more assertive and focused. Unfortunately, while the original Mrs. Oliver is a trusted friend to Poirot, here she's willing to drag him into a fraud and reacts bitterly when her plan is foiled.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the novel, the worst Joyce Reynolds was guilty of was being The Friend Nobody Likes and a Compulsive Liar. Her counterpart in the film however is a con woman preying on grieving people who have lost their loved ones, as well as a sexual predator harassing her young assistant.
• Adapted Out: To an even greater degree than the previous film in the series, this movie drops almost every character from the source material, with the exception of a literal handful.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Leopold is a deconstruction, as it's clear he has grown up too soon in order to take care of his Shell-Shocked Veteran father. He also blackmailed Rowena about her daughter's death in order to gain financial security, with disastrous results when Rowena assumed his father was the culprit.
• Age Lift: Joyce Reynolds, the first murder victim in both the original story and the movie, was 13 in the original story. She is now a spiritual medium played by 61 year old Michelle Yeoh.
• Agent Scully:
  • Maxime refuses to entertain the idea of ghosts for even a moment and a lot of his dialogue involves him attempting to debunk any of the supposed hauntings going on around the palazzo.
  • Poirot also qualifies, being called to the party in the first place to supposedly find out if the self-proclaimed psychic Joyce Reynolds is a fake. He is usually quick to offer up a rational explanation for any strange occurrences going on. By the end of the film, however, while he still insists that there is a logical answer for everything, he admits that some of his encounters in the palazzo are not so easily explained.
• All Myths Are True: While it is not so certain that the palazzo is haunted by the ghosts of dead children locked away to die by the doctors who were supposed to care for them, it turns out the whole "children left to die by their caretakers" part actually is true. Their remains are found in a hidden basement beneath the house.
• And the Adventure Continues: The film ends with with Poirot accepting the case of the young man who had been begging for his assistance at the start of the movie, and immediately expounding a theory about how the man's family doctor has been surreptitiously murdering the members of the family.
• Bait-and-Switch: Poirot makes clear his disdain for people like Joyce Reynolds. She clearly believes he's referencing her ethnicity until, oblivious to this, he rants about her profession.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Rowena kept poisoning Alicia so that they would never be apart. In the end, Alicia's ghost is seen dragging her into deep waters as Rowena is drowning, making them Together in Death.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ariadne is shown to be an old friend of Poirot who made a career out of writing books based on his cases. Due to their connection and her apparent alibi in Joyce's death, Poirot brings her on as his assistant. However, it turns out that she was in cahoots with both Joyce and Poirot's bodyguard to bring him to a seance that would stump the great Hercule Poirot, which would give Ariadne material for her next book. When the truth comes out, she bitterly states they were never truly friends and that Poirot only has the reputation he does because of her books.
• Bittersweet Ending: Poirot solves the case and returns to his job as detective, but he has to cut ties with his once trusted bodyguard Vitale due to his involvement into Joyce Reynolds' scheme. For the same reason, his friendship with Mrs. Oliver is strained, although they part on speaking terms and there's still a chance for them to make up. While Leopold has lost his father, Olga is willing to accept him into her family, and she promises to help Nicholas and Desdemona make their way to America.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Downplayed. Vitale admits to working with Oliver to hoodwink Poirot in the seance, but neither of them intended the deaths that occurred. At the end of the film, Vitale is ready for his employer to turn him in to the police for fraud, but Poirot lets him off, though he also tells him his services are no longer required - however, this is as much due to the fact that Poirot is taking clients again and no longer needs a guard dog, as it is punishment for Vitale's betrayal.
• Bookends:
  • One of the earliest scenes in the film is of Alicia's white-clad body floating in the canal following her supposed suicide. One of the last is the black-clad body of her mother floating in the same manner after being exposed as her killer and committing suicide out of guilt.
  • At the beginning of the movie, a man tries to hire Poirot for a case, claiming that his parents and brother died because his family is "cursed", but Poirot isn't currently taking cases, so his bodyguard Vitale punches out the man. At the end of the movie, Poirot is taking cases again, so he takes the man's case and explains that the man's family isn't "cursed"; his parents and brother were murdered by the family doctor, who is next in line to inherit the brother's money (and the man himself could be the next target).
• Bottle Episode: The majority of the movie takes place over one night in one house.
• Bungled Suicide: Dr. Ferrier mentions that the trauma of what he saw in the war led to him shooting himself in the chest, which he obviously survived.
• Canon Foreigner: Alicia Drake, Maxime Gerard and Vitale Portfoglio are all created for the film and have no counterparts in the book.
• The Caretaker: Despite being a child, Leopold sometimes takes on this role for his PTSD-ridden father, offering him his medication and talking him down when his emotions are running high. Leopold's desire to help his father regain his footing financially leads to him blackmailing Rowena about Alicia's death, which ultimately leads to her killing Dr. Ferrier.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The precariously perched teacup on the table in Alicia's room, which is eventually knocked over by Alicia's pet cockatoo. This cup contained the poisoned tea that killed Alicia. The cup also tips off Poirot to the fact that he has been hallucinating due to the poison being unknowingly placed in his own tea by Ariadne.
  • The honey jar. When Poirot is recovering from his assault, Ariadne gives him some tea sweetened with honey she found in a cupboard. Maxime tastes a jar of it in the kitchen later and notes that it isn't honey from wildflowers like Rowena's usual mix. This honey turns out to have been the poison that Rowena was using to make Alicia sick.
• Chemically-Induced Insanity: Alicia's madness was caused by Rowena regularly giving her tea sweetened with hallucinogen-laced honey.
• City of Canals: The film is entirely set in the Trope Codifier city, Venice.
• Clock Tampering: Done to provide an alibi for the murderer of Joyce Reynolds. Specifically the clock of the nearly-soundproof music room, which means the other person who was asked to wait in the room won't hear the other clocks chiming and realize the correct time.
• Closed Circle: A storm rolls in during the séance, preventing the police from coming after Joyce Reynolds is murdered. Poirot further enforces things by locking all the doors, so that the murderer can not leave even if they were willing to risk the storm.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Alicia's dead body is dressed in white, symbolizing her purity and innocence. Her mother's is dressed in black, symbolizing her evilness. Likewise, Ariadne wears green, hinting at her greedy motives.
• Continuity Nod: Joyce Reynolds alludes to the events of Death on the Nile (and Poriot's backstory explored in that film) by noting that Poirot has had to watch many people die in his life: "soldiers, friends... and Catherine".
• Convenient Photograph: Or rather, a pair of them, both featuring the rooftop garden. The change in the garden's contents alerts Poirot to the fact that the garden went from a mix of wildflowers to just one plant.
  • The first photo is a couples' photo of Maxime and Alicia, taken during their engagement. The night of the breakup, Alicia tore the photo in half. She kept the half featuring Maxime (which is found in her room), and Maxime likewise is carrying the half of the photo with Alicia in his pocket, despite getting engaged to another woman who's very rich - a clue that he's still in love with the dead Alicia. In the background, the garden is planted entirely with rhododendrons, placing it after Rowena tore up the garden and concocted a plot to keep Alicia ill and under control.
  • The second photo features Alicia as a child, in the rooftop garden, which holds a mixture of different wildflowers. At first glance, the photograph seems to be there to identify the child Poirot hallucinated, who matches Alicia in appearance, but in reality it's visual proof of what the now-dead garden held when it was actually used to make honey, suggesting the change to a single plant is sinister.
• Creepy Child: Dr. Ferrier's son Leopold is a nice kid, but he's fairly stoic, dresses in a full suit, carries a copy of Edgar Allan Poe stories everywhere, and even hints that he can commune with the dead children supposedly haunting the palazzo. Desdemona even refers to him as "the creepy kid" at one point.
• Cut-and-Paste Note: The blackmail note received by Rowena was made up of words cut from newspapers.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Nicholas and Desdemona were starving orphans hiding from the Third Reich's ethnic cleansing during World War II. Desdemona mentions that both of them tolerated sexual exploitation and harassment while working for Joyce Reynolds because "[they] have dealt with worse."
• Dead Star Walking: Aside from Tina Fey and Branagh himself, Michelle Yeoh is probably the most recognisable actor in the cast. She's the first to die.
• Death by Irony: Rowena dies by falling from the same balcony she used to fake Alicia's suicide, after being startled by an apparition of Alicia.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • In the novel, Joyce Reynolds is drowned in an apple bobbing tub, while in this film she is pushed off a balcony and Impaled with Extreme Prejudice on a statue, with the apple bobbing drowning instead attempted on Poirot.
  • While Leslie Ferrier dies from a knife in the back as he did in the book, this time it is self-inflicted, under duress. It also took place a year before the novel starts.
• Dirty Old Woman: It turns out Reynolds is a sexual predator who has been harassing her assistants.
• Disney Villain Death: Rowena falls to her death in the canal after seemingly being pulled down by Alicia's ghost.
• Doing In the Wizard: Partially, as while some supernatural happenings are explained, others are not. During the seance, when the typewriter appears to "talk by itself" and is apparently possessed by Alicia's spirit, this is a fake, as Poirot discovers Joyce Reynolds' assistant Nicholas hiding in the chimney and using a "magnetic switch" to type the keys so it looks like the typewriter is talking by itself. Similarly, the windows and doors "opening by themselves" are also fake, as Ariadne opened them by pulling ropes while everyone was watching Reynolds, and the ghosts Poirot sees and hears as the film goes on are the result of hallucinations, as Ariadne put honey in Poirot's tea, but didn't know the culprit had poisoned it. However, Reynolds apparently being possessed and speaking in Alicia's voice is never explained, because while Ariadne and Vitale fed Reynolds information about Alicia, that would not have included what her voice sounded like, and Alicia's ghost pulling Rowena into the canal might not be a hallucination by Poirot, as Rowena apparently saw the ghost too.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: The trailer has an aerial view over the most recognizable place in Venice, the Piazza San Marco.
• Empathic Environment: The majority of the movie takes place over a typical dark and stormy night before giving way to a sunny day as we get relatively happy resolutions for the remaining characters.
• Expy: Ariadne Oliver, of Agatha Christie herself. In-universe, Ariadne's novels star a foreign detective who obsessively makes lists, who Olga realizes is based on Hercule himself.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Played with, for the detecting supernatural phenomena. Harry, Alicia's formerly pet parrot, has been stuck in the same room where she died, since his cage is part of the Shrine to the Fallen, and hasn't spoken since his owner's death. Then, moments before Joyce begins speaking in Alicia's voice, he calls his former owner's name.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Almost exactly 24 hours. The movie starts on the morning of October 31, with the majority of the action unfolding over Halloween night, and ending on the morning of November 1, with Poirot arriving back at his apartment at almost exactly the time he had left it the previous morning, as evidenced by the pastry delivery.
• Faking Another Person's Illness: It's revealed that Rowena did this to Alicia by slipping her drugged tea so that her daughter would be too "haunted" to leave their home.
• False Friend: At first it appears that Ariadne set Hercule on the case in the belief that having him investigate something again would be for his own good. Then it turns out that she's just using him for inspiration for her next book, and ends up showing no remorse over the fact that her little plot indirectly resulted in three deaths.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When Vitale informs Poirot that a friend has come to visit, Poirot says he doesn't have any friends. He's right as both Ariadne and Vitale are working against him.
  • During the orphans' party, Ariadne warns two teenagers to break up their makeout session because a nun is heading their way. The next person to appear is Olga, who turns out to be a former nun.
  • Joyce taunts Poirot, asking if she is to be his "Next Famous Case" for poking holes in her seance act. She's right for the wrong reasons— she does indeed become his next case when she's murdered less than an hour later .
  • At one point, Dr. Ferrier mentions how he and his fellow doctors accidentally killed some of the starving Holocaust survivors by feeding them milk, saying "We didn't know." Later it's revealed that Olga accidentally killed Alicia by feeding her too much of the poisoned honey, tearfully saying "I didn't know" when told the truth.
  • While showing Poirot and Ariadne the rooftop garden, Rowena remarks that she and Alicia used to make honey from the colony of bees kept there. She remarks that the bees have vanished and she wonders where they had gone. The bees later appear nesting inside a child's corpse in the flooded basement of the palazzo.
  • Leopold turns down Olga's offers of cake during the Halloween party because the cake was meant "for the orphans." By the end of the film, Leopold himself winds up an orphan.
  • Early in the film, Rowena tells Poirot and Ariadne Oliver that she got her first big staring role, Aspasia in Mozart's Mithridate, re di Ponto, two months after Alicia was born, and credits Alicia for her star career and ability to sing. She then confirms to Poirot that she will not be returning to singing, saying that she can't do it knowing that her daughter will not be waiting for her in her dressing room. This becomes far more ominous in hindsight when Maxime reveals that Rowena threw a fit over Alicia's engagement because it meant her daughter would no longer be there with her, globetrotting for the sake of Rowena's career; he became exasperated enough to break up with Alicia over it, then when he regretted it and tried to get back in touch, Rowena blocked him from visiting and made sure Alicia never got his letters - anything to keep her daughter under control.
  • Rowena's first role was Aspasia in Mozart's Mithridate, re di Ponto, and Alicia even nicknamed her mother Aspasia for the role. Later, Leopold says that this, combined with his father's list of symptoms, is how he figured out the cause of Alicia's death - he read about Mithridates' historical connection to poisoned honey in the library.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Sort of. Poirot's best friend, Bouc, nor his fate at the end of the previous movie are never mentioned in this film. It's implied that he's the reason for Poirot's retirement along with his characterization throughout this movie, but Bouc is never mentioned by name and the events of the previous film are never discussed in detail.
• Fowl-Mouthed Parrot: Harry, Alicia's pet cockatoo, squawks out a "Holy shit" at the conclusion of the séance.
• Gardening-Variety Weapon: The killer uses a garden hand rake to create the so-called 'mark of the children's vendetta' on the backs of the victims, to make it appear they had fallen victim to the curse of the palazzo.
• Gender Flip: Desdemona Holland, Joyce's female assistant, is loosely based on a supporting character from the original book named Desmond Holland, a 16 year old boy who helps set up the titular Halloween party.
• Genre Shift: While the film is still a murder mystery in proper Christie fashion, it's less traditional than the previous two films, with more supernatural elements. While the killings are shown to have rational explanations, there's enough strange goings-on that even Poirot concedes he can't explain it all.
• Good Luck Charm: Rowena seems to have believed her daughter to be a living one when it came to her opera career, as early in the film, she tells Poirot and Ariadne Oliver that she got her first big staring role two months after Alicia was born. She then confirms to Poirot that she will not be returning to singing, saying that she can't do it without knowing that her daughter will be waiting for her in her dressing room. This becomes far more ominous in hindsight when Maxime reveals that Rowena threw a fit over Alicia's engagement because it meant her daughter would no longer be there with her.
• Green and Mean: Most of Ariadne's clothes are of different shades of green, and she's revealed to be a False Friend to Poirot.
• Happy Ending Override: The previous film in the series ended on a Maybe Ever After note for Poirot and Salome, the only thing keeping it from being a straight up Downer Ending. This film reveals that this relationship either never took off or is long ended by 1947.
• He's Back!: The retired Poirot does this twice over the course of the movie. First when he has Vitale call the police to tell them that he will be investigating the death of Joyce Renolds while the palazzo is cut off by the storm, and second when he returns home after solving the murder and decides to start taking cases from clients again.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Rowena didn't get rid of the toxic honey she had used to poison Alicia, leading to Poirot accidentally consuming some of it himself and solving Alicia's murder a full year later.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: On Halloween, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver convinces Poirot to attend a séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The first murder victim, Joyce Reynolds, is pushed off a balcony and impaled on the outstretched hand of a statue.
• In Name Only: And not even that, as it also ditches the title of the novel Hallowe'en Party upon which the film is purportedly based. Other than the names of some of the characters, featuring a children's Halloween party prominently in the first act, and a handful of plot elements, the movie bears little resemblance to the novel. The murders are different, the motives are different, the setting is different, the resolution is different and half the Big Bad Duumvirate has been adapted out.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Vitale gives away that they have been in the palazzo before—despite claiming they haven't—when they need to make a phone call and go immediately to a concealed telephone despite no one telling them where it was.
• Instant Death Stab: Dr. Ferrier dies basically immediately after stabbing himself in the back.
• Intoxication Ensues: Ariadne makes Poirot a cup of tea and sweetens it with a jar of honey she finds in the linen press. The honey is actually a poisonous, hallucinogenic honey extracted from rhododendrons that Rowena had used to poison her daughter Alicia and causes Poirot to suffer hallucinations over the course of the night.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At first glance, Maxime seems to simply be a gold digging jackass who left Alicia when he learned that her mom wasn't as wealthy as he thought she was. In reality, he broke up with Alicia because Rowena was so possessive of her, and Alicia wouldn't set any boundaries. And even after their breakup, he immediately tried to reconcile with her, but Rowena blocked his every attempt. It becomes clear that even after Alicia's death and Maxime's marriage to another woman, he very much is still in love with her.
• Junior Counterpart: Leopold is this for Poirot, being observant and intelligent enough to solve Alicia’s murder. Poirot pointed out that, like himself, Leopold enjoys attention more than he would care to admit.
• Karma Houdini: Beyond their fraud plan failing and Vitale losing his position as Poirot's bodyguard neither Ariadne Oliver nor Vitale suffer any serious consequences from their attempted fraud, despite it leading to multiple deaths and gaslighting a man who was at least nominally their friend. While Vitale at least has the grace to seem ashamed of his actions and indeed seems ready to be arrested for fraud, Ariadne is unrepentant and only upset and angry at being foiled. She and Poirot even part on relatively civil if cool terms when by all rights he should have handed her over to the police.
• Locked Room Mystery: One is introduced midway through the film, when Dr. Ferrier is found stabbed in the back while locked in the music room, which has no other exits and only one key in Poirot's possession. It is later revealed that the solution to the mystery is that Ferrier was coerced into killing himself by someone outside the room.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Most of the ghostly goings-on are revealed to be a combination of paranoia, the storm, and hallucinations caused by poisoned tea. But there are still a few instances - namely, Alicia's ghost dragging Rowena over the balcony to her death that Poirot finds himself incapable of completely rationalising.
• Mirror Monster: The ghost of Alicia Drake pops up in the mirror when Poirot is trying to gather himself in the bathroom, wearing a chilling Death Glare on her face.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Of the Holland siblings, Desdemona is the one more likely to resort to physical violence when cornered.
• Murder by Mistake: Narrowly avoided. The killer attempts to drown Poirot in the apple bobbing tub after mistaking him for Joyce Reynolds because he was wearing Joyce's cloak and mask. Upon realising their mistake, they release him and Vitale Portfoglio finds him and pulls him out of the water before he can drown.
• Murder by Suicide: Dr. Ferrier is coerced into taking his own life and making it look like a murder by Rowena, who will kill his son Leopold if he doesn't.
• Muse Abuse: Poirot does not seem to appreciate Ariadne using his exploits as inspiration for her novels. He's even less pleased to discover she conspired with Reynolds and Vitale to deliberately present him with an unsolvable case to provide fodder for her next novel.
• My Beloved Smother: Rowena was extremely controlling of Alicia, even going so far as to destroy their flower garden and then go abroad when her daughter accepted Maxime's marriage proposal. Rowena is so controlling that she begins slowly poisoning her own daughter in order to have complete control over her.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Olga is utterly distraught when Poirot reveals that she unwittingly gave Alicia the last drink of poisoned tea that caused her death by overdose. While Alicia's death is not Olga's fault at all, her horrified reaction and repeated cries of "I didn't know" shows how guilty she feels.
  • Leopold feels guilty about the fact that his attempt to take care of his Shell-Shocked Veteran father by blackmailing Rowena, led to Rowena killing his father, and Joyce.
  • Dr. Ferrier remains haunted by his attempts to save concentration camp victims, which inadvertently made their conditions worse and killed them.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In the original novel Michael Garfield attempts to murder his daughter, Miranda Butler, with poison. While both these characters are Adapted Out in the film, there is a parallel with Rowena Drake being revealed to have inadvertently poisoned her daughter Alicia to death.
  • In the original novel Rowena Drake murders Joyce Reynolds by drowning her in a bowl of water used to bob for apples. In the film, Rowena attempts to murder Poirot this way after mistaking him for Joyce.
  • Poirot is shown to be growing vegetable marrows in his garden during his retirement at the start of the film, much as he did in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Also serves as a Call-Back to Death on the Nile (2022), in which Branagh's Poirot stated his desire to grow vegetable marrows in his retirement.
• Never My Fault: Ariadne refuses to apologise to Poirot for using him at the end, claiming that since her book was ruined and she doesn’t stand to benefit so she shouldn’t have to apologise. Even leaving aside the fact that she betrayed his trust, she doesn’t acknowledge that her plot resulted directly in Reynolds’s death.
• Never Suicide: Alicia's suicide was actually a cover up by Rowena to hide her daughter's Accidental Death via the poisoned honey she was feeding her.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers for this film committed the sin of making it look like a paranormal thriller instead of a murder mystery. They also showcased a lot of the film's Jump Scare moments.
• Nice to the Waiter: Desdemona calls the deceased Joyce "the duchess", claiming that's how she treated Desdemona and her brother. Lampshaded by Poirot:
  Ariadne: Do you really think the help had motive?
  Poirot: The help always have motive. First having to endure to be called, "the help."
• Notable Non Sequitur: After he cuts his finger, Ariadne tells to put some honey on it as it is a natural antiseptic. After he dips his finger in the jar, he sniffs it and comments that it's not wildflower honey but he can't place what it is. This is the first indication that the honey is poisonous. Rowena claimed that the honey from her rooftop garden was wildflower, but Maxim—who is a chef—would know the scent of wildflower honey. The honey is actually extracted from rhododendrons and is poisonous and hallucinogenic.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Poirot is told this by Reynolds (they're both presented with a death and come up with answers to reassure the living) and Ferrier (they're both traumatized veterans who see death everywhere).
• Oddball in the Series: The title of this one doesn't match that of the story it adapts unlike the previous two films ("Hallowe'en Party" would kind of clash with the serious tone it wants to convey), and the trailer sells a Genre Shift to horror, while the previous two films were more straight up detective fiction. The first trailer emphasizes this by saving the reveal of Poirot for the end of the trailer, instead initially marketing itself as an unrelated period horror.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Rowena gets Dr. Ferrier to commit suicide by threatening to murder his son if he doesn't comply.
• Offing the Offspring: Played with, as the killer is ultimately revealed to be Rowena Drake, Alicia's mother, though technically Olga unwittingly caused it. The film presents the former as being fully to blame since their manipulations led to this tragedy.
• Old, Dark House: The majority of the film takes place inside Rowena Drake's crumbling palazzo in the centre of Venice. According to legend, the palazzo was an orphanage and when the plague swept the city, the doctors and nurses abandoned the orphanage and sealed the children inside; leaving them to die. The palazzo is supposedly haunted by the spirits of the children who hate all doctors and nurses.
• Pet Positive Identification: Played with. Olga tells Poirot that Harry, Alicia's pet bird, used to talk but hasn't spoken since she died^note though one has to wonder if she's just not hearing him speak, given he's still being kept in his cage in Alicia's room, and apparently Olga is only allowed to enter for dusting, and presumably to feed him. During the séance, guess what happens? Harry says Alicia's name - just before Joyce starts talking in Alicia's voice.
• Pet the Dog: Even in the middle of an interrogation, Ariadne is quite moved by Desdemona's story of how she and Nicholas were inspired to find a new life in America through repeated viewings of the first half of Meet Me in St. Louis, and assures her that the second half has a happy ending.
• Phone-In Detective: In the epilogue, Poirot meets with a man who'd been pestering him about a family "curse". Poirot just rattles off the true nature of the crimes based just on the man's description of the events.
• Phony Psychic: Joyce Reynolds is a phony medium who fakes her seances with the aid of her assistants Desdemona and Nicholas Holland. After examining Maxime's invitation, Poirot deduces Oliver sent it and is conspiring with Vitale. Vitale, who investigated Alicia's death, gave Joyce private details, while Oliver had hoped to use Poirot's incapability of explaining the supernatural as a plot for her next book.
• Posthumous Character: Alicia Drake, who reportedly committed suicide after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard, broke off their engagement. Rowena Drake hires psychic Joyce Reynolds to help her commune with Alicia, and this seance is what kicks off the plot.
• Production Throwback: The film includes a flipped ceiling shot, similar to the famous shot from Thor.
• The Promised Land: While being interviewed by Poirot, Nicholas and Desdemona reveal that they are Romani refugees, rescued by American troops. While in the care of the soldiers, the half siblings would repeatedly watch the only movie that the troops had with them: the first half of Meet Me in St. Louis. Entranced by the beauty of the town depicted in the film and after enduring the harsh realities of Europe during World War II, Desdemona and Nicholas have made it their goal to make it to the USA and begin a new life in St. Louis. Thanks to Olga and Leopold, they get their wish at the end of the film.
• Race Lift: Joyce Reynolds was white in the original story, while here she is played by Michelle Yeoh, who is Malaysian.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Leopold is made Leslie Ferrier's son in the film, while they have not relation whatsoever in the novel.
  • Nicholas Ransom and Desmond Holland were a couple of teenagers who attended the titular party in the book and were part of the game where the girls see the faces of their future husbands. In the movie they become the siblings Nicholas and Desdemona Holland.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • Ariadne Oliver suggests that Poirot retired in Venice because the city, like Poirot, is a grand old relic sinking into obscurity.
  • When we get a flashback of Alicia's dead body, she's dressed in white, symbolizing her purity and innocence. When her mother dies in the same manner that she used to fake Alicia's death, she's dressed in black, symbolizing her sinful nature.
• Save the Villain: Poirot attempts to do so when Rowena is scared into falling off the balcony by Alicia's ghost.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Rowena tried to make all of the murders she committed look like they were committed by ghosts.
• Setting Update: The film moves the story from the late 1960s to 1947.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Dr. Ferrier reveals that he helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. What he witnessed there, and the way its victims continued to die even after they were rescued (including killing some of them himself on accident after giving them milk) has left him with some pretty intense PTSD.
• Sherlock Scan: Poirot delivers several of these throughout the film, particularly when exposing Joyce's séance as a sham. He delivers another to his new client at the very end of the film, showing that he has decided to come out of retirement.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Rowena has made sure that Alicia's room has remained exactly as it was since the night of her death. The state of the room ends up providing Poirot with a vital clue in solving the case.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The film features two cases.
  • In the novel Olga Seminoff is the person whose murder a year previous to the events of the novel leads to more cover-up murders.
  • In the novel Leopold attempts to blackmail Rowena for Joyce's murder and is murdered in turn in a case of Blackmail Backfire.
• Spooky Séance: The crux of the early part of the film is Reynolds attempting to lead a very chilling séance, with Poirot brought in to see if he can discredit her, not realising, she his friend Ariadne and his bodyguard Vitale are colluding to fool him. It ends... poorly, as while he rumbles some of what's happening, things begin to happen that nobody expected...
• Stopped Clock: Joyce's watch is broken at 12:02 AM when she gets impaled on that statue.
• Suicide, Not Murder: The guests find Dr. Ferrier with a knife lodged in his back and, naturally, assume that he has been murdered. It turns out that Rowena coerced Ferrier into committing suicide by threatening to murder Leopold if he didn't go through with it.
• Sweet Tooth: Poirot's love of pastry continues, to the point of having his favorite baker make deliveries twice a day. His sweet tooth is even plot-relevant here, as he has a cup of tea with honey at the palazzo during the case - the same hallucinogen-laced honey that caused Alicia's death.
• Time Skip: The movie is set in 1947, ten years after the events of the previous film in the series.
• Together in Death: As Rowena is drowning, she reunites with Alicia's ghost (or a near-death hallucination of it).
• Too Clever by Half: Ariadne accuses Poirot of this, claiming that she built his reputation with her books and he has come to believe in his fictional reputation. Poirot being Poirot, he proves her wrong.
• Tragic Keepsake: Rowena has kept all of Alicia's possessions untouched since her death with the most prominent being her favorite toy rabbit.
• Trauma Button: The discovery of the secret basement chamber containing the skeletal remains of child plague victims triggers an intense dissociative episode for Ferrier, who had cared for concentration camp victims and had been unable to stop many of them from dying.
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Poirot interrogates the half siblings Nicholas and Desdemona separately, but the scene cuts back and forth between the two interviews, with the answers of one sometimes complimenting or contradicting the answers of the other.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Ariadne accuses Poirot to be this to her, since her books contributed to his fame as detective. However, she proves to be much worse than him, since not only did he comply with her invitation to the staged seance, but he also solved the mystery and let her go despite her involvement in Mrs Reynolds' scheme. Even after all this, she still has the gall to be bitter with him.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the book, Leopold was Joyce Reynolds' younger brother, while they share no relation at all in the film. In fact, here she is old enough to be his grandmother.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Leopold's blackmail of Rowena to help his struggling father pay the bills results in Rowena murdering two people (one of them Leopold's father) who she suspects might be the blackmailer.
  • The entire plot is set in motion because Olga unwittingly overdoses Alicia with poisoned honey.
  • Ariadne and Vitale feeding Joyce Reynolds inside knowledge about Alicia's death ends up convincing Rowena that Joyce might be the blackmailer, which gets her killed.
• Vengeful Ghost:
  • The palazzo is said to be haunted by the ghosts of orphaned children that had been locked away and left to die by their doctors and nurses during the plague. The legend is that the children's ghosts will seek revenge against any doctor or nurse who enters the palazzo. Rowena ends up using this legend to throw the guests off her trail, as her two victims (Reynolds and Ferrier) are a former war nurse and a doctor, respectively.
  • While it could have been a hallucination, at the end it appears that Alicia's ghost drags her mother off a balcony and down into the canal.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Miss Oliver shares a news story with Poirot that claims Joyce Reynolds is the last woman to be tried for witchcraft by the United Kingdom. In real life, Helen Duncan, a Scottish medium, was noted to be the last person tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 during World War II because she inadvertently revealed the outcome of several war tragedies that the United Kingdom was trying to keep secret, and, like Joyce Reynolds, she had assistants helping her demonstrate her impossible feats while she contacted the dead.
• The Watson: As a longtime friend of Poirot's and the reason he was even at the seance at all, Ariadne Oliver serves as his assistant in solving Joyce's murder. At least until Poirot realizes that Ariadne was working with Joyce and Poirot's bodyguard to create a "case" that would stump the great Hercule Poirot, which would give Ariadne content to write a new book on. Once her betrayal is revealed, she is treated like as much of a suspect as everyone else there.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never explained what became of Salome Otterbourne, considering that the previous film in the series - Death on the Nile (2022) - ended with the possibility that she and Poirot might begin a relationship.

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"I know only that we cannot hide from our ghosts. Whether they are real or not, we must make our peace with them, and live life. Somehow."