The Big Picture
- A Haunting in Venice is a supernatural thriller based on an Agatha Christie novel, following Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot as he solves three different murders.
- The TV episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot closely follows the original novel, with Hercule Poirot investigating the murder of a young girl at a Halloween party.
- The TV version is a darker and more accurate adaptation than the movie, with two murderers and a disturbing twist of revelations that endangers young teens in the village.
A Haunting in Venice updates the Agatha Christie novel for a supernatural thriller where an old palazzo brings together friends, enemies, and a Belgian detective to face secrets that are darker than the surrounding shadows. Like with the previous Kenneth Branagh-centric adaptations, there is another version out there that you can watch to compare. ITV’s long-running Agatha Christie’s Poirot adapted every story with the Belgian sleuth for 13 seasons, including Hallowe’en Party which A Haunting in Venice is based on. While the movie’s gothic horror refreshes the novel’s traditional mystery, this former take on Christie’s novel is sinister for a different reason.
What Happens in the ‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’ Episode?
A Haunting in Venice escalates the intensity of the murder mystery to keep audiences on edge. In this TV episode from 2010, there are no ghosts and a chandelier doesn’t smash to the floor like in one of the movie’s best jump scares. But there is a dark and stormy night and what happens on the small screen follows closely the pages of the original 1969 book. The services of Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) are urgently requested by old friend and mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker), who was at the Halloween party that ended on a nasty treat-turned-trick: thirteen-year-old Joyce Reynolds (Macy Nyman) is found face down in an apple-bobbing tub. Poirot obliges, traveling to Woodleigh Common to uncover that Joyce’s case of foul play is not the only mysterious demise in this village’s history.
“Hallowe’en Party” opens with a great display of the Halloween spirit as a heavy rainstorm pelts the home of the rigid Rowena Drake (Deborah Findlay). Outside the estate, lit jack-o’ lanterns are posted around; inside, the spooky, October vibe continues amidst a children’s party. The local kids are creepy, having a great time by playing a strange (and real) game where they quickly snatch raisins that are on fire, singing out, “Snip, snap, dragon!” Then there’s Joyce, who has death on the mind.
“I saw a murder once!” she exclaims halfway through the festivities, whipping her head around to see the eyes that shift onto her after she blurts out the statement. Not everyone believes her, of course, Joyce has a big mouth and is an attention seeker — but someone feels threatened by this mention of “murder.” While the rest of the kids are in another room, Joyce is drowned in the apple-bobbing bucket and her innocent bumblebee costume is left soaked. A Haunting in Venice aged up the victim. The character changed into Michelle Yeoh’s medium who is after monetary fame, but this is not what “Hallowe’en Party” does, sticking to the book for a more accurate, unsettling watch. Branagh’s detective nearly dies while apple-bobbing, while little Joyce in this version isn’t so lucky.
‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’ Is a Closer Adaptation Than ‘A Haunting in Venice’
The older seasons of Poirot were sunnier, in tone and visuals. By Season 12, in which “Hallowe’en Party” aired, the tone and visuals are gloomier and isolating. David Suchet’s portrayal of Hercule Poirot is beloved for a reason; the actor was meticulous in perfecting mannerisms to match what is read in Christie’s writing. On the small screen, Poirot is colder in later seasons, having seen the worst of people, but his deduction skills are as well-defined as ever. He is confident Joyce’s murder has to do with the last words she said aloud: “I saw a murder once.” Characters question how important previous deaths to the town could be, but Poirot knows, “old sins cast long shadows.” The girl’s death won’t be the last body to be discovered because as the story goes on, young teens are murdered or endangered due to these “sins.”
Leopold (Jude Hill) in A Haunting in Venice is a sweet, if not bizarre child, revealed in the end to have the intelligence to blackmail the movie’s killer into sending money which the boy hopes could help his mentally unwell father. In the Poirot episode, Leopold (Richard Breislin) is a teen slightly older than Joyce, who is also his sister. He witnessed her murder and instead of going to the police, he keeps it a secret by accepting money. If it needs to be said, Leopold is not so sweet (or bizarre) in this version; he is uncaring over the loss of Joyce, a sibling he couldn’t stand. Poirot notices a gold watch on the boy’s wrist during an encounter, which the detective suspects was bought with the bribed cash. Within days of Joyce’s death, Leopold’s body floats at the surface of a nearby pond, drowned for knowing too much of what happened at the Halloween party; by the episode’s end, another child’s life is at risk due to a disturbing twist of revelations.
The TV Version of ‘Hallowe’en Party’ Has Two Killers
Unlike the 2023 movie’s single killer in Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) and her motive to cover up her Munchausen syndrome by proxy, the TV version has two murderers. One of them is drifter and gardener Michael Garfield (Julian Rhind-Tutt), who overlooks the greenery on Rowena’s estate. Out in public, Michael and Rowena passionately dislike each other, except Poirot deduces correctly they are passionate, secret lovers. For the past years, this duo has murdered their way to keep the estate and a large sum of money. There really was a murder a young girl saw, but it wasn’t Joyce, she took credit after hearing it from best friend Miranda (Mary Higgins).
Miranda saw Michael Garfield disposing of a body and was manipulated by him into believing it was part of a pagan human sacrifice. Woodleigh Common may not be the pagan-loving Summerisle like in The Wicker Man, but there is plenty of death and brainwashing even without the burning effigy. What’s more disturbing is that Poirot uncovers that Michael is the girl’s father from a hushed-up affair. Miranda doesn’t know this, but Michael has always known, yet, it doesn’t matter that the two are parent and child. He realizes she knows too much and preps her to be the next so-called human sacrifice. Miranda has since believed Joyce and Leopold were killed to keep beauty alive in the world, or so Michael tells her, and he almost forces her to drink from a poisoned chalice before Poirot rushes in with the police. That leaves the other killer, Rowena, to be unveiled.
The ‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’ Episode Is Much Darker Than Kenneth Branagh’s Horror Movie
Rowena kills without remorse to protect a future with Michael, who merely stays with her because of her fortune. On the night of the Halloween party, she finds Joyce alone and questions her about the murder she talked about seeing. Rowena takes on the role of a cheery host just long enough to persuade the girl into bobbing for the last apple in the tub, when Joyce sticks her head in the water, she’s a goner. Later, Rowena has Michael drown Leopold and when they meet up, Michael gifts her the gold watch the teen bought himself with the killers’ bribe. “Do you still have the receipt?” he asks as Rowena embraces him and lets out a giddy laugh. Upon Poirot revealing the culprits, Rowena latches onto the fact that Miranda is Michael’s secret daughter and the older woman sees red, lashing out at the girl, hands ready for another kill until the police arrest her. These lovers are two rotten characters who are brought to justice, but only after they have left behind a body count.
A Haunting in Venice locks its characters up in a haunted house for a scare-fest. Meanwhile, this TV version uses subtle creepy elements to keep the late October spirit alive when the episode heads into daytime sleuthing. Poirot wishes to learn the town gossip from the nosy, old woman Mrs. Goodbody (Paola Dionisotti), who ominously mentions another method to knowing what goes on around her. “I sees things all the time. Sometimes with me eyes, sometimes in the leaves,” she mutters. Tea leaves to be exact, and Mrs. Goodbody adds that poor, dead Joyce might have used tea leaves to “see” the murder the girl spoke of.
Poirot doesn’t hide a distaste for the scary stories he hears on the radio, he has seen enough of humanity’s wickedness as he tells Ariadne in the final minutes: “Poirot, he was right, huh? Halloween is not the time for the telling of the stories macabre, but to light the candles for the dead.” A Haunting in Venice is a breezy adaptation to watch, with a quicker pace to get the mystery going. It may jolt you with jump scares while playing it safe with the victims. In the Poirot episode, the mystery is drawn out with better-placed clues and explanations when it is time to wrap up the whodunit’s solution. Without a supernatural-like atmosphere, this adaptation is a dark one where children’s lives are endangered in a village that becomes, as Poirot states, “a slaughterhouse.”
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
