A Haunting In Venice BTS Clip Details Creation Of Michelle Yeoh’s Terrifying Séance Scene [EXCLUSIVE]

Hercule Poirot’s most terrifying mystery yet comes home in time for Halloween with A Haunting in Venice. The movie marks the third installment in Kenneth Branagh’s franchise based on Agatha Christie’s iconic detective, following Poirot as he’s brought out of retirement in the hopes of exposing a medium as a fraud, only to find himself wrapped up in a new murder case. Once again led by Branagh with an ensemble cast also including Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly and Michelle Yeoh, A Haunting in Venice scored the best reviews of the trilogy and was a modest box office success, bringing in over $116 million against its $60 million production budget.

In honor of the movie’s digital release on October 31, Screen Rant is proud to present an exclusive A Haunting in Venice behind-the-scenes clip. The video takes audiences behind the creation of Michelle Yeoh’s terrifying séance scene, revealing that the rest of the actors were given no direction for how the scene would play out. The group were subsequently shocked by Yeoh’s dedication to the sequence along with the practical effects, delivering genuinely terrified reactions for the scene.

How A Haunting in Venice Changed Branagh’s Poirot Formula

Loosely based on Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party, the latest installment in Branagh’s Poirot franchise offered a fresh approach to the character by taking a more horror-driven take to its formula. The first two movies took a more old-fashioned approach to adapting Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile novels, subsequently garnering more mixed reviews from critics who felt them to be dated, in spite of their glossy production values and modern cast.

A Haunting in Venice, meanwhile, garnered generally better reviews than its predecessors in part for its horror atmosphere. Though some critics found its blend with the main whodunit genre to be a little tonally inconsistent at times, they still expressed feeling more entertained with its haunting tone and a few effective jump scares. Paired with a better exploration of themes of grief and guilt from World War I, only briefly touched upon in prior installments, it’s clear Branagh and writer Michael Green have better found their rhythm with the latest movie.

The question now will be how Branagh and Green carry this success forward into a future Poirot-driven story after A Haunting in Venice. The threequel did end with a tease of the detective taking on a new case, though little hint at to which Christie book it could be in contrast to Murder on the Orient Express‘ direct Death on the Nile setup, and the author’s heir is hopeful for more to be produced. However, with the movie making the lowest of the three Poirot movies at the box office in spite of its trilogy-best reviews, it remains to be seen whether 20th Century Studios will be back on board for another installment.