‘A HAUNTING IN VENICE’ RATED PG-13

Kenneth Branaugh returns for a third time as famed detective Hercule Poirot in “A Haunting in Venice,” an unsettling supernatural thriller based upon Agatha Christie’s lesser-known novel “Hallowe’en Party.”

Take it from the filmmakers making it known that this adaption of the famous British mystery writer’s work is a slightly different story than what’s in the book. The intent was to make the story a bit more dire.

One inescapable deviation from Christie’s novel is that the location moves from the English countryside to haunted Venice and the story happens on one haunted night rather that over the course of several days, almost a week.

It’s All Hallows’ Eve in an eerie Venice in the years following World War II, where celebrated sleuth Poirot now resides, apparently retired and living in a self-imposed exile.

Poirot may be aloof, but he’s able to afford the full-time services of Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio), a bodyguard to shield him from the beseechers of his erstwhile services.

Comfortable in his new ways, Poirot resists entreaties to get involved with his craft until along comes crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who has made the sleuth a character in her writing.

Oliver may be suffering an existential crisis just like Poirot, but she lures him out of his shell to attend a Halloween Night séance at the palazzo of former opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly).

The faded elegance of the palazzo is reportedly haunted, though Poirot is skeptical of notion of the place being inhabited by ghosts even if the stormy night seems like the perfect setting for the supernatural.

A celebrity medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) is in attendance in an effort to summon the spirit of Alicia (Rowan Robinson), the daughter of the opera singer. For her part, Oliver hopes that Poirot will prove the clairvoyant to be a fraud.

Oddly enough, Poirot is almost a victim when he’s nearly drowned while bobbing for apples in a basin. But the first dead body turns up when a guest is impaled on a statue.

As is the case with most murder mysteries, the ensemble of guests may include a suspect or two. There’s the nervous Dr. Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his precocious young son Leopold (Jude Hill); Alicia’s onetime fiancé Maxime (Kyle Allen); and housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin).

Reverting to his nature, Poirot locks down the palazzo for the night, announcing that no one can leave until he uncovers the killer. The less said about the plot the better, since revealing too much may spoil the surprises.

True appreciation of Agatha Christie cinematic adaptations for the adventures of Hercule Poirot are best found in films of the Seventies such as “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile,” both of which have been remade in recent years.

“A Haunting in Venice,” though not quite the mystery thriller as good as previous iterations of the Branagh-led franchise, at least has the benefit of a being more appealing to an adult audience weary of repetitive superhero fare.



‘THE RINGLEADER: THE CASE OF THE BLING RING’ ON HBO

The HBO Original documentary film “The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring,” the true story of celebrity robberies, debuts on Sunday, October 1 on HBO and will be available to stream on MAX.

In a candid, first-time interview with Rachel Lee, the so-called teenage mastermind behind a string of high-profile celebrity robberies in 2008 and 2009, “The Ringleader” examines the motivations of Lee and a group of her friends.

Breaking into celebrity homes in Hollywood to ransack and steal, the teens were fueled by the climate of celebrity excess as well as grappling with mental health issues and addictions.

Dozens of homes were burglarized by a surprisingly unsophisticated crime ring of youth from Calabasas. At the center of the controversy is 19-year-old Rachel Lee who led the burglaries at the homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and Lindsay Lohan.

Lee remained silent while the media and her former friends branded her the ringleader of a series of crimes that captured the culture’s fascination. Over ten years later and following a prison sentence, Lee speaks for the first time about her role in the crime spree.

The ringleader outlines the culture of celebrity worship that prevailed in the early 2000s, when socialites and Hollywood stars flaunted their wealth and designer lifestyles on social media and popular reality shows.

Driven by the need to be seen as a cool kid in high school and to emulate the lives of her idols, and using celebrity websites to track her victims’ whereabouts, Lee and her friends targeted celebrity homes to help themselves to over three million dollars’ worth of valuables and cash.

Chronicling the months of burglaries, the drama that transpired in the aftermath of the arrests and prosecutions, and the subsequent casting of blame, “The Ringleader” sheds light on a culture that led troubled teenagers to covet the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.