I have watched the other two movies with this version of Poirot in…and I have to say, even though he doesn’t hold a candle to David Suchet (Suchet will always be Poirot, as far as I’m concerned), I did still find this movie entertaining.
I will say that this movie was clearly intended to be marketed as a supernatural thriller, which is pretty far from the original source novel. (Note: I haven’t actually read the book, but my understanding from the blurb is that it’s a different feel and vastly different characters).
I did think the movie was really good, despite it being more horror/creepy themed than I’m used to seeing from Poirot movies. I did feel there were a few too many characters; at various points, I couldn’t remember who was hiding which secret. Yes, everyone has secrets – but it was a little hard to suspend my disbelief that everyone had secrets directly connected to the murder plot.
The legend of the children’s vengeance made for quite a haunting backdrop to the murder mystery itself. However, I did think there was a bit too much exposition; it wasn’t necessary to be constantly reminded of the doctors and nurses part of the legend.
I did think there were some really good elements of foreshadowing in this movie. And the sense of something unnatural going on worked really well, along with the idea that Poirot might be losing something of his edge. Unfortunately, I did feel that forcing elements of horror constantly into the movie made it much more difficult to follow the threads of the mystery going on. Because I was so busy trying to figure out the possible causes of what Poirot was seeing, I wasn’t able to pick up on any of the clues about ‘whodunnit’.
I was pretty ambivalent towards most of the characters…with the exception of Ariadne, who irritated me. She seemed really flighty. Did she believe in the supernatural, or was she a skeptic? Her beliefs seemed to change and fluctuate as the plot demanded it.
On the whole, I think this movie would have been far better as an original story, rather than being a Poirot movie. It just didn’t really resonate in the same way as a good murder mystery does. If you’re looking for a good Poirot movie, I can’t say that this is really going to fill that void. But it’s probably worth watching if you’re on the fence about it.