Film

Evil Under the Sun

Name: Evil Under the Sun
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Drama
Released: 1982
Cast: Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Roddy McDowall, Maggie Smith

Evil Under the Sun is Christie's Poirot transplanted to a sun-drenched Adriatic resort, all silk cocktail robes, gossip and Cole Porter on the soundtrack. Peter Ustinov's Poirot glides through a cast of preening actors, columnists and jealous spouses trading barbs by the pool. It's less about tension than performance — a gathering of hams daring each other to out-camp the last, until someone turns up strangled on the beach.

TMDb rating

6.9

If you liked this

Death on the Nile1978

Ustinov's first outing as Poirot, same producers and appetite for glamour, an even bigger cast squeezed onto a boat sailing down the Nile. This is the blueprint the formula was built from.

But Slower paced and more exposition-heavy — the mystery leans on lengthy explanatory monologues rather than momentum.

Murder on the Orient Express1974

Albert Finney's twitchier, stranger Poirot, a trainful of stars including Bacall and Bergman, and the film that made all-star Christie adaptations fashionable in the first place.

But Finney's Poirot is an odder, more mannered performance — some find him harder to warm to than Ustinov's.

Knives Out2019

A modern, twisty rewrite of the country-house whodunit with a starry ensemble hamming it up gloriously, plus a structural trick under the fun that actually holds up.

But Faster and more knowing in its comedy — less languid glamour, more rapid-fire plotting and contemporary jokes.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Last of Sheila1973

Same DNA as Evil Under the Sun — a glamorous, bitchy ensemble trapped somewhere beautiful, forced into a game that turns lethal — but stripped of Poirot's gentility for something sharper-toothed and far more vindictive.

A yacht full of Hollywood monsters playing a scavenger-hunt game devised by a vicious host — a puzzle so fair and cruel it was originally designed by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins as an actual party game before becoming this script.

But Colder and nastier than Christie — everyone aboard is genuinely awful, and there's no Poirot-like warmth to soften the malice.