Get ready to have your mind blown—because Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is here to challenge everything you thought you knew about murder mysteries. And this is the part most people miss: it’s not just a whodunnit; it’s a howdunnit that defies logic and dives into what one reviewer cheekily calls ‘some Scooby-Doo shit going on.’ But here’s where it gets controversial—can a crime be so impossible that even the legendary Benoit Blanc scratches his head? Written and directed by Rian Johnson, this latest installment in the Knives Out series promises to be a brain-teaser wrapped in a gothic thriller. Johnson himself admits it was ‘the hardest script I’ve ever had to write,’ which only adds to the intrigue.
Daniel Craig reprises his role as the razor-sharp detective Benoit Blanc, a man who simply cannot let a mystery go unsolved—no matter how bizarre. This time, he’s up against a murder that leaves an entire upstate New York parish baffled. When a member of their community dies inexplicably right before their eyes, the town is thrown into chaos. Enter Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a boxer-turned-priest, who teams up with the fiery Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). But it’s not just the clergy in trouble—local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) is equally stumped, forcing her to call in Blanc to make sense of the madness.
Here’s the twist: the cast is stacked with heavyweights like Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, and more, each bringing their A-game to this twisted tale. Meagan Navarro from Bloody Disgusting notes that ‘everyone involved is having an absolute blast,’ and that infectious energy is palpable. But don’t be fooled by the fun—Johnson takes a darker turn with this gothic whodunnit, drawing inspiration from the likes of Edgar Allan Poe.
The film hits select theaters on November 26 before streaming on Netflix on December 12, giving you plenty of time to debate with friends: How did it happen? And more importantly, why? The Knives Out franchise has already earned Academy Award nominations for its previous installments, Knives Out (2019) and Glass Onion (2022), so expectations are sky-high. But does this one live up to the hype? That’s for you to decide.
Controversial question: Is Wake Up Dead Man a masterpiece of mystery or a puzzle that’s too clever for its own good? Let us know in the comments—and prepare to question everything when you dive into this perfectly impossible crime.
