Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) — Review

(“Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?”)

How did I enjoy this film?

Alright, let’s get this out of the way immediately.

I liked this more than Glass Onion.
But no — it still doesn’t top the first Knives Out.

And honestly, once you watch it, it becomes pretty obvious why.

This movie is Rian Johnson’s A Haunting in Venice.

And I mean that very deliberately.

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⚠️ CONTENT WARNING ⚠️

Before anything else, understand this:

This is not a cozy whodunit.

This movie dives headfirst into religion, guilt, manipulation, cult-like behavior, death, and straight-up moral rot. If you’re expecting clever banter and puzzle-box fun, this movie is going to shut that door in your face almost immediately.

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Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t even start with Benoit Blanc — which should already tell you what kind of movie this is.

Instead, we follow Father Jud, a former boxer turned priest, arriving at a remote church in upstate New York. And the movie lingers here. Like… really lingers. Confessionals. Sermons. Long silences. Awkward stares. The weight of faith, guilt, and failure is everywhere.

Running the church is Monsignor Wicks, an absolutely miserable human being who genuinely believes cruelty equals righteousness. He humiliates people, drains their finances, and calls it salvation. Nobody likes him — and the movie doesn’t try to soften that even a little.

When Wicks turns up dead in what looks like an impossible locked-room murder, suspicion immediately lands on Jud.

That’s when Benoit Blanc finally enters — an openly anti-religious detective stepping into a space built entirely on belief, ritual, and secrecy.

From that point on, the movie stops being about “who did it” and starts being about what this place has been hiding for years.

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The Trilogy Context — This Is Not an Accident

This is where the movie really clicked for me.

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out trilogy basically mirrors Agatha Christie’s modern Poirot trilogy beat for beat in tone progression.

Knives Out feels like Murder on the Orient Express: clean setup, classic ensemble, traditional whodunit, sharp but comfortable.

Glass Onion is Death on the Nile: louder, flashier, more self-aware, more spectacle than substance, and way more divisive.

Wake Up Dead Man is A Haunting in Venice: smaller, darker, guilt-ridden, atmosphere-first, where the mystery takes a backseat to moral decay.

Just like A Haunting in Venice, this movie trades clever theatrics for unease. It wants you uncomfortable. It wants you sitting in silence. And just like Poirot in Venice, Blanc feels like an outsider here — almost secondary to the story unraveling around him.

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Character Rundown

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is much more subdued this time. Still sharp, still funny, but clearly displaced. He doesn’t belong here, and the movie leans into that tension hard. Also yes, he’s openly anti-religious — I’m with him, but that’s my bias.

Father Jud (Josh O’Connor) is the emotional core of the film. Earnest, broken, genuinely kind, and completely in over his head. You never buy him as a killer, and neither does Blanc.

Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin) is pure spiritual rot. Manipulative, abusive, and his death doesn’t feel tragic — it feels inevitable.

Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close) is quiet menace incarnate. Devotion pushed so far it stops being moral. Easily one of the most unsettling performances in the movie.

Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) is a man hollowed out by failed faith. Nothing left but bitterness and entitlement.

Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack) is an influencer exploiting trauma for clout and attention. Honestly one of the most viscerally unlikable characters in the entire trilogy.

Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny) is a violinist forced to give up her entire identity due to chronic, unexplained pain. Exactly the kind of person Wicks preys on. He drains her life savings by promising miracles. She’s basically the thesis of the movie in human form.

Geraldine (Mila Kunis) is the local cop. Not dumb — just impatient. She wants fast answers, not uncomfortable truths. A direct contrast to Blanc.

Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church) is collateral damage. His death is the moment the movie officially stops playing nice.

Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) is a burned-out author who literally built a moat around his house to keep fans away. Darkly funny, but also deeply thematic. Obsession cuts both ways.

Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) is grounded and practical, constantly dealing with the fallout of Cy’s behavior. She’s the connective tissue between the church’s corruption and the outside world.

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Pacing

This is where people are going to bounce.

The first 40 minutes are slow. Painfully slow if religious themes aren’t your thing. Even I was sighing at points.

But once the murder happens and Blanc fully enters the story, the movie tightens hard. By the final act, we’re basically in full religious horror territory — mausoleums, poisoned sacraments, false resurrection, guilt-soaked confessions.

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Pros

This is easily the boldest film in the trilogy.
The religious setting isn’t decoration — it’s weaponized.
The mystery is way more satisfying than Glass Onion.
Josh O’Connor is quietly devastating.
The ending refuses to comfort you.
You will never be one step ahead of this movie.

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Cons

The opening act will absolutely lose people.
Blanc feels secondary for long stretches.
If you want spectacle over atmosphere, this won’t work.

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Final Thoughts (Non-Spoiler)

Knives Out is still the most balanced.
Glass Onion is the weakest and loudest.
Wake Up Dead Man is the darkest and most ambitious.

It trades fun for unease. Comfort for consequence. And honestly? I respect the hell out of that.

Rating: 9/10
Not my favorite — but absolutely the most daring.

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⚠️ FULL SPOILERS BELOW ⚠️

Stop reading if you haven’t seen it. This movie lives and dies on misdirection.

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The Lie the Movie Knows It’s Telling You

For most of the runtime, the movie wants you to believe Wicks staged his own resurrection. The sermons, the hidden rooms, the title itself — everything points there.

And then… nope.

Wicks wasn’t in control.

He was just the first body.

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The Wordplay That Hides the Truth

When Blanc asks Jud, “Why did you do it?”
Jud replies, “The better question is how long it took you to notice.”

They’re not talking about murder.

They’re talking about Jud hiding Wick’s drinking problem.

“Spirits” wasn’t ghosts.
It was whiskey.

Jud’s guilt isn’t murder — it’s complicity.

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The Murder, Briefly Explained

Wicks collapses after being drugged.
The dagger is stabbed briefly, then removed.
The “blood” on Jud’s fingers is paint transfer.
Dr. Nat delivers the fatal blow under Martha’s direction.

Jud is framed by guilt and proximity, not action.

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Martha Delacroix — The Real Villain

Not greed. Obsession.

She acts to stop Wicks and Cy from monetizing faith itself. Her plan spirals, innocent people die, and she poisons herself — confessing not to God, but to another human being.

That matters.

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The Ending (And Why It Works)

The jewel survives, stripped of power and stripped of myth. Blanc leaves unchanged and unsettled, still an outsider.

And yes — Jud inviting Blanc to stay and Blanc basically saying “absolutely not, toodle-oo” is genuinely hilarious.

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Bottom Line

If Knives Out was comfort food and Glass Onion was noise,
Wake Up Dead Man is the quiet realization that some mysteries don’t want answers — they want confession.

It won’t be everyone’s favorite.
But it’ll stick with you the longest.