Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
Master detective Benoit Blanc investigates the death of a Catholic priest in an upstate New York parish involving a missing fortune.
The story
After a former boxer-turned-Catholic priest named Jud Duplenticy is reassigned to a troubled upstate New York parish, he finds himself at the center of a mystery. The parish is plagued by the disappearance of a significant fortune and the eccentric behavior of its leadership. When the parish leader, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, is found dead in a locked room with a unique knife in his back, Jud becomes the primary suspect due to a prior altercation. Detective Benoit Blanc is called in to investigate the crime, and he recruits the suspicious Jud to help uncover the truth behind the death and the missing inheritance.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Following the death of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, detective Benoit Blanc and the suspect Jud Duplenticy investigate the parish. They discover Wicks intended to use a missing fortune to enter politics and planned to expose the secrets of his followers. Jud is later framed for a second death, but Blanc prevents him from confessing. During a final confrontation, Blanc reveals that a parish member, Nat Sharp, actually killed Wicks using a complex ruse involving a decoy knife and sedatives. The investigation reveals a deeper conspiracy involving the church's secretary, Martha, and a hidden diamond called 'Eve's Apple.' Martha and Nat conspired to kill Wicks to protect the church's assets. After a series of deaths involving the diamond and a staged resurrection, Martha dies and leaves the diamond behind. One year later, Jud prepares to reopen the church, with the diamond hidden in a new crucifix, while a disgruntled Cy Draven continues to watch his finances.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 144
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Rian Johnson
- Writers
- Rian Johnson · writer
- Cast and characters
- Daniel Craig · Benoit Blanc; Josh O'Connor; Glenn Close; Josh Brolin; Mila Kunis; Jeremy Renner; Kerry Washington; Andrew Scott
- Genres
- mystery; comedy; thriller
- Themes
- religion; greed; justice
- Tone and mood
- quirky; tense; witty
- Setting
- An upstate New York parish during the present day.
- Premise and plot tags
- locked-room mystery; whodunit; detective
- Franchise connections
- Knives Out
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews, with specific praise for the lead performances and its introspective nature.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 80 · scale: 100 · review count: 59
- Production trivia
- The title is derived from a folk song and a U2 song.; The film's setting was chosen to be 'grounded' to subvert expectations.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…