From 10/19/2025 SDIFF screening:
When "Knives Out" premiered in 2019, little did we know we'd be in for the best years of murder mystery genre for years to come. At the time, there was only "Murder at the Orient Express" prior. The Agatha Christie adaptation continued with "Death on the Nile" and "A Haunting in Venice."
With the breakout hit of "Knives Out," director Rian Johnson followed with "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," and now with "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery." Interestingly, the second versions are delightfully bright travelogues. And both third installments are dark gothic style with a religious theme.
Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) is an earnest young priest with a violent past. He was transferred to Chimney Rock in upstate New York, where the small parish is led by a cult-like leader Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin; "The Avengers" series, "Hail, Caesar!").
The congregation has been dwindling severely to a small group of devouts for good reason. Known for his theatrical flair, Monsignor Wicks leads his sermons with fear and anger, against the world at large. If his leading style and boisterous, quick-to-rage personality reminds you of a certain political leader, you're not wrong. It's pretty on-the-nose depiction, including a base of followers who view their leader as can-do-no-wrong despite his outbursts and hostility.
The regular parishioners are loyal aide Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), reticent groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), despondent doctor Ned (Jeremy Renner, "The Avengers" series, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," "American Hustle"), bitter lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), politician wannabe and YouTuber Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), loner sci-fi writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and wheelchair-bound cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).
Somehow the flock remain devoted to Monsignor Wicks, despite Father Jud's efforts to show a different way to lead, with love and compassion. Monsignor Wicks and Father Jud mix like oil and water. It's no surprise that when a recorded confrontation and encounter, murder weapon and inopportune timing collide, Father Jud is accused of murder.
It appears to be a perfectly impossible murder though. When Monsignor Wicks took a quick break inside a sealed side closet during his sermon and fell dead to the ground, nobody was inside the closet. The space itself is fully enclosed with no other entry point. Father Jud was sitting across the podium in plain view of the mass attendees and everyone was sitting inside the church.
So how was the murder committed then? Potential scenarios and theories are thrown around. Clues only add to riddles. Gradually, concealed identities and motivations are revealed. After another incident, everyone becomes a suspect, although outcast Father Jud remains the primary suspect.
Compounding the mystery, it appears that the clearly dead Monsignor Wicks is later seen on video camera rising from his crypt. Now we have a dead man walking into the woods on a stormy night. Soon after, more victim(s) are discovered. Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, "James Bond" series) has his observing eyes and hands full.
Even the famed detective gets flustered and admits that not only does this appear to be a perfectly impossible murder, the entire situation is unsolvable, as it goes against logic and reality. After all, who does not want to believe in the possibility of a miracle?
The story is a bit more complicated than the previous installments since the present crime has ties to the church's mythical past, but you'll be fully awake for the theatrics. Exploring myth, miracle and misdeed misdirections, decades-old secrets are unearthed, layers of cover-ups break open, and hidden holy grail and artifices come to light.
"Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" is atmospherically engrossing, shrewdly humorous, and inventively clever whodunnit mystery with an entombed closure.
