Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Is Rian Johnson’s Most Ambitious Murder Mystery Yet

The Austin Film Festival treated attendees to a special screening of Rian Johnson’s third installment of his beloved murder mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Obviously, everything is bigger in Texas, making Austin a fitting location to screen Johnson’s biggest Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) story yet.

Leaning into the gothic tones of Edgar Allen Poe, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery tells the eerie story of a Catholic church turned upside down when the monsignor (Josh Brolin) is brutally murdered during his sermon. With plenty of witnesses yet no one seeing the deed done, it’s a crime that seems nearly impossible to commit, and a spine-tingling mystery that only the great Benoit Blanc can solve. With pews of suspects, all with specific motives, Blanc teams up with Jud (Josh O’Connor), the second-in-command Priest, to solve who killed the monsignor, and how.

The Knives Out franchise is famous for its thrilling whodunnits led by ensemble casts. Johnson’s choice to drop a slew of suspects, all with plenty of reason to commit murder, in a confined setting emulates the beloved Clue board game that leaves you guessing over and over whose guilty. Previous installments of Blanc’s adventures have taken audiences to wealthy family estates, a billionaire’s private island, and now, an incredibly spooky Catholic church that’s straight out of a Scooby-Doo episode. Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Cailee Spaeny, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Thomas Haden Church, Daryl McCormack, and Glenn Close play the group of churchgoers thrown into a murder investigation, all with reasons to be suspected by Blanc. Johnson did an incredible job of blending various misfit characters into one bizarre group, and he leaves you guessing about whose guilty until the very end.

The formula for how this chapter is told differs from the first films, where Johnson allows audiences to get to know the murder victim and potential murderers well before Blanc graces the screen. It was reminiscent of a classic Columbo episode, where viewers saw all the strife and angst build up, and then the murder happened. Only once a mystery needed to be solved did the bumbling yet brilliant Lieutenant Columbo show up on the scene. In the past, Blanc has been the driving force of each Knives Out film, but in this one, he takes on more of a supporting role for O’Connor’s Jud to lead the story, a daring risk for Johnson to take in the third chapter of this franchise.

Johnson did an excellent job of showing the spectrum of religion and how each character interpreted faith differently. While that’s definitely a risky and heavy topic to explore, Johnson’s ambition paid off. Even with the dark motifs and loaded subject matter, the humor fans have come to love in Knives Out was prevalent throughout. Mixing all these motifs with mystery left fans screaming and yelling throughout the theater, utterly baffled by the chilling mystery lurking within the church grounds. This is a spoiler-free zone, but fair warning, there's a jump scare that made the entire theater scream, and nearly made everyone jump out of their seats. It even caused a certain Reel Talk and Reviews journalist to almost slap the person next to her in fear. You’ve been warned!

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery was Johnson's most ambitious, visually stunning, and eerily satisfying chapter in Benoit Blanc’s story yet. He’s created a universe that keeps you always wanting more. Perhaps the greatest mystery is guessing where the next Knives Out adventure will be…

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will hit theaters on November 26 and will be available to stream on Netflix on December 12.