Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Year: 2025

Runtime: 2 h 20 m

Language: english

Director: Rian Johnson

Echo Score: 90

Budget: $210M

ComedyCrimeDramaMysteryThriller

Young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist the charismatic Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, and tensions quickly surface in the parish. When a baffling, seemingly impossible murder shocks the town and no clear suspect emerges, police chief Geraldine Scott teams up with famed detective Benoit Blanc to untangle a mystery that defies logic.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline – Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Trace every key event in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) with our detailed, chronological timeline. Perfect for unpacking nonlinear stories, spotting hidden connections, and understanding how each scene builds toward the film’s climax. Whether you're revisiting or decoding for the first time, this timeline gives you the full picture.

1

Frame: Blanc reads Jud's letter

Benoit Blanc begins the film by reading a letter from Father Jud Duplenticy that frames the mystery. The letter recounts Jud’s past as a boxer who turned preacher and hints at dark secrets tied to the church. This opening sets the tone for the unraveling story.

Present
2

Jud's deacon incident and exile

Jud punches a rude deacon at his former church, triggering a scandal. Although some believe he acted righteously, the authorities decide to remove him from the scene to calm tensions. He is sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude in Chimney Rock to avoid trouble.

Past Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, Chimney Rock
3

Jud begins tenure under Monsignor Wicks

Jud starts his tenure under the beloved Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, who wields tremendous influence over the flock. Wicks confesses to Jud, revealing a manipulative and controlling style that feeds his power. Martha Delacroix, Wicks’s ally, guides Jud as he learns about Wicks’s mother Grace and the enigmatic Eve’s Apple box; the past mistakes begin to surface.

During tenure Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude
4

Jud identifies suspects among the flock

Jud names Vera Draven, Cy, Nat Sharp, Lee, and Simone as potential suspects and plans a private session away from Wicks to observe them. The tactic unsettles the flock and provokes Wicks’s anger, showing how precarious his control has become. Jud’s suspicions are the seed for a deeper reveal about loyalty and motive.

During tenure Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude
5

Confrontation between Jud and Wicks

Jud confronts Wicks about how he manipulates people, especially Simone, for his own gain. Wicks responds with a physical strike, trying to erase the challenge to his authority. Jud declares he will cut Wicks out 'like a cancer,' and the moment is captured by Cy.

During tenure Pulpit room/office
6

Palm Sunday records reveal deeper motives

During a private Palm Sunday gathering, Cy records the flock and the confrontation, revealing tensions beneath the surface. The video hints that Wicks is using power to advance a political scheme and that Eve’s Apple holds a larger significance. The church's secrets and ambitions begin to surface.

Palm Sunday Wicks’s office / church
7

Good Friday service ends in tragedy

On Good Friday, Wicks delivers his sermon before retreating to a pulpit room to recharge while Jud takes over. Wicks collapses, with a knife protruding from his back, and Nat Sharp, already intoxicated, investigates and accuses Jud of murder. Martha Delacroix quickly shifts suspicion toward Jud as chaos erupts.

Good Friday Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude church
8

Investigators connect weapon and bar clues

Chief Geraldine Scott and Blanc start piecing together the murder, examining the weapon—a knife with a devil head linked to a bar lamp. Bar owner Nikolai confirms the devil head was painted red and that a second head had vanished, tying the weapon to a specific prop. The clues begin to unravel how deception was staged.

Post-mortem Bar and church office
9

Jud’s hidden flask surfaces and forklift order

Blanc compels Jud to recount the events, during which Jud reveals a flask he had hidden from the flock. The flask later disappears, deepening the mystery around Jud’s involvement. Investigators also trace a forklift order to access the crypt, and Louise at the supplier shares a personal tragedy that humanizes the case.

Post-mortem Rectory / forklift supplier
10

Nat’s crimes come to light

Blanc and Jud uncover a grisly chain of deaths: Wicks’s body with arms burned in an acid tub and Nat Sharp’s dissolved corpse. The sequence reveals Nat’s manipulation and his attempt to cover his tracks through staged killings. The truth tightens around the web of lies within the flock.

During investigation Nat’s basement
11

Martha’s confession and Eve’s Apple revealed

Martha finally reveals herself as the killer and discloses that Eve’s Apple is a diamond. She explains how she orchestrated the murders with Nat and Samson to fuel Wicks’s political rise, and how she poisoned the coffee to hide her own guilt. The confession ends with her collapsing as the diamond falls from her hand.

Final confrontation Church crypt
12

Epilogue: survivors move on

The remaining flock members try to rebuild their lives: Vera closes her father’s law firm, Simone returns to playing cello, Lee pursues a risky book deal about Wicks, and Cy confronts his inheritance without real wealth. Blanc and Jud part ways amicably, having solved the case but leaving Eve’s Apple still in play. The community begins healing, fractured but hopeful.

Aftermath Church community
13

One year later: Jud reopens the church

A year after Wicks’s death, Jud reopens the church as Our Lady of Perpetual Grace and renames it in his own vision. Eve’s Apple is finally hidden inside the chest of a Christ statue, sealing its secret away from those who would seek it. The new church embodies a guarded, complicated peace for the flock.

One year later Our Lady of Perpetual Grace

Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 15:32

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Mysteries in corrupt institutions like Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Murder mysteries where the investigation exposes rot within a closed community.If you liked the tense atmosphere of uncovering greed and deception within a parish in Wake Up Dead Man, you'll find similar intrigue here. This list features movies like Wake Up Dead Man where murder investigations expose the dark secrets of seemingly respectable, closed-off communities and organizations.

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The narrative pattern involves an outsider or reluctant insider investigating a crime that seems impossible within a tightly-knit, rule-bound community. The solution often implicates the institution's leadership or foundational principles, forcing a confrontation between public virtue and private vice. The resolution typically brings a form of justice but leaves the institution permanently scarred or changed.

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These films are grouped by their shared focus on a specific, atmospheric setting that breeds suspicion, and by the central theme of a prestigious institution hiding a core of corruption. The tension comes from the clash between outward appearances and the ugly truths being uncovered.

Complex detective puzzles with bittersweet endings like Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Complex whodunits where solving the crime brings intellectual satisfaction but emotional cost.Fans of the complex mystery and the morally nuanced resolution in Wake Up Dead Man will appreciate these films. Discover movies similar to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, featuring brilliant detectives unraveling elaborate crimes that conclude with a sense of justice tinged with sadness or loss.

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The narrative follows a meticulous detective—often an eccentric genius—piecing together a complex web of clues, red herrings, and multiple suspects. The emotional journey is one of intellectual triumph tempered by the sobering reality of the crime's human impact. The ending satisfies the need for answers but acknowledges that some wounds cannot be fully healed by justice alone.

Why These Movies?

These films are united by their focus on a complex, satisfying puzzle-box mystery solved by a deductive protagonist, combined with a tone that doesn't shy away from the emotional fallout of the crime. The experience is as much about the intellectual exercise as it is about the poignant cost of truth.

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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Summary

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

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