“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” opened at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive notices, with critics singling out the film’s darker tone and standout performances by Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close.
The 140-minute entry in Rian Johnson’s mystery series, which returns Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc, premiered Saturday in Toronto and is scheduled to reach U.S. theaters on Nov. 26 before arriving on Netflix on Dec. 12. A New York Post review called the film the “darkest, scariest and undoubtedly finest acted” of the trilogy, saying Johnson moves the series toward gothic and horror influences while retaining its trademark wit.
The story centers on Father Jud (played by Josh O’Connor), a former boxer turned priest whose arrival at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude in upstate New York sets the plot in motion. The church is overseen by the domineering Monsignor Jefferson Micks, played by Josh Brolin, and populated by an ensemble of characters whose cult-like devotion to Micks and one another provides the film’s motive-laden web. As in typical “Knives Out” fashion, one character is murdered and another is revealed as the murderer; reviewers noted that the film lays out clues without rendering the solution easy to predict.
Critics highlighted O’Connor’s performance as a relatable, troubled protagonist and hailed Glenn Close for her “feverish” turn as staunch church employee Martha. Close’s portrayal was described as among her most fully realized work in the series. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc returns with rapid-fire gags and comic beats that, according to reviews, balance the film’s sustained creepiness.
The ensemble also includes Thomas Haden Church as a recovering alcoholic groundskeeper, Daryl McCormack as a failed politician and YouTuber, Kerry Washington as an adoptive mother with resentment toward her son, Andrew Scott as an eccentric author, Jeremy Renner as a drunken doctor and Cailee Spaeny as a cellist. Reviewers noted that, unlike in the second film in the series, the cast largely inhabits their parts rather than winking at their star personas.
Review coverage emphasized the film’s aesthetic shift: Johnson draws on gothic and Edgar Allan Poe influences and uses Catholic imagery—crosses, confessionals, robes and rosaries—to heighten tension. The setting, described as a fogbound small town in Chimney Rock, N.Y., evokes comparisons to moody television landscapes and classic horror atmospheres. Despite its spookier palette, the film retains comedic elements; reviewers cited a particularly sharp, if fleeting, joke referencing the musical Cats among other laugh lines.
Reaction at TIFF suggested that the film represents a tonal course correction after the series’ second installment, which some critics found less invested in mystery and more in satire. The New York Post review described “Glass Onion” as a weaker chapter and called the new film a “surprise favorite” that combines genuine suspense with effective humor and strong performances.
Johnson’s script and direction, coupled with the ensemble cast, appear to have brought the franchise back to a more classic whodunit structure while experimenting with darker, genre-inflected imagery. Reviewers stopped short of suggesting the film is easily solvable by audiences prior to the denouement, but noted that the conclusion is satisfying and supported by clues scattered through the narrative.
With the film due in theaters and on Netflix this winter, observers and audiences will have the opportunity to see whether “Wake Up Dead Man” broadens the “Knives Out” canon toward horror-inflected mysteries or remains a tonal outlier within the series. The presence of Benoit Blanc and Daniel Craig leaves open the possibility of further entries in the franchise, depending on audience response and box-office and streaming performance.