Bonus: Wake Up Dead Man – Clued In Mystery

Brook and Sarah sat down to share their thoughts after watching Wake Up Dead Man, the third movie in the Rian Johnson’s Knives Out franchise.

Discussed and mentioned

Wake Up Dead Man (2025 film)

Glass Onion (2022 film)

Knives Out (2019 film)

For more information

Instagram: @cluedinmystery
Contact us: hello@cluedinmystery.com
Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.com
Sign up for our newsletter: https://cluedinmystery.com/clued-in-chronicle/
Order Life or Delft by Brook and Sarah

Transcript

This transcript is generated by a computer and there may be some mis-spellings and strange punctuation. We try to catch these before posting, but some things slip through.

Sarah	Welcome to a Clued In bonus episode. I’m Sarah.
Brook	And I’m Brook, and we both love mystery.
Sarah	Hi, Brook.
Brook	Hi, Sarah. So this is the second time that we’ve done this kind of watch together process, and I’m so excited about today’s show.
Sarah	Me too. So I will share that I was in the movie theater a couple of weeks ago and this film was playing and I for the slightest of moments thought, hmm, maybe I should go and watch this now.
Sarah	And then I thought, no, Brook and I are going to be doing this when it comes out on Netflix. And of course, we’re talking about Wake Up Dead Man, the next in the Benoit Blanc Knives Out series.
Brook	It looks fantastic. I have intentionally, as we did with our last project, tried not to watch any trailers, but um it looks so great. And the comments I’ve heard already from those that watched it in the theater or, you know, have kind of got a sneak peek have been really strong. So, I’m looking forward to it.
Sarah	I too, I’ve seen one clip. It was a panel show and one of the stars was, um it was, was a guest. And so they showed a clip from the movie and it did look fantastic.
Brook	Yeah, I will say I was on Instagram yesterday and um Rian Johnson, who’s the writer and producer, was being interviewed by Otto Penzler at the Mysterious Bookshop. And I did listen in. And, you know, I just think that Rian Johnson is such a fantastic voice in this space. Every time I hear him speak, I just love how he’s really connected to the to the world of mystery. And so I know that that’s going to be reflected today. And we can talk more about ah what he’s done with this film after we watch.
Sarah	It’s time to pop our popcorn and get comfortable on the couch because we’re about to watch Wake Up Dead Man.
Sarah	Okay, Brook, we’re back. We’ve both watched Wake Up Dead Man. What did you think?
Brook	I have that little glow that you get when you’ve just seen a really good movie. And to be honest, I’m not sure that I felt that in a really long time. You know, going to the movies and seeing shows isn’t quite the same as it was even just a few years ago. So, I remember feeling this way when I would come out of the movie theater where you’re like, oh, I loved this part and that part. And like you start trying to like go back and think of the film in your mind. And I haven’t felt that way in such a long time, but I’m having it right now. Did you love it as much as I did, Sarah?
Sarah	I enjoyed it, but I don’t think that I loved it quite as much as you did, but I’m so glad that you did.
Brook	Interesting. Yeah, I really did. Okay, so let’s get into it. The first thing that really struck me um about this show was that it is such a different concept from Glass Onion, which was the second one, the most recent one. And that’s really interesting to me. And I like the idea of this as a series, but yet the settings and the concepts are vastly different.
Sarah	They’re very much standalone films. Like there’s nothing, you did not need to have watched either of the first two movies to enjoy this one.
Brook	Exactly. Really, the only tie between the three movies is the character of Benoit Blanc.
Sarah	Agreed. And I did feel like, There were ah very comedic parts. There were also very, like, almost overly dramatic parts.
Brook	Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, the the comedy was really good. Like, I thought that the character of this, of our main character, Priest, he’s ah Father Jed, he would say some really funny things at a good moment to kind of bring some levity.
Brook	And he was the, um shall we say, Watson of the story that you really, as the audience member, you kind of were going along with him in this story of like – his level of confusion and understanding.
Sarah	Mm-hmm.
Brook	And so when he would do something funny, I thought that was really relatable.
Sarah	Well, and and that’s right, because he he’s actually narrating the opening scenes, right? He’s in some situation where he’s explaining something that has happened. And so um we see that at the end, what he’s what he’s explaining. But um yeah, he’s definitely, I think, that that Watson for the audience.
Sarah	What did you think of the mystery, Brook?
Brook	I thought the mystery was very good. It was the final culmination, though, is a little bit lost. Like i kind of had forgotten about this storyline that is presented early on because it is a a long film. That’s part of this is it’s two and a half hours long. So I like, you know me, I like the whole bookend thing and that it circles back and it, you know, the, the crux of this problem lies in the old story. um but it did, I kind of had to be reminded about where we were going with this.
Sarah	Yeah, I so I agree. it was long. And I think there were a few bits that could have been trimmed out to make it just a little bit of a shorter movie and maybe keep ah attention a little bit, a little sharper.
Brook	I think you’re right. If I had one criticism, it would be that. like um We have in the middle of the film where um this is a very typical mystery thing where everyone could be us the prime suspect.
Brook	There were also a couple of other red herring um trails that it took us down. And maybe that would have been some of the content that could have been trimmed to keep things a little bit more tighter and suspenseful.
Sarah	So the cast is very strong. There are a lot of very familiar names and faces in this movie.
Brook	Absolutely. Great cast. Although I will say, again, speaking about Father Jud, this was an actor that I hadn’t seen a lot, but I thought he did a fantastic job.
Sarah	I agree, Brook. So I wasn’t so familiar with Josh O’Connor, and that’s the actor who plays Father Judd. But we also have Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Thomas Hayden Church, whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott. All of them are in this film, and they they all do a great job.
Brook	I agree. And I thought the different characters, um which is something we see in the other Knives Out movies where you have very clear um personality type, shall we say. And I thought that that was done really well once again.
Sarah	Agreed.
Brook	I really enjoyed the hearkening back to some of the Golden Age mystery novels that ah that takes place because this is a locked room mystery. And so Benoit Blanc references some really well-known titles, all of which we’ve discussed on the show, Sarah.
Sarah	Yeah, I thought that was, I thought that was pretty good as well. um And, you know, I I think you were saying at the beginning that I think that’s down to Rian Johnson being such a, I think, such a fan of the genre.
Brook	Absolutely. He is a true fan of the genre. I think that it would be really easy for someone in his position um to kind of jump on the mystery train and, hey, let’s make a mystery movie because it’s really hot right now. But he’s doing it because this is truly the genre that he cares about and wants to um you know continue on. So I think that’s a wonderful thing about about this franchise.
Sarah	So one thing that I saw in relation to this movie um and the the franchise in general is someone has suggested that they do a Muppet version with Daniel Craig and I saw a clip of an interview where he seemed to be quite into the idea of doing either voicing, I’m I’m not sure if he would be better voicing a Muppet version of Benoit Blanc or if he was the only human character and the rest were Muppets. I think either would be fantastic.
Brook	I would be on for either of those options. I love the Muppets and we love it when you can ah extend the mystery genre for a younger audience. So I would be all about that as well. I think that would be so much fun.
Brook	So Sarah, when we watched um Thursday Murder Club, you and I both said, maybe this would be better as a series because just the film didn’t quite…give us enough time to get into the characters. And now this film was much longer. It was probably an hour longer than that. So I definitely feel like we got an extended story. But do you think, given the length of this, this could have been broken up and been a little miniseries?
Sarah	Well, this is a very good question, Brook. Maybe like two 90-minute movies or like 90-minute episodes. But I think it actually did work really well just as a standalone story.
Sarah	And I think what I said when we after we watched The Thursday Murder Club was ah my theory is that if it’s adapted from a book, the screen adaptation is better if it’s done as a series. But if it is a standalone um thriller, for example, or a standalone mystery, and I think that’s also due to the way that I think that’s also due to the way that these stories are structured and that the only character that carries from one to the next is the detective. I think it’s much easier in that case to do it as a standalone movie.
Brook	Yeah, I think that that’s ah a great point that um number one, this isn’t based off a book. So we don’t have all that back matter and kind of expansion on characters. And, also this is the way the series has gone. So the the the one movie was probably the way to do this particular mystery.
Sarah	So a final point, Brook. And this is a bit of ah a pedantic point. But I do wish that the title had a comma in it. Usually you would have a comma, It would be Wake Up, comma, Dead Man. um And i every time I see the the title, I I wish I could put in put in that comma. So i want i assume that it’s intentional that it’s missing.
Brook	Yes. Thank you, Grammar Police. These are important things, filmmakers and writers. I think that would make more sense, Sarah.
Sarah	Well, Brook, this has been so fun to talk about our talk about how much we enjoyed watching Wake Up Dead Man. And I look forward to doing it again with something else in the future.
Brook	I do too. And we hope that you loved this special bonus episode ah to kind of celebrate the holiday season and watch a mystery movie. But for today, thanks for joining us on Clued in Mystery.
Brook	I’m Brook.
Sarah	And I’m Sarah, and we both love mystery.