Why Knives Out 3 features Benoit Blanc’s toughest challenge yet

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As I, a gaming aficionado, stir from my slumber, I find myself immersed in “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” a captivating whodunnit that’s unlike any other in the silver screen. This intriguing case presents a fresh challenge for the esteemed Benoit Blanc, a gentleman detective known for his keen intellect and unmatched deduction skills. This, without a doubt, promises to be his most demanding mystery yet!

In the initial film, Knives Out, the focus was on the mysterious demise of a renowned writer in his grand estate located in Massachusetts. The sequel, Glass Onion, shifted the scene to two homicides that occurred on a picturesque Greek island.

Under the guidance and direction of Rian Johnson, both films followed traditional elements of a whodunit mystery. Key features included a setting that was remote, a diverse cast of potential suspects, a motive such as a will or inheritance up for grabs, a touch of biting social commentary, misleading clues to keep us guessing, and flashbacks that contribute significantly to the climactic unveiling.

In addition, the films introduce a quirky private investigator named Benoit Blanc. In the third film titled “Wake Up Dead Man,” he delves into a traditional ‘whodunit’ mystery reminiscent of the 19th century.

A brief history of the “locked room mystery”

Today, the trailer for Knives Out 3 was released, and it showcases detective Benoit Blanc labeling the central murder in the story as a “timeless enigma in the realm of crime.” This term is also known among enthusiasts as a “closed-room mystery,” which is a type of whodunit that has been popular since the genre’s inception.

The crime scene is typically confined to a small space such as a room, featuring only essential elements like a ceiling, floor, and four walls. It’s nearly impossible to commit a murder there without being detected due to the lack of escape routes or hidden areas.

In simpler terms, one of the earliest notable examples is Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” where a pair of gruesome murders leave the police puzzled – and rightfully so, as it eventually becomes clear that these crimes were carried out by an orangutan, although this solution does involve a bit of a trick.

In ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’ and ‘The Adventure of the Empty House,’ Arthur Conan Doyle used his skills to pen stories, presenting Sherlock Holmes with two particularly challenging mysteries to unravel.

John Dickson Carr gained recognition as a renowned expert in the field, and his 1935 work ‘The Hollow Man’ was even named the greatest locked room mystery ever by a group of esteemed crime literature specialists.

Within this narrative, a professor tragically loses his life after being fatally shot in his personal study. However, neither the perpetrator nor the murder weapon could be identified by the secretary who was stationed outside the room. Although I won’t spoil it for you now, to discover the identity of the killer, you’ll need to delve into the book yourself.

Why Knives Out 3 features “the impossible crime”

In the third installment of Knives Out, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks finishes delivering a sermon at his church, then moves to an adjacent room where he is found deceased only a short while later.

In the Wake Up Dead Man trailer, Benoit Blanc explains the mystery as follows: “To grasp this enigma, we must examine the tale being spun. A man delivers a sermon and, while everyone watches, he steps into a sealed concrete chamber. Thirty seconds later, that same man is found dead.

At the conclusion of his talk, he labels it a “timeless enigma of an unsolvable crime,” indicating that Blanc is aware of this mystery’s significance in the annals of whodunit lore and the complexity of the task at hand.

Heading into theaters on November 28 and streaming on Netflix starting December 12, I’m pumped about diving into “Wake Up Dead Man – A Knives Out Mystery”! If you’re in for some more thrilling mysteries, don’t forget to explore the top-notch thriller series currently available on Netflix. And if you’re curious about Rian Johnson’s best mystery flick, be sure to check it out too!

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2025-09-08 18:21