Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery:
A Haunting in Venice
A Haunting in Venice fails to break free from the constraints of mediocrity that have dogged the Christie franchise. Kenneth Branagh‘s film, like his prior entries in the series, struggles to deliver the tension and intrigue that should be inherent in the genre.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Although it’s still setting the pace in terms of quality that other murder mysteries strive for, Netflix’s latest Knives Out installment, Glass Onion, feels like a rehashing of every character arch and narrative beat that the original did so much better.
The Thursday Murder Club
It’s difficult to figure out what The Thursday Murder Club (2025) is actually trying to be. On paper, the setup suggests a witty, modern spin on the classic whodunit—something in the vein of Clue, Knives Out, or an Agatha Christie mystery. In execution, though, it’s a surprisingly flat and meandering adaptation that never delivers the intrigue, tension, or even the breezy fun that the genre thrives on. Instead of feeling like an event film, Chris Columbus’ direction leaves it playing more like a disposable mid-week Netflix watch than the foundation of a new mystery franchise.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Stylistically and visually, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a real treat. The scenes are lush and vibrant, and the color design for this film is excellent. As all A24 horror projects go, this film finds its pocket early on and sticks to it. Even with a narrative that can feel generic at this point, Bodies Bodies Bodies excels at amplifying and hyper-intensifying the world around its main plotline.
Another Simple Favor
Another Simple Favor isn’t just a misfire—it’s a symptom of the growing problem with streaming-era content. What once felt like an opportunity to tell smaller, riskier stories has increasingly become a dumping ground for shallow IP extensions that lack any creative spark. This is not a thriller. It’s not even really a movie. It’s plain, dull, and disposable “content.”
Amsterdam
There were quite a few misfires from major studios in 2022, but Amsterdam stands with some of the worst ones. To have a film as overstuffed and annoyingly uninteresting as Amsterdam with a cast like Amsterdam is impressive.
It’s What’s Inside
To its credit, It’s What’s Inside makes a few choices to make itself memorable. The premise is inarguably fascinating, and the consequences of the central plot engine are enticing at times. But It’s What’s Inside becomes frustratingly convoluted, compounded by a set of characters that I simply could not care less about.
Don’t Worry Darling
While it’s easy to point fingers and blame the film’s issues on just a few individuals, Don’t Worry Darling, at its core, is flawed. A meandering story can’t be saved by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.
Knock at the Cabin
The concept behind Knock at the Cabin is fairly simple, as many of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies are. A couple and their daughter are at a remote cabin when a set of strangers sets upon their location. It’s made known to them that they must choose a sacrifice from their own family to prevent the apocalypse. Despite the well-mannered and caring demeanors of the intruders, they insist that this sacrifice must be made in order to save the world.
Weapons
Weapons opens with one of the most chilling hooks you’ll hear in any movie this year: at exactly 2:17 a.m., every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, walked downstairs, opened the front door, stepped into the dark… and never came back. It’s the kind of premise that immediately grabs you, the kind of logline that sells itself in a trailer and sticks in your head for days. Writer-director Zach Cregger, who burst onto the horror scene with 2022’s Barbarian, proves once again that he knows how to start a story with an irresistible, terrifying question.
