Awards season has begun and it feels less like a celebration of cinema and more like a ritual on repeat. But cinema’s real reckoning no longer happens under spotlights. It happens quietly, and almost anonymously, on screens where consensus forms without applause.

That is precisely why Rotten Tomatoes and its Golden Tomato Awards carry an odd but undeniable weight. Now, with its latest Golden Tomato list revealed, one title stands out as both unexpected and completely justified. Wake Up Dead Man does not announce itself like a typical awards darling.

Instead, it arrives like a whispered recommendation that grows louder with each passing review, strange, somber, and impossible to ignore.

Wake Up Dead Man has officially secured a place among Golden Tomato’s Top 10 Films, a significant achievement in a year crowded with franchise power and prestige releases. The official X page for the movie has recognised this as well. The film earned nominations in three categories: Best Movies of 2025, Best Limited Release Movies of 2025, which it won, and Best Mystery & Thriller Movies of 2025.

As part of the 27th edition of the Rotten Tomatoes Awards, the platform celebrated 2025’s most acclaimed film and television works. It honored projects that carried audiences from the dark allure of Sinners to the rebellion-torn galaxy of Andor, through the unsettling terror of Alien: Earth, and back into the animated familiarity of Zootopia 2. Winners are determined through a weighted ranking system that factors Tomatometer and Popcornmeter scores alongside total review count.

Moreover, the film has also made it to Netflix's top 10 lists with high views. 

‘Knives Out’ 3 Release Date on Netflix: When Is ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ Coming Out

Wake Up Dead Man is a whodunit that does not just ask who did it, but why we watch mysteries at all. The mystery, it turns out, is only the entry point. Its Golden Tomato Top 10 placement is beyond a nod to craftsmanship but to something deeper stirring beneath its genre surface.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery returns audiences to the clever, twist-laden world of Rian Johnson’s beloved Benoit Blanc franchise. And this time, the backdrop is a church steeped in doctrine, conflict, and mystery. The film currently holds a Certified Fresh 92 percent Tomatometer score and a 93 percent audience Popcornmeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In this third installment, Daniel Craig reprises his role as Blanc, who is drawn into a perplexing murder after the controversial Monsignor Jefferson Wicks is found dead under circumstances that defy simple explanation. Where the earlier films relished social satire and the puzzle-box thrill of classic guilty parties, Wake Up Dead Man turns inward, confronting the intersections of faith, morality, and human fallibility.

Wake Up Dead Man may not be the loudest film of the year, but its Golden Tomato recognition confirms what many viewers already felt: this is a story that stays with you.

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