Sean Parker
If you’re a horror fan, you’ve probably heard something about Cuckoo by now. Maybe you’ve seen the trailer, read a review, or seen the bloody bandage spelling out the title wrapped around Hunter Schafer’s head on the poster. You know, something. Cuckoo is one of the big horror releases of the summer, continuing the tradition of a fantastic 2024 lineup from Neon, the film’s distributor, which includes the hits Longlegs and Immaculate. A lot of mystery has surrounded Cuckoo, and with early trailers showing a lot of muted hospital tones and providing little context, it’s easy to think you might have the film figured out. But I’m here to tell you how insane it would be if you did.
Beginning with an ominous and bizarre cold open, Cuckoo catches up to Schafer’s character, Gretchen, arriving in the German Alps with her father (Márton Csókás) and his new family. The mountains overlooking the resort where they’re staying provide a Shining-inspired forewarning to director Tilman Singer’s audience. Consumed with anger and grief over the loss of her mother, Gretchen emits the feeling of abandonment and replacement by filling the air with contempt and teenage angst for everyone around her, especially in her new role as big sister to the mute Alma (Mila Lieu). Gretchen’s dad sets her up with a job at the resort as the front desk clerk, but Gretchen’s new boss, Herr König (Dan Stevens), while welcoming, kind of creeps her out. Still, the resort is even stranger. Check-ins cease after 10 pm, and dazed guests are frequently seen roaming the lobby.
One evening, after swapping with the usual closing shift attendant, Gretchen has an unnerving encounter on her bicycle ride home. Strong shadow play in the scene creates an unforgettable encounter, drawing panic and terror from the audience as a woman dressed like Holly Golightly, in a trenchcoat and sunglasses, attempts to attack Gretchen. Barely escaping, her reports to the police fall on deaf ears, and parts are changed to fit their own description of events. Even her father thinks she’s just acting out. However, pulsating sounds causing reverberating confusion continue to haunt Gretchen with fight or flight responses. Yet, no one seems to want to leave the idyllic location, even when Alma begins to suffer from seizures. Solidly ready for flight, everyone around Gretchen resists and refuses to deal with the truth that the resort is hiding a dangerous and disturbing secret.
As the movie enters its second and third acts, context clues build to some jaw-dropping moments before Singer pulls back the curtain on the mystery. Gretchen enlists the help of a cop (Jan Bluthardt) who has his own theories, and the two start to decipher their place in a web of shocking experimentation. That would be nuts to consider outside this particular place in the Alps. Nuremberg was filled with stories of high-altitude testing, and the region remains a highly conservative place to this day despite being an attractive tourist destination.
With the stage set, Cuckoo becomes something of an Outer Limits episode. I say that instead of the typical Twilight Zone because of the Orwellian nightmare Cuckoo ventures into, and Outer Limits begins in a similar vein. The themes contained in the film wander into some high-profile political territory, asking the viewer to address the absurdity they’re seeing right before their eyes. Cuckoo’s subtext is pretty well hidden, which will make it all the more exciting for trolls to suddenly discover this WTF thrill ride is a giant metaphor for women’s reproductive rights and male-domineering autocracy. That alone makes Cuckoo a high-profile target for right-wing review-bombing, as does the casting of the absolutely mesmerizing Hunter Schafer.
Schafer brings a similar vibe of complex emotions to Gretchen’s character as to Euphoria’s Jules, veering off in a determined heroine’s direction to join the legacy of final girls who’ve come before her. Schafer is flat-out terrific, leading a wonderful ensemble and going toe-to-toe with an equally exceptional Dan Stevens. Stevens has been on fire this year with mega hits Abigail and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, with many seeing him in sinister, violent roles as in the former or 2014’s The Guest. However, few have seen the actor’s German-speaking robo-turn in the 2021 film I’m Your Man to understand how incredibly apt he is at creeping you out in multiple languages. Watching Schafer and Stevens face off in Cuckoo is thrilling all by itself.
I also think Cuckoo will be a bit divisive between horror lovers, but far less so than the politically affiliated. On one side, those reveling in B-movie weirdness will stand up and cheer for the devilishly fun and jaw-dropping Hammer-Horroresque picture Cuckoo becomes. But the elevated horror crowd, who perceive Neon as A24’s sibling, may bemoan the film’s early trailers as high-art trickery. I believe Cuckoo, in all its gloriousness and occasional plot holes, still satisfies both sides. I freaking loved this messed up movie and how off-the-rails it gets, while the themes of women’s rights drive home a perfect horror experience. Singer has created a film that screams Cronenberg and looks like Kubrick with a bombastic plot you can’t get your head around. Cuckoo is the most fun I’ve had at the movies this year, and the worst part is I can’t reveal too much about how mind-blowing it is.
Cuckoo held its Montreal Premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 30. For additional information, see the film’s page on the Fantasia website. Cuckoo expands to theaters nationwide on August 9. The filmmakers have also created faux pages on LinkedIn for Dan Stevens’ Herr König and the Resort Alpschatten.
CUCKOO – Official Trailer
Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma.
