Published 12/20/2024
Rating : 7/10 Recommended
When I aw the trailer for Cuckoo I was intrigued. Neon, the film studio, has been putting out a wonderful slate offbeat horror films (Infinity Pool anyone?) but I passed on its theatrical release. Now streaming on Hulu I quickly fired it up. Cuckoo is an enjoyable ride if you’re looking for a mix of unsettling thrills and a playfully silly premise done through a campy execution. It’s definitely squarely a midnight movie versus thinking of itself as a serious horror film. The premise of Cuckoo is bizarre: the film is a body horror whose main monster is a shrieking carnivorous bird disguised in human form.
I was confused for most of the film until the antagonist lifted the veil. Even then I felt like I needed a crash course in brood parasites who lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and gave rise to the metaphor "cuckoo's egg". Nevertheless, writer and director Tilman Singer's film is brash and unforgiving, thanks to Hunter Schafer's performance as Gretchen. She conveys the full range of traits you'd expect from a troubled teen facing a new kind of trauma: anger, bitter sadness, delusion, fight or flight among others.
Gretchen is a young woman whose remarried father brings her to a remote German Alps resort, much to her consternation. After her dad’s calm and weird boss Mr. König (played by Dan Stevens) shows interest in her mute half sister, she begins to understand that something is off. The strange noises she hears at night reveal a darker secret and danger threatening her. The story goes to great lengths to maim and injure Gretchen, and by the end she's so bruised and bandaged it's a miracle she can even walk.
The transformation of the Cuckoo is presented through the eyes of Gretchen. With nothing to do except ping pong her brooding attitude throughout her family’s lavish new home, Gretchen is offered a paid job by König to work the front desk at his resort. On her first day, Gretchen learns that guests regularly vomit in the lobby (this happens a lot) and König forbids Gretchen from ever working at night. Easy to follow right? Wrong. Gretchen swaps shifts one night with her coworker Trixie ( played Greta Fernández), and discovers why König might not have wanted her riding her bike home alone in the dark.
All this adds up to a unique, fun and somewhat memorable story of good intentions executed by sinister persons. Tilman Singer left the door open for a sequel. While not needed considering how the film ends I wouldn't be put off seeing what happens to Gretchen next.
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