Cuckoo

Film company Neon is having a banner year, particularly with its theatrical horror releases. Immaculate surprised many, and the inexplicable Longlegs quickly became Neon’s most successful film ever at the domestic box office. With his sophomore feature, Cuckoo, featuring a busted-up Hunter Schafer and a flute-wielding Dan Stevens, director Tilman Singer delivers another impressive and consistently bizarre horror-thriller to make Neon three for three in 2024.

You couldn’t tell from the wacky trailer, but the basic premise of Cuckoo is relatively straightforward. Sometime following the death of her mother, Gretchen (Schafer) and her family—dad Luis (Márton Csókás), stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick), and mute stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu)—move near the Bavarian Alps in Germany to start a new life. There, they encounter the enigmatic Herr König (Stevens), a local entrepreneur and self-proclaimed preservationist. König and Gretchen’s parents go back some years, and they settle in to work on a new resort for the mysterious German.

Courtesy of Neon

Naturally, Gretchen is your stereotypical angsty teen, still grieving her mother and taking it out on her stepmother and stepsister. Eager to escape her situation and return home, Gretchen begins working at König’s resort; when women around the resort begin displaying worrying symptoms and her stepsister experiences sudden seizures, the real weirdness begins. For a significant portion of the film, some genuinely strange things occur—most prominently, a hooded woman with red eyes seemingly stalks Gretchen and other women, screeching and causing her victims to behave unusually.

The plot certainly demands some suspension of disbelief and an open mind, especially as the reality of the situation comes to light later on. And fans expecting a twisty psychological thriller should be wary. It is a unique and fascinating concept, if not a bit silly at times, but the film’s overly serious tone often fails to take advantage of that silliness. Regardless, the story comes together somewhat cohesively, and plenty of intriguing action at regular intervals drives it all forward.

Courtesy of Neon

The problem, tone notwithstanding, is that the characters are occasionally less consistent than the storytelling. Gretchen finds her stride halfway through, and Schafer performs her role admirably, but the character needs to be more dynamic to fit the core concept. That may be the point: a standard anchor point in a very peculiar situation. Still, besides admiring Gretchen’s resilience as she gets continually battered through the film, there is little to appreciate about her.

Herr König is somewhat the opposite, an excessively inscrutable, manipulative, and strange man who very clearly pulls the strings, but the “why?” is less clear, even when given. König’s motivations could benefit from a more straightforward or relatable explanation. Then, some characters get introduced and appear essential, only to fade into the background or make questionable decisions that never receive appropriate follow-ups. These are, perhaps, the consequences of such a high-concept idea paired with an artistically-minded director fitting into the shell of a movie that must, at least, present itself as digestible to a broader audience.

Courtesy of Neon

While the plot is mostly satisfying, luckily, Cuckoo has some genuinely disturbing and even downright unsettling moments to bridge the gap. Kalin Morrow as the frightening Hooded Woman is the movie’s best aspect, and one scene with Gretchen on a bicycle in the dead of night is the horrific highlight. Besides these clever and uneasy thrills, of which there are enough, the look and feel of Cuckoo is breathtaking.

The mountainside setting of the Bavarian Alps is stunning and different, something cinematographer Paul Faltz takes full advantage of, capturing both domestic pristine and natural beauty. Colorists Jonas Damm and Dirk Meier are together even more impressive, establishing a bright palette for this otherwise chaotic landscape that establishes the film’s madcap atmosphere early on and enhances nearly every scene from thereon with pops of vibrancy. That said, Cuckoo may not feature the Satanic discomfort of Longlegs, the traditional but effective scares of Oddity, or the big-budget worldbuilding of some of its other 2024 contemporaries, but it is an intriguing thrill ride that has plenty of heart and vision and deserves a chance to shine.

Cuckoo is now playing in select theaters nationwide.

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