REVIEW: ‘Cuckoo’ Is An Absolute Thrill

NEON is absolutely killing it this year when it comes to genre films, pun intended. After an electric showing for the Osgood Perkins-directed LONGLEGS, Cuckoo is following the artistic horror-thriller and showcasing how vast horror can be, even from the same distributor. Directed and written by Tilman Singer, Cuckoo was the one film I missed at SXSW that I have thought about endlessly.

Cuckoo is a mind-bending horror film that clearly and interestingly brings together creature features, sci-fi, and folklore for a story that thrives because of its protagonist. Played by Euphoria-alum Hunter Schafer, Gretchen is a teenager on the cusp of adulthood. She’s pulled away from her divorced mother’s home and forced to stay with her father, Luis (Marton Csokas), and his new family in the Bavarian Alps.

Saying that she’s annoyed by it all is an understatement. With her stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick), who looks her age, and her half-sister Alma, taking her father’s focus, there isn’t much left for Gretchen to do other than just try to entertain herself. That includes working for Herr König (Dan Stevens) when he offers her a job at his hotel, which is the same one that her parents are renovating.

But what kind of hotel doesn’t have someone working the front desk after ten o’clock? As nighttime falls on the resort, Gretchen begins to see increasingly weirder things happening to the women around her. But when she begins to suffer more and more violent attacks from a screeching woman, her instincts start to scream just as loud. But no one else seems to see what Gretchen sees or sense any danger despite the extremely weird situation, and that all leaves her feeling a little cuckoo.

Hunter Schafer has a long horror career if she wants it. Her confusion, vulnerability, and absolute determination to survive are captivating from start to finish. Schafer’s Gretchen is a portrait of growing up, feeling alone, and the isolation that happens when your parents remarry and build a new family around you.

Throughout Cuckoo, Gretchen is used to highlight the ways men will increasingly bait and then gaslight you into believing that you are crazy to keep their power. Gretchen’s loneliness while surrounded by family hurts at times, but as her resentment builds, she has an unlikable edge that makes her a complex heroine. Her awkwardness is as endearing as it is frustrating to see everyone around her gaslight her into believing that she’s crazy. The depth of Schafer’s performance expands as each act progresses, and she uncovers more about the mystery in the mountains.

The practical effects work is also something to behold. While there isn’t anything that screams spectacle, there are enough unsettling moments that are accentuated by the close-up of the blood pumping under the skin of the throat and the use of shadow that makes it all hit. But that effect work means nothing if the actors don’t sell it, and man, in Cuckoo, they do.

While I’ve already highlighted Schafer’s performance, Dan Stevens continues to be a leading horror man. As Herr König, Stevens’ stillness is eerie. His psychotic apathy that masquerades as scientific curiosity is the perfect match for Schafer’s emotive performance. Steven’s ability to enter a scene with so much control while doing something absolutely horrible makes him a stoic force in the film that pushes it so much farther.  Add in the chaotic forces around him, and his temperament stands out even more.

The largest element of the film that needs to be talked about is the hard third-act swerve, but if I did, I’d rob you of one of the best “oh sh * t” moments I’ve watched in a horror film. With a little bit of chaos and a whole lot of raw energy, Schafer’s Gretchen is an excellent final girl and a character you can identify with at the same time.

Cuckoo is a testament to doing a lot with a little and the enduring power of the uncanny valley. Dan Stevens and Hunter Schafer make a powerhouse team, and the film’s mythology makes a story entirely engrossing, just over the right edge of weird.

Cuckoo screened as a part of the Fantasia Film Festival and is playing in theaters nationwide on August 9, 2024.