Movie Review: "Cuckoo" Is Crazy Fun
9/12 ForReel Score | 3.5/5 Stars
In the wake of titanic marketing runs like that of NEON’s campaign for Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs or A24’s for Everything Everywhere All At Once, it's easy for smaller films with less hype to slip through the cracks as if they never released at all. Given the recent success of Longlegs, I fear that NEON’s other summer horror feature, Cuckoo, might fly under the radar. It's especially scathing to have a suspicion like this when a film like Cuckoo is so damn fun. If my worries are misguided, then sophomore director Tilman Singer has a certified banger on his hands to cap off the summer.
Hunter Schafer in CUCKOO, Photo Courtesy of NEON
Cuckoo follows Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) as she joins her divorced dad (Martin Csokas), his new family, and a family friend (Dan Stevens) to a villa compound in the German Alps. The setup almost sounds like the premise of an Adam Sandler comedy, but Cuckoo takes several twists and turns into horror that I still struggle to wrap my head around. Jam-packed with wonderfully foreboding cinematography, incredible sound design, and a mind-bending plotline that culminates in a truly electric finale, Cuckoo is certainly one of the most flat-out fun movies of the year.
It's a rip-roaring genre piece that I, quite frankly, struggle to properly liken to any other film. The closest comparison I can make to Cuckoo is David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, but even that feels like a stretch. It’s such a singular film that every decision, regardless of how much I think works, still feels interesting and engaging. It’s so creatively rich that one can’t help but feel dazzled by it. There’s such an alluringly bizarre quality to it, where something is clearly off-kilter but you can’t really word it. Outside of a trailer that I felt showed too much, Singer is playing his cards very close to his chest. As the intrigue unravels into Cuckoo’s true nature, everything becomes much clearer, yet even more fascinating.
Dan Stevens in CUCKOO, Courtesy of NEON.
Singer’s wide frames and occasional directorial embellishments add so much to an already exciting viewing experience. Without giving away any plot elements, the horror aspect of the film has a very specific visual motif, plus Singer incorporates a split-diopter shot that had me going bananas. Singer is so confident in his filmmaking that it almost comes across as intimidating. It’s shot beautifully, which is hard to screw up when you’re shooting a horror movie in the Alps. It honestly breaks my heart that I’m not in one of the few cities that are screening Cuckoo on 35mm film, because I know those prints must look absolutely immaculate.
Breaking out of the shackles of HBO’s Euphoria, Hunter Schafer finally has her time to shine in the leading role, which she totally chews up. While I will say that she isn’t the most believable 17-year-old (weird choice but whatever), she makes the most of this role and goes all-out on one of the most badass scream-queen roles in recent memory. Equipped with a butterfly knife and a boatload of familial strain, Hunter Schafer jumps from Terminator Sarah Connor to Terminator 2 Sarah Connor within 90 minutes. She gets put through the wringer throughout, becoming more and more disheveled as this gonzo situation keeps trucking along.
On the topic of performances, it’s so awesome to see Dan Stevens (in his third big-screen performance of the year) as Mr. Kønig, the manager of the villa compound. His Crocodile Dundee doctor routine in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was one of the most memorable parts of the whole film and his villainous turn as Frank in Abigail was a career highlight, but he is such a delightful little freak in this film that he can’t help but steal the show whenever he’s onscreen. He’s playing a maliciously calculated role like that of B.D. Wong in Jurassic Park, and he’s truly excellent at being the most suspicious person in the room. When Singer finally lays his cards out on the table, Stevens cranks the intensity up to 11, which is incredibly entertaining to watch. I’ve come to really appreciate him over the last few months, and I hope he can maintain this track record of scene-stealing performances.
Hunter Schafer in CUCKOO, Photo Courtesy of NEON.
Despite my raving praise for the overall absurdity and aesthetic of Cuckoo, I feel like I have to mention a complaint that sticks out like a sore thumb. The core horror aspect is so strong, yet I feel annoyed that Singer opted for another grief/family trauma plotline that I am growing so tired of in horror movies. I’m starting to feel like a broken record here, as I keep having this complaint with contemporary horror. While that specific plotline does resolve satisfyingly, it’s disappointing to see such a unique film fall into the same genre trappings that are rapidly becoming trite cop-outs for characterization. Some horror movies can skirt this cliché by actually doing something with the grief outside of a surface-level exploration, but, unfortunately, Cuckoo is not one of them.
Outside of a plotline that I’m quite exhausted of seeing in horror, Cuckoo proves its worth as an exceptionally idiosyncratic star vehicle for Hunter Schafer, and is sure to pick up a dedicated following in the coming months. While I don’t see it breaking through into the mainstream, Cuckoo at least cements its spot on the DVD shelves of dedicated horror fans.