‘Cuckoo’ Review: Tilman Singer's Nutty German-set Horror Nests a Stunning Hunter Schafer Performance
I recently got my first passport. Right away, I started jotting down a list of countries to visit when I go on a vacation in Europe. I then made the ultimate mistake of watching Tilman Singer's sophomore flick, Cuckoo, which did to the German Alps what Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness did to the Swiss Alps: cross 'em out my travel list.
Hunter Schafer as Gretchen in 'CUCKOO'. Photos Courtesy of NEON
R: Violence, bloody images, language and brief teen drug use.
Runtime: 1 Hr and 43 Minutes
Production Companies: Fiction Park, Waypoint Entertainment
Distributor: Neon
Director: Tilman Singer
Writer: Tilman Singer
Cast: Hunter Schafer, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Jessica Henwick, Dan Stevens
Release Date: August 9, 2024
After her mother passes away, 17-year-old rebel Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) moves to the German Alps with her father Luis (Marton Csokas) and his new family — stepmom Beth (Jessica Henwick) and mute stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu) — at his boss Mr. König's (Dan Stevens) hotel resort. She eventually works for König as a receptionist and instantly, Gretchen witnesses strange behavior from some of the guests and her sister. As Gretchen begins to experience recurring hallucinatory visions, particularly one involving a scary shrieking woman, she’s reluctantly wrapped up in an investigation surrounding the space.
The alpine setting and bizarre characters surrounding Gretchen help Singer create a Giallo atmosphere in Cuckoo. The tonal temperature is instantly set to cold once Stevens' thickly German-accented Mr. König introduces himself in the first few minutes. Every frame he's onscreen, he radiates rancid cartoon-villain vibes. Each rule König gives Gretchen in her receptionist job and every unusual happening in the lobby (for example, people frequently puking on the floor) only amplifies the bad ambience.
Although Cuckoo bears some similarities to other psychological giallo fare, many tonal and plot points reminded me of the aforementioned A Cure For Wellness. Singer's direction is a strong exercise in discomfort, focusing on a vacancy that sends chills down the spine and lingers long after the movie is over. As the mystery gradually gets weirder, so does his ambitious direction. Singer pulls off endlessly engrossing and intense, genre-bending set pieces and disturbing body horror imagery. And hats off to DP Paul Faltz, whose warm lighting and hypnotic camerawork during the heightened frightened scenes (Gretchen riding her bike into the night while being chased by a mysterious shrieking woman is a standout) keeps you as mesmerized as you are intrigued by the overarching mystery.
Unlike Cure For Wellness, Cuckoo's tone, fortunately, doesn't take itself too seriously. It utilizes a good dose of self-aware comedy derived from Gretchen's relatable reactions to the hotel's oddities. Singer’s script nicely balances between its maddening horror concepts and a well-executed arc regarding Gretchen facing her grief, mourning her recent late mother. The remote location of König’s hotel is bad enough, but this girl is put through the wringer by her neglectful, gaslighting father who focuses on his new family rather than her needs, amplifying the emotional isolation she feels. The groundedness of her character is enhanced by Shafer's transcendent portrayal, rendering her an empathetic final girl for you to deeply root for. You can't completely say you don't know where she's coming from if she's acting like a brat towards her young, mute half-sister. It never loses sight of the secret, while consistently remaining firmly anchored towards Gretchen.
As someone who refuses to watch Euphoria, this is my introduction to Schafer's acting talents. She's astonishing. Schafer's self-assurance propels the film, demonstrating a realistic depiction of an individual assuming their own authority while exhibiting relatable responses to the chaos. Schafer exudes a natural state of fear that elevates the dreary atmosphere every time she wields her butterfly knife, like a badass.
Her most captivating feat was consistently balancing Gretchen's rebellious teen spirit and compassion just by her facial expression. Even when her face is severely wounded, having to emote with a swollen eye — a testament to the makeup department for making all her injuries look so convincing — she sells those deep-rooted pitted emotions of loneliness so persuasively. Hunter Schafer's thrilling leading performance makes clear that she and her big blue eyes deserve to be seen only on the big screen. Never put her back on TV. Period.
For such a relatively short runtime, Cuckoo sometimes bites on more than it can chew. Towards the latter half, Singer gets lost in his own mythology during its big evil plot reveal. Despite being wildly entertaining, like watching a circus tent explode in flames, its ambitiousness eventually becomes ridiculous.
The film nicely adds more characters that strengthen the giallo vibe, specifically through Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a detective assigned to investigate the strange happenings of König. He's the only person who believes Gretchen, so the story pairs her with him. But as the film progresses, more of the attention is diverted to him and the family aspect that seemed to build up on the first half is lost on its way. It's not necessarily Gretchen's grief, but her bond with Alma, which, while admirable, isn't entirely earned in its empathetic resonance.
In a year when we have Dan Stevens operating on that Looney Tunes type character-actor camp with Godzilla x Kong and Abigail, Cuckoo has him put on a leash. He's wonderful, don't get me wrong. He completely understands the assignment, acting like a friggin' character straight out of the 80s G.I. Joe cartoon, but he constantly teeters off the brink of insanity and doesn't quite get there. If there were anywhere else for Dan Stevens to go full insane, it should've been here. It would've added much gravitas to the overall lunacy of the plot, especially towards its climax. I'd never thought I'd say, "Go full 'toon," as criticism, and yet here we are.
A great dreary atmosphere and a badass Hunter Schafer make Tillman Singer's Cuckoo a fun B-movie psychological horror with soul.
Rating: 3.5/5 | 74%
