David Cronenberg is considered the Father of the Body Horror genre in film since 1975’s Shivers. Now in 2024 Writer/Director Tilman Singer continues to carry the mantle with his second full feature, the German/US co-produced Cuckoo.
Released in theaters on August 9th through NEON, On Digital September 17th, before becoming available on Blu-Ray/DVD October 22nd, Cuckoo has a ton of buzz, starring Hunter Schafer of Euphoria fame, Jan Bluthardt (Luz 2018), and Marton Csokas (xXx 2002, The Equalizer 2014). That in mind, the story follows a teenager (Schafer) who moves to the German Alps to live with her father (Csokas) but becomes disturbed by strange occurrences as her father’s boss (Stevens) embroils her family in a sinister plot.
Sounds like another Horror film synopsis, right? Girl gets uprooted from her life, check. Family involved in some nefarious scheme, check. The mastermind pulling everybody’s strings, check. You could say – “This has been done, and is boring.” However, what sets Cuckoo apart is this definition – “Cuckoo birds practice brood parasitism”; a phenomenon where Cuckoos drop their eggs into the nests of other species to be raised by a different family of birds who think the offspring belongs to them. Let that sink in for a moment…
We open with an unknown teen’s (Matthea Lára Pedersen) mom’s seemingly murdered in shadow when she flees into the night amid unseen screeching. Then, we jump some time where Gretchen and her dad have moved to the German Alps to start over. It is there Gretchen takes a hotel front desk job at her dad’s behest to try to help her get used to her new home. Although, she notices the female lodgers inexplicably vomiting; her non-verbal half-sister, Alma (Mila Lieu: Sea of Love series, Dodger series) besieged with seizures. Beyond this, a hooded woman (Kalin Morrow: 2 Broke Girls series, Idealogies 2015) shows up inexplicably chasing Gretchen for what reason, she doesn’t have the slightest, but she is always screeching…oh, and the police are no help.
Full disclosure, you have to try and give indie films the benefit of the doubt; because, well, they are indie, they try to think outside the box, away from Hollywood tried and true tropes. Given that, some fly high, and some just don’t. Cuckoo is fun and holds its own. The palette set up by Cinematographer Paul Faltz subverts the trope many foreign films do with the doom and gloom palette that screams, “I’m a horror movie!” That said, Cuckoo is light whether inside or out, with mostly simple set pieces… which belies the content.
Which leads you to the plot. It has been heard Cuckoo’s muddled; meaning it doesn’t know what genre it wants to be from start to finish, but Horror has many facets. Nowadays, it is just Slashers; the best kills, gore, gore, and more just for the sake of gore. There are also Psychological Horror (which forces you to think as opposed to vegging), the classic jump scare, and Situational Horror among others.
With Cuckoo being Body Horror it is intrinsically understood there is going to be gore of some kind. In this instance, the Body Horror is from the reaction that comes from the screeching by the vocal cords… which can be ingeniously seen vibrating. However, there is also the aforementioned psychological element with Gretchen’s all-encompassing grief coupled with piecing the puzzle together to get to the bottom of things.
This is not Cuckoo getting mixed up, losing its direction, or jumping the shark. Again, it’s nothing new though. Case and point – 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, considered a classic, blended Horror facets like psychological elements. Looking at this for a moment, Wes Craven’s film had teenagers dying in their dreams inexplicably. They had to find out who the person was in their dream, why he wanted them, and of course there was the gore element. These elements can be applied to Cuckoo as well; with the hooded lady and following the breadcrumbs back to where she began. There is also a Groundhog’s Day time loop at play that may or may not have to do with the hooded lady. Something interesting, the most captivating, and this might be diluting the movie to some, is Gretchen’s and Alma’s relationship.
The chemistry between Schafer and the cute as a button Lieu is magical; even when they are at odds in the beginning with Gretchen wrapped up in her grief and falling out when Alma believes Gretchen betrayed her. Since Alma’s non-vocal she had to learn ASL (American Sign Language); which Schafer knew previously from friends, so they bonded by learning and practicing. This also translated onscreen like they were actual steps.
Rounding out the rest of the cast you have Dan Stevens as Herr König (the new hotel manager), Jessica Henwick as Beth (the stepmother), Jan Bluthardt as Henry (the detective investigating the murder and the other goings-on), Greta Fernández as Trixie (Gretchen’s co-worker), Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Ed (a guest Gretchen befriends, who helps her piece things together…and, could be a love interest), and Proschat Madani as Dr. Bonomo (the quack doing the cuckoo experiments). An admirable group of accomplished/award-winning actors and actresses, again, have seen these characters before… just portrayed by different people.
Aside from some character tropes, Cuckoo’s a layered movie that melds the real world, but dips into time loops. In truth, it needs to be viewed a couple times to absorb and appreciate all that it is conveying, thus Cryptic Rock gives Cuckoo 4 out of 5 stars.
){kind=link}
No comment