The independent cinema production company NEON has distributed two of the year’s best horror films. One was the atmospheric take on zombie pictures, “Handling the Undead.” The other was the recently released box office hit “Longlegs.” The two found ways to stand out amidst the film references and horror subgenres they used to broaden their narratives–zombies and serial killer detective stories, respectively. Now. NEON has a third film to add to this eclectic list, Tilman Singer’s sophomore feature “Cuckoo.” Although to a lesser extent than the aforementioned two, “Cuckoo” takes its inspiration from Giallo. Yet, the film is mostly a hodgepodge of many horror subgenres and styles.
Welcome to the Bavarian Alps Resort!
Tilman Singer taps into everything he could think of and blends it into a nearly incoherent yet vastly fun cocktail mix. The majority does not make a brink of sense, and the tone is spread unevenly through the canvas. But there is a sure entertainment behind the frenzy the “Luz” director creates in each scene. “Cuckoo” begins with an odd cold open that stimulates the sense to the same degree as it makes any coherence until much later in the film. Singer immediately confuses you with his scattershot ideas, which switch your initial perception about what the film will be like. Your curiosity rises as the stochasticity slowly evolves into a labyrinth of Singer’s cinematic oddities.
The film then introduces us to our protagonist, Gretchen (played by Hunter Schafer, who was her first film role at the time of shooting). She is a seventeen-year-old girl who is angsty as she is creative, playing her bass guitar to the same degree as she hates the idea of staying at a resort in the mountains. Her father, Luis (Marton Csokas), and step-mother, Beth (Jessica Henwick), have taken Gretchen and her mute stepsister, Alma (Mila Liue), to the Bavarian Alps resort for a special occasion. But Gretchen is not in the mood to go there. She is still drowning in a pool of woe since the death of her mother.
Gretchen holds onto her mother’s memory by calling her old phone. The poor girl leaves messages on her voicemail, hoping that this is all a dream and that she will pick up one day. Add that to her isolation from this new family, which Gretchen does not feel a part of, and you have a teenager in total emotional flux. Her heartbreak lures her into treacherous territories lurking in the shadows of this retro German estate. The man who knows what evil presence roams nearby is its owner, Mr. Herr König (Dan Stevens). He is a strange man who does his best to make Gretchen feel bad.
A Fun Hodgepodge of Various Horror Subgenres
Hunter Schafer in ‘Cuckoo’ (Photo: Felix Dickinson | courtesy NEON).
Mr. König only cares that Gretchen gets home in the dark; that is his only ruling. Being the angsty, rebellious teenager that she is, Gretchen ignores him. And that is where the mysteries begin to unravel. A shrieking old woman haunts the woods and halls of the Bavarian Alps. She is the central horrific figure. But there are far more horrors in “Cuckoo” that captivate the eye, with splashes of body horror, psychological thrillers, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”-like narrative threads, and even some hallucinogenic imagery. While “Cuckoo” reveals its thematic hand too early in the story, Singer maintains the film afloat through its comedic and entertaining character dynamics.
The characters behave in odd, distanced wavelengths from one another. They bask in this detachment from reality, which helps them get into the craziness and messiness of everything. Singer does not develop these characters to their fullest extent, as he is not focused on plotting and wants to drench “Cuckoo” in style and fizzy vibes. Yet he leaves room for emotional vulnerability amidst the comedic labor. Predominantly, this focused on Hunter Schafer’s character, which the young, talented star helps to portray on screen with her two-tone portrayal of fierceness and amenability. Even though this was his first foray into the horror genre, Schafer has found herself very comfortable in it.
A Hodgepodge that Mostly Works
Dan Stevens in a scene from “Cuckoo.” (Photo: Felix Dickinson | courtesy NEON).
Meanwhile, Dan Stevens is hamming it up with ease. He has been off the leash in his last two horror roles. The German actor went full camp on the teenage vampire flick “Abigail,” chewing the scenery and getting the most out of lines like ”Sammy, those are f*cking onions!” In “Cuckoo,” he remains on the same wavelength tonally yet with a more sinister approach, although his comedic sensibility prevents him from being an evil figure.
“Cuckoo” is a messy foray into Tilman Singer’s mind and horror influences. Most of his ideas are not that well polished and arrive haphazardly. But somehow, it is all neatly put together in terms of structure, not so much narratively but tonally and atmospherically. Singer still has room to grow as a director. However, I admire his tenacity for throwing tons of genre concoctions to a wall, placing everything, each of them, into his feature, even if they do not stick.
“Cuckoo” hits theaters across the U.S. on August 9th, 2024.
