Cuckoo, the latest horror film from writer-director Tilman Singer, is an off the wall creep fest about fitting in and standing out. Set to release on August 9th, Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) stars as Gretchen, a misanthropic teenager living with her dad and his new family at a remote picturesque German resort. Dan Stevens (Abigail, The Guest) stars opposite Schafer as the seemingly friendly Herr König, the resort’s manager whose motives go far beyond simple hospitality.
Both performances, by Schafer and Stevens, make Cuckoo a blast to watch. Stevens does not hold back in his villainy, and Schafer’s no-nonsense Gretchen is a breath of fresh air for horror fans. At every turn, Gretchen loudly declares what the audience is feeling, pointing out the very strange events at the resort with increasing alarm. “That’s a fucking weird way to put it!” she yells at her father, when König answers her question in an admittedly weird way. Her frustration at the adults in her life, and their lack of action to protect her, makes her a very relatable heroine as the film unfolds.
Tilman does a good job of keeping the focus on the characters, even as the film spins into different subgenres. The dynamics between Gretchen, König, her father, and his young family immediately put the audience on edge using just a few simple shots. An overly familiar shoulder touch, a smile that’s just a little too wide – these set the stage for what is a genuinely unsettling movie about family and alienation. Stevens does a really good job of conveying the kind of false passivity, or fake niceness, that feels way more threatening than welcoming. Schafer also delivers a stellar performance, and though her increasingly serious injuries make her character more and more vulnerable, she never portrays Gretchen as weak or helpless.
Where Tilman struggles with plot exposition (some moments in the film’s second half could have used some finessing), he excels at stunning, detail-oriented visuals. His decision to shoot Cuckoo on 35mm film makes this a joy to watch on the big screen. The wonderfully symmetrical frames are filled with vibrant seafoam greens and pinky-orange hues, making the location feel like a sickly tropical resort stuck out of time. For most of the film, Gretchen sports a deep blue windbreaker that sets her apart from the scenery, signaling a disconnect from everyone else around her. Thanks to this particular color scheme, the bloodier moments really pop on screen.
I watched Cuckoo at Montreal’s International Fantasia Film Festival, where the movie screened on July 30th, just a few days before its wide release. The sold-out crowd enthusiastically welcomed the film, and some of the earlier moments earned collective gasps from the audience of dedicated horror fans. The movie also boasts an ear piercing sound design (another reason to see it in theaters) that had us shifting uncomfortably in our seats, and the solid musical score carried us through some of the stranger plot twists. There are several truly creepy scenes, and the tension explodes in surprising and gross ways. Cuckoo had me thinking twice before walking down a quiet street at night, and that makes me eager to watch it again.
Fantasia often screens a short film before the feature, and this night was no different. Audiences got to experience the infamous Dream Creep before settling into Cuckoo, a thirteen-minute short presented by writer-director Carlos A.F. Lopez and producer Megan Leonard. After several festival screenings (Sundance, SXSW, etc.), the short has gained a certain notoriety for delivering a truly visceral experience. It definitely set the tone for what was to come in Cuckoo, and if you have a chance to also see Dream Creep, it’s well worth your time.
Cuckoo releases in theaters August 9th.
