Cuckoo

Film: Cuckoo

Year: 2024

Director: Tilman Singer

Writer: Tilman Siger

Starring: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens and Jessica Henwick

Review:

This was a film that caught my attention when it was on the lists of 2024 watches to see. I believe that I originally heard about it at the end of last year or the beginning of this one. Trailers were being shown before movies I see at the Gateway Film Center. Since I don't watch them, I would just take peeks to make sure I knew the name. The sound design for it was great though. Another perk was that my wife, Jaime, watched the trailer and gave it a 'nope' for her to come with me, which is a good sign. I did see it at the theater as well.

Synopsis: a 17-year-old girl is forced to move with her family to a resort where things are not as they seem.

We start this movie off with a young woman hearing people argue downstairs. I took that this is supposed to be her parents. She slips out of the house and runs away. It then shifts over to a car and a moving truck following it. In the car is Beth (Jessica Henwick), her husband Luis (Marton Csokas) and daughter named Alma (Mila Lieu). Luis has another daughter, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), who is riding with the movers. This is a blended family where Luis was divorced and something happened to his ex-wife, so Gretchen is moving with them as the synopsis said. She's not happy about any of this.

They arrive at this resort. It is here that we meet Mr. König (Dan Stevens). He runs this place and he's invited Beth and Luis since they're helping to expand out. They're the architects. Mr. König wants them to live close to help oversee the project. Things do look up for Gretchen when she's offered a job at the front desk.

She is shown the ropes by Trixie (Greta Fernández). Trixie is seeing one of the police officers who patrols the area. Mr. König also informs Gretchen that they close the desk at 10 PM. He will pick her up to take her home each night, even though Gretchen has a bicycle. He drives home to the point that it isn't safe to be out with how dark it is here at night.

Things take a turn when a young woman comes into the reception area while Gretchen is working alone. Trixie left when she shouldn't. This strange woman throws up and then leaves. Gretchen takes a call from Mr. König and he's upset. He tells her to wait for him, but she leaves on her bike. She ends up getting chased by a woman in a hood, played by Kalin Morrow. Gretchen seeks safety at a local hospital and hits her head. This incident gets a detective to see her at work the next day, wanting her help. Something happened to his wife and he think that she could help him solve it. Gretchen is freaked out and refuses, which is until something even more terrifying happens when she tries to leave.

I should also include here that Alma has issues of her own. This hurts her older half-sister when the parents only seem to care about what she is going through. People are manipulated and there are other strange people living in the area. There is also this odd sound that is affecting people and disorienting those that are close by.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start would be that coming in, I wondered if the concept of the cuckoo bird would play in here. For those that don't know, this is a bird that lays its egg in the nest of others so it would raise the baby as one of its own. It tends to be larger and kill off the other babies, usually by pushing them out of the nest. It is a horrific concept. I just wanted to include this here.

Now that I have, let me delve into what we get here. I will avoid spoilers as I don't know if there is anything deeper that I'd get to go into there. I'll start with Gretchen since she is who we are following. Life is hard for her currently. I feel horrible since she doesn't seem to know that her mother passed away. She could also be in denial there. Her drive is to get back to her home in the United States as soon as possible. Luis doesn't seem as interested in her, but I also think part of this is we see things from her point of view. Alma needs more attention since she has a condition where she cannot talk. Gretchen is also at that age where she is going out on her own and is more independent. Schafer was great here and her character goes through the wringer. Credit to her performance.

I then want to shift over to the setting. Putting this out in the middle of nowhere near the German Alps is good. It gets dark out here since there isn't a town. This resort seems to have the basic things like a police station and a hospital. That isolation is creepy. It doesn't help that we have Mr. König, who is odd. Stevens is great here. He's an actor that is raising up my list since he is good looking, but also plays quirky characters. I've not seen a bad performance yet. I'll also say that his character knows what is going on here, but he gives only what is needed and that helps with the atmosphere.

There's another aspect here with this detective that wants to help Gretchen. We don't know who to trust. Mr. König does seem to want to help this teen. The same for Henry (Jan Bluthardt). She barely knows any of them so there is that. Luis and Beth also want her to be nicer to Alma. Since she feels that her family is broken, I understand her hating Beth and Alma. Luis also gets that because he 'chose' them in her eyes. There is good heart there though as Gretchen and Alma need to rely on each other. I loved that as it gives this heart.

The last thing here is something that I want to tread lightly. The atmosphere grows when the family arrives. Alma notices something in the woods. There is an incident with her and Gretchen in the latter girl's room. There's then this hooded woman. I dug the reveal there. If anything, I wanted to know more about this. Where this goes in the end does lose me a bit. I didn't love that. I'll also say that it doesn't ruin it. The reveal is creepy and I dug that.

I think then I'll discuss the rest of the filmmaking. I've already credited the atmosphere. The setting, cinematography and framing help there. It is fitting that our writer/director also made a film called Luz. There were shots later in this movie that reminded me of that. These two could also be in the same universe where there could be supernatural things happening or maybe a more logical explanation. I appreciate that. There are great shots here and what they do with showing us how characters react to this eerie sound was good. I do love how that plays in. The sound design is great there. The soundtrack also works. I'll end this out by saying that the effects we got were good. I'm assuming there was CGI used, I cannot confirm that. Regardless, it worked seamless with what they needed and I like what they did.

All that is left then is acting. I've already given credit to Schafer and Stevens. I thought that Henwick was good as the stepmother. We can see she's not thrilled about Gretchen coming with them. She picks up on that. Csokas was good as this father who is torn with his blended family. Lieu was good in her role. I like how Bluthardt complicates things. Other than that, Fernández and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

In conclusion, I liked what this was doing. The premise is an interesting one. The atmosphere they built to bring it to life helps works. I'll credit the setting, cinematography, effects and sound design. The acting was good as well with Schafer leading the way. I wanted more Stevens, but that is just a personal thing. The rest of the cast were good at pushing Gretchen to where things end up. I will admit that I didn't love the third act. It doesn’t ruin the film overall. I just would have preferred something a bit different. Regardless, I dug this one and want to give it a rewatch before making my end of year list.

My Rating: 8.5 out of 10