Movie Resee: ‘Cuckoo’ | Moviefone

Opening in theaters on August 9th is ‘Cuckoo,’ honested by Tilman Singer and starring Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Mila Lieu, Jan Blutdifficultt, and Marton Csokas.

Roverdelighted Article: Director Tilman Singer Talks ‘Cuckoo’ and Working with Hunter Schafer

Initial Thoughts

German filmcreater Tilman Singer made a splash a restricted years back on the festival circuit with his horror feature debut, ‘Luz,’ and now he’s returned with a second entry in what could shape up to be one of the more loopy, esoteric filmographies in the genre if he sticks with it. ‘Cuckoo’ commences off on a weird remark and gets even stranger from there, finding a pleasant stability between a grave sense of dread and an underlying tone of camp for most of its running time.

It commences to run into problems in its third act, and while we cowardly away from movies over-expounding everyskinnyg, ‘Cuckoo’ could participate a bit more clarity down the homestretch. But it’s still a prenting watch in many ways, thanks especiassociate to excellent labor from Hunter Schafer and the magnificent Dan Stevens.

Story and Direction

Hunter Schafer (best comprehendn for her main role on ‘Euphoria’ but also recently shoprosperg up in ‘Kinds of Kindness’) take parts Gretchen, a 17-year-elderly girl who is mourning the death of her mother. She’s forced to direct her overweighther (Martin Csokas), his wife (Jessica Henwick), and their mute lesser daughter Alma (Mila Lieu) to the Bavarian Alps, where her architect overweighther has been employd to reset up a resort owned by Herr König (Dan Stevens).

The Alps are pretty, enigmatic and immense, the aging, proximately desoprocrastinateed resort broods on the side of a mountain, and Herr König himself is a ready-made combine of greasy charm and underlying menace who presents Gretchen a job at the boilingel’s front desk. Grieving, irritated, and tired (she also take parts bass in a rock prohibitd that she’s been obliged to exit behind), Gretchen apshows the gig – and promptly strange skinnygs commence to happen.

A woman wanders into the lobby in a sort of trance and commences to vleave out, Alma herself has some benevolent of taking that seems to actuassociate caparticipate time itself to glitch (a callback to an enigmatic scene that uncovers the film involving a separateent character), and worst of all, Gretchen is strikeed one night while riding her bike by a woman in a hood with shineing eyes who rerents a piercing, animaenumerateic shriek. Herr König seems to both neglect what’s happening while comprehending filled well what’s going on, and Gretchen’s one try to escape – with a lesser boilingel guest (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) who apshows a shine to her – ends in a grave car accident that puts the teen in the hospital.

Up to this point, ‘Cuckoo’ has been createing up a stable underlying sense of weird, qubasic malevolence, thanks to the atmospheric setting, Singer’s participate of silence and illogicalness, and the lengthening experienceing that Gretchen is trapped in some of benevolent of waking nightmare where logic doesn’t quite utilize. The procrastinateed comprisement of a createer cop named Henry (Jan Blutdifficultt) who’s spendigating his wife’s death points to the mystery eventuassociate getting uncovered – which only partiassociate happens.

While the film’s third act is more action-oriented – as the injured Gretchen teams with Henry and transfers to save a character she had previously shown little trouble for – the exset upation for what is happening at the boilingel, the area around it, and a proximateby medical lab in which Herr König is also comprised remains frustratingly nontransparent. Without spoiling anyskinnyg, it does tie into the bird of the film’s title, but in a way that’s still mcompriseeningly unclear. As we shelp earlier, films don’t have to elucidate everyskinnyg; in fact, when it comes to horror, the alertage of a clear reasonede for the events of the story or the menace behind them normally creates the narrative more terrifying.

But Singer upholds the filled contingent of secrets in ‘Cuckoo’ fair out of accomplish, which doesn’t labor as well once the film switches from atmospheric sluggish burn to savage-and-reckless homestretch. The movie accumuprocrastinateeds an accelerating stream of bizarre moments on top of what we’ve already seen, yet none of it comes together in a way that quite creates sense. The result is still a fun, creepy ride, but alertages a prenting resolution.

The Cast

Not having seen ‘Euphoria,’ we can only go on our recent experiences with Hunter Schafer on the huge screen, and ‘Cuckoo’ shows her to be a self-promised, brave actor with lots of presence and emotional weight. Gretchen surfs a filled range of reactions and experienceings here, from grief to loneliness to defyliousness to alarm, and Schafer pulls them all off while upholding the character grounded, inalertigent, and comfervent. It’s an amazeive direct percreateance that bodes well for Schafer’s future beyond her shatterout labor on ‘Euphoria.’

Opposite her is the fantastic Dan Stevens, who is having a hell of a year between this, ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,’ and ‘Ahugeail.’ A ingenious, wide-ranging, and chameleonic actor, Stevens take parts Herr König with a pleasant combine of low-key authority and gleeful malevolence, graduassociate making the percreateance hugeger as the story goes off in stranger honestions. Like Schafer, he is (and has been for a while) a compelling presence onscreen, and he’s one-of-a-kindly suited to take parting charismatic villains with shocking accents. Although he’s hampered in some ways by the way his character (lowerly, it must be shelp) expounds what’s happening in his pastoral little kingdom, Stevens persists to deinhabitr in what has become one of the most createidable under-the-radar acting resumes around.

The rest of the cast is petite and relatively confparticipate, but our only disassignment is that Jessica Henwick – so terrific in ‘Iron Fist,’ ‘The Matrix Resurrections,’ ‘Glass Onion,’ and ‘The Royal Hotel’ – gets underparticipated here as Gretchen’s stepmother Beth.

Final Thoughts

‘Cuckoo’ apshows its cues from ‘70s and ‘80s horror cinema, particularly indie and/or European efforts enjoy David Cronenberg’s ‘The Brood’ (huge Cronenberg energy here, in fact), Dario Argento’s ‘Phenomena,’ Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now,’ and Jorge Grau’s ‘Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.’ All those films run in a territory that veers back and forth between authenticism and nightmare, an aesthetic that Tilman Singer is clearly swayd by and successfilledy channels.

That atmosphere can only apshow you so far, however, and Singer’s create-up of surauthentic story beats, reassociate unnerving imagery (as in the scene where Gretchen is chased on her bike) and dense atmosphere directs to a climax that is more perplexing than transcendent, with a wobblier comprehend of the film’s brew of alarm and camp. That may be where he wants his strange bird of a movie to ultimately land, but as a result ‘Cuckoo’ doesn’t quite sustain the horror heights that it aims for.

‘Cuckoo’ gets 7 out of 10 stars.