This review is part of Honi Soit’s continued coverage of the 71st Sydney Film Festival, 5-16 June. Read the rest of our reviews here.
Tilman Singer’s film Cuckoo (2024) is a horror film that somehow combines aspects of Frankenstein, Midsommar (2019), and Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) without being boring or cheesy.
The film starts strong as we witness a vague shadow of a woman seen having a breakdown followed by a creepy pan of a house, surrounded by loud conversations. Having gone into this film blind knowing nothing except the title and the cast list, notably the lead Hunter Schafer, I should have assumed based on the title that birds would have some appearance in the film. As someone with an immense fear of birds, I signed myself up for a shocking treat.
We move from the woman running off into dark bushes into an eerie and weird Midsommar-esque setting, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) a 17-year-old butterfly knife-wielding American girl, whose mother has just passed away, goes to live with her father, Luis (Marton Csokas), his newest wife Beth (Jessica Henwick), and their daughter, Alma (Mila Lieu), who is “annoyingly” mute as Gretchen puts it.
Yet something is not quite right about the little Bavarian Alp resort town they end up in. Gretchen’s father and his ‘other’ family are frequent visitors of this little resort, having spent their honeymoon there. They are also close with the eccentric resort owner Herr König (Dan Stevens) who has an intense affinity for the cuckoo bird. He has a few odd scenes with a flute, with one reference to the Pied Piper being completely unmissable and incredibly creepy. Despite his seemingly ‘good guy’ exterior, it remains impossible not to feel unnerved by him.
The audience is immediately hit with intense scenes occurring in succession after the family’s arrival and König’s actions and mannerisms which seem normal to the people of the resort are undeniably weird to any outsider.
The odd disturbances continue to happen, and of course, instead of Gretchen’s family being supportive, they neglect her. Luis, her father, is easily the worst character in the film, who despite the blatant evidence that his daughter is being attacked, brushes it off as hysteria.
Despite Gretchen’s original aversion to her sister, she refers to Alma as ‘her father’s daughter’ and their relationship grows stronger amidst the midst of the chaos. Both of them come to learn that perhaps the only people they can trust are each other, and Singer uses this bond to boost Gretchen’s character development and deconstruct the previously established ‘unsupportive family’.
Characteristic of any Hunter Schafer movie, Cuckoo includes a lesbian relationship but only as an incredibly minor subplot. Nevertheless, it is an important addition because who doesn’t want to see Hunter Schafer flirting with a woman?
Without spoiling the main plot twist — everyone should watch Cuckoo experience it for themselves — but it is clear from the beginning that König knows more than he’s letting on. From the creepy shoulder touches he gives Gretchen, to his strange attitude about Gretchen working the night shift, the film takes many unpredictable twists and turns.
Stilger’s hints about the big plot twist are scattered around the film like carefully placed breadcrumbs, and if you know what to look for, you will be able to form an idea of what may come next. For a horror film, this is much welcome without compromising the sanctity of the genre and its stereotypes like the protagonist as the black sheep of the family, or the creepy German scientist as embodied by König, in a manner that is entertaining and still fresh.
Hunter Schafer gives an amazing performance throughout, avoiding the fatal flaws of ignorance and naivety, typically prescribed to her character’s archetype. Schafer’s protagonist lacks the terrible choices most horror protagonists fall into the patterns of, and her questionable choices are ultimately caused by humanity, not stupidity.
All-in-all, I felt like I was going through every stage of grief while watching the film. Despite being someone who doesn’t usually like horror films, I was invested, clutching my seat, covering my eyes, and resisting the urge to yell at characters.
With a pretty open-ended finale, Stilgar wraps the film together with the reminder that sometimes lesbianism and your sister are the only things that can save you in a creepy German town.
