“Cuckoo” (2024) Review

Sometimes, the right atmosphere can work wonders for a horror idea that can’t quite take flight. That is very much the case with Cuckoo, a film that succeeds at being more interesting than its creature-feature angle of human-bird hybrids. There’s a mystery present for dissecting this weirdness, and the creepiness of that investigation makes the picture more compelling than the big reveal of the bird people or the tragic backstories behind it all.

Discovering all this odd terror is the young girl Gretchen (Hunter Schafer). She’s endured the loss of her mother and now has to deal with her father (Marton Csokas) remarrying and moving them to the German Alps. They take residence at a new hotel managed by the weirdly eccentric Herr König (Dan Stevens), setting off Gretchen’s creep meters early. Furthering König’s creepiness is the unorthodox way he runs his hotel. When Gretchen agrees to work the desk, König forbids her to work late at night. She soon learns why as a mysterious hooded woman attacks her and finds herself hearing strange sounds in the woods.

Another key to this puzzle is Gretchen’s half-sister Alma, who experiences regular seizures and can apparently distort small bursts of time with her screams. Gretchen continues to investigate the strangeness of her new German home but doesn’t find much help. The police write off her many encounters as pranks, Grechen’s father is highly dismissive, and even the helpful detective Henry (Jan Bluthardt) can only do so much. It’s up to Gretchen to learn the truth, save her sister, and do it all while leaving a few bones unbroken.

The creature concept is a little interesting, as it involves the idea of a new species of people who function with brood parasitism. The idea of a mad scientist trying to preserve these people who can distort humans’ perceptions is intriguing, but thankfully, it is never divulged in too much detail. The motivations are simple enough that there’s a motif of control, and it’s more compelling to watch Gretchen strike against it. Special credit must be given for Hunter Schafer’s performance, which never makes her quest easy. Although her somber voicemails to her dead mother are decent pathos, watching her get bloodied and battered as she strikes back against gun-toting madmen and shrieking monsters becomes a highlight of the film.

Cuckoo has enough grit to carry through with its somewhat bizarre horror concept. The mad scientist plot is not thematically compelling, and Gretchen’s attempt to connect with her sister through her mother’s voicemails never hits the heart. But director Tilman Singer has the perfect atmosphere of the creepy and weird to watch with wonder at one girl’s wild trip through a messed-up German trip, using the concept of cuckoo people with remarkable restraint. If nothing else, the film proves that Hunter Schafer has the makings of a horror star worth watching.