Cuckoo ★★

Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is in a difficult place in her life. Her mother has recently died, and she is now stuck living with her father Luis (Marton Csokas), step-mother Beth (Jessica Henwick), and half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu). Luis and Beth were recently hired by resort operator Herr König (Dan Stevens) to help him build a new hotel in the Bavarian Alps. Invited to his current property – where Luis and Beth previously spent their honeymoon – the family hopes to start anew, but Gretchen only wants to be back home with her mother in the United States. When Herr König offers Gretchen a job working reception at the resort, she jumps at the opportunity, as it offers her not only something to do but a chance to get away from home. However, when strange occurrences start to happen at the resort, Gretchen ends up in grave peril.

Director Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo never hides from the viewer that something is amiss. Its very first scene shows a strange occurrence at the resort even before Gretchen’s family arrives. By the time they do, visual similarities to The Shining send a clear message about the danger awaiting them. Built with the style and structure of classic giallo films with clear influence from Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, Cuckoo surrounds Gretchen with danger and conspiracy. Every corner of the resort seems to pose a threat. In the distance, strange sounds can be heard from the woods. Even a simple bike ride home at night finds her fighting for her life with the threats shown, at first, in a long tracking shot before Singer and DP Paul Faltz turn to startling POV shots and the use of shadows to drive up the suspense. Cuckoo excels in ambiguity, leaving its threats in the distance with just brief glimpses of what is going on. Extreme close-ups on a pulsating throat, disorienting time loops, and terrifying sound design further set a menacing tone that has the audience searching for answers.

Those answers are where Cuckoo falters. While working at the resort, a police officer named Henry (Jan Bluthardt) tries to question Gretchen. She had just suffered an attack from a strange woman and Henry is the only one who both believes her and has seen the woman himself. As she will soon learn, he is a disgraced former detective who is, after suffering a great tragedy at the resort, immersed himself in trying to uncover what is happening. Henry begins the process of revealing to Gretchen and the audience what is happening, which brings them into direct contact with Herr König and his fellow conspirators who are more than happy to narrate, elaborate, and provide awkwardly candid explanations on recordings, to one another, and to Gretchen and Henry. Some of the dialogue devolves into straight exposition, while the answers they do provide only seem to elicit even more questions for the viewer, ones that even the film itself seems to lack any insight about. Demystifying itself, ultimately, costs the film its ambiguity and suspense, while only delivering further confusion. Cuckoo’s outlandish explanations never scare, culminating in a tired final act that tries to play on the horror of its premise, but with lackluster creature design (great eye effects, but everything else lacks imagination), conventional attempts to thrill, and obvious attempts to shock.

For as grand and elaborate as the conspiracy can seem at first, the truth is far shallower. It begins to feel like it is all premise with no ideas on where to go beyond its starting point. Singer lacks the narrative nerve of an Argento or Fulci to go fully insane as whereas those directors may have this resort sitting on the gateway to Hell, Singer holds back. Its most grotesque scenes are interrupted and its chilling intentions are left unfulfilled, instead relying on scaring the audience through what could occur and what happened before the film than in what does occur. It has a nasty The Island of Dr. Moreau-esque story, but it lacks enough fun, thrills, and thematic depth to come together as a satisfactory experience.

Cuckoo does find success elsewhere, especially in the relationship between Gretchen and Alma. While, early on, Gretchen refuses to acknowledge Alma has even her half-sister, the film’s climax coming together as it does hinges upon the two girls finding that mutual trust and affection. In the vein of Argento, Cuckoo builds its mystery and characters upon trauma with Gretchen tasked with confronting her grief over her mother. Throughout the film, she takes much of her anger out on the one person who shows her unconditional kindness and affection. Her growth into accepting her and fighting for her amidst so many threats drives the emotional suspense of the film’s climax. Schafer carries most of the film, showcasing considerable range. Her expressive face is a great asset in close-up, while she nails the feeling of how teenage angst can be a mask to hide the emotional and fragile person inside. Alone, she sheds this, but around others, she tries to remain a veneer of indifference and exasperation that is only tested when confronted with the evil around this resort. It is a great performance that helps Cuckoo to stay afloat.

Dan Stevens frequently steals scenes as Herr König, the disarmingly charming yet eccentric and unnerving figure at the center of this resort’s operations. His ability to be so casually evil and cunning with a smile is unnerving with Stevens truly embodying this character. He has always been great as these duplicitous figures, especially in The Guest, with this film allowing him to be a bit more theatrical. He epitomizes the film’s more cheesy and B-movie excitement, leaning into every oddity of this man and managing to even make playing a flute into a terrifying ordeal.

Cuckoo strikes an interesting and thrilling mood early on, but lacks follow-through and commitment to its own insanity while also failing to dive into the world it creates with any great clarity. It is this emptiness and confusion that makes it frustrating, as the film spends considerable time trying to explain itself but its elaborations wind up costing it its mystique and causing more confusion. Strong work from its cast, great sound design, and impressive cinematography help to tie it together, but Cuckoo ultimately fizzles out.