The stars of HBO’s Euphoria have been knocking it out of the park this year. Zendaya starred in Dune: Part Two and Challengers, and Sydney Sweeney starred in Immaculate — plus a re-release of her hit rom-com Anyone But You.
Now, Hunter Schafer gets a star turn after her brief role in Kinds of Kindness. Cuckoo is a new horror thriller written and directed by Tilman Singer. Schafer stars as Gretchen, a teenage girl moving to the German Alps with her father and his new family. While staying there, she begins to encounter strange events around her, customary for any scary movie.
From the beginning, Cuckoo attacks you with its imagery and sound design. The piercing nature of the film’s sound creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. The precision of it becomes clear early on, when the film manages to craft jump scares using diegetic sound. The cinematography is also particularly striking. Cinematographer Paul Faltz creates a look that sometimes feels like a product of the 80s. It’s grainy and sometimes grimy in its texture. Singer brings an artistic flair to this film that allows it to feel unique, while also paying tribute to a type of horror movie that has existed for decades.
There’s something about the writing that makes Cuckoo stand out as well. A strange, offputting tone permeates this viewing experience. The way the characters speak, behave, and react to others feels off-kilter, as if it’s not what one would expect from these people. There’s a lot of mystery during that first half surrounding what is going on and what secrets are being kept. At the forefront is the enigmatic Mr. König (Dan Stevens), a family friend who you quickly grow suspicious of. As you’d expect, something is not right and there are plenty of sinister events happening just beneath the surface.
One of the best moments happens early on during a scene that involves a bicycle. The framing is so precise about what we see and what we don’t. It uses light and darkness to slowly build up the tension, which ultimately leads to one of the best scares of the year. It’s a film that you’ll sometimes find yourself watching with your hand over your mouth. There’s also something fascinating with the editing. We see certain events play out, and then we see them happen again (in true Madame Web fashion). The editing is deliberately disorienting, and the way this works its way into the narrative is effective.
Singer manages to construct each scene in a way that feels both conventional and unconventional. It can be dark and tragic the way certain ideas play out and the sound design always puts you on edge, contributing to the strangeness you can feel while you watch. For the most part, it knows how to push its characters to darker places. It’s a twisted narrative that causes you not to trust what you see and hear. There is also a lot to interpret surrounding what happens to these characters and some pieces of visual imagery that can stick in your mind for a while.
However, there are a few shortcomings with the narrative. Cuckoo does a strong job of inserting an emotional beat here and there, particularly surrounding Gretchen’s relationship with her stepsister and her mother. However, it needed another polish to feel like it belonged in this story even more. There are a few emotional moments that deserved to feel more impactful. Also, the final act loses some of the horror steam that the first half had, shifting more into an action film. Some of the answers to the questions we’ve been asking don’t feel too satisfying or earned.
Schafer turns in phenomenal work here. She’s given great performances before, but this is her scream queen vehicle. She displays a lot of strength and fear in a character that she enhances with her performance. Stevens is also excellent in this film. He’s had an incredible 2024, having recently appeared in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Abigail. He manages to make his performances in all these movies feel completely different from each other. The rest of the supporting cast also do a great job of filling out the canvas of this piece.
Cuckoo is the type of movie with so much talent in front of and behind the camera. The screenplay works, but it does feel like it needed another draft to become as strong as it could have been. Singer’s direction is a standout in this horror movie filled with superb ideas and edge-of-your-seat thrills. There are some strong moments in this film, even if it feels like it does not add up to the sum of its parts once you reflect on it. Regardless, there is exceptional promise here from everyone involved in the making of this exquisitely crafted experience.
SCORE: 7.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7.5 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Cuckoo review.
