Cuckoo is a film unlike anything you’ve seen before. It’s a unique blend of mad scientist horror and Final Girl thriller, with a chilling twist that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Gretchen, an angsty teenager dealing with the loss of her mother, finds herself at the center of this horrifying ordeal. She’s pitted against Herr König, a ruthless “preservationist” who hides a dark secret.
Throughout most of the film, König skillfully conceals his sinister intentions from Gretchen, her father, Luis, stepmother, Beth, and half-sister, Alma. But his facade eventually crumbles, trapping Gretchen in his home and revealing the true nature of his experiments.
While held captive, Gretchen is plagued by a haunting, high-pitched sound that triggers a terrifying time loop, bringing her back to the same terrifying moment repeatedly. König reveals the source of this sound – a rare, nearly extinct humanoid species, resembling cuckoo birds, who are capable of manipulating time and reality. These creatures are responsible for Gretchen’s traumatic experiences, including a near-fatal car crash.
One of these hooded women has been stalking Gretchen and the other female residents of König’s mountain resort. She’s revealed to be the mother of a young girl who was shown fleeing her family’s guest house in the opening scene. König, using a hypnotic melody, lures the girl to Gretchen’s captivity. As the girl approaches, König returns, flaunting his power over them both, and tries to suffocate Gretchen. This horrifying scene is interrupted by Henry, a vengeful former cop whose wife was a victim of König’s experiments. He shoots König and then kills the young girl, who had been manipulated and lured to Gretchen’s side.
Gretchen and Henry race to a nearby hospital to save Alma from König and his head physician, Dr. Bonomo, who are preparing an experiment on her. As they arrive, they discover that Alma isn’t being operated on. She’s been placed in an observation chamber to facilitate her retrieval by her real mother – the hooded bird woman.
The film reveals that the hooded woman’s species relies on brood parasitism, a practice where they place their eggs in the nests of other species. Years ago, during Beth and Luis’ honeymoon at König’s resort, Beth was secretly drugged and impregnated with one of the hooded woman’s eggs. Therefore, Alma is a member of this dangerous, bird-like race.
This revelation sparks a conflict between Henry, who wants to kill Alma, and Gretchen, who wants to protect her. The fight culminates in Gretchen stabbing Henry with her butterfly knife and attempting to escape with Alma. However, Alma misinterprets Gretchen’s actions as an attack and pushes her away, giving her mother the opportunity to kill Gretchen.
In a tense showdown, Gretchen outwits the hooded woman by muffling her screams with headphones and ultimately killing her. She then finds herself caught in a standoff between König and Henry. Gretchen cleverly avoids their confrontation long enough to reach Alma and convince her to trust her again. Gretchen then shields Alma from König and Henry, who both attempt to manipulate Alma for their own purposes. Alma, in a desperate act, covers Gretchen’s ears and unleashes one of the debilitating screams, trapping both men in a time loop. This allows Gretchen and Alma to escape. The film concludes with Gretchen and Alma driving away from the hospital, with a wounded Ed offering them a ride.
Cuckoo ends with Gretchen comforting Alma, who is finally accepting her role as a big sister. The knowledge of Alma’s potential for violence and her bird-like origins adds a disturbing twist to the ending, perfectly capturing the film’s unsettling and unconventional nature.
Cuckoo is a film that defies categorization. It’s a tense cat-and-mouse game, a paranoid mystery, a dark comedy, and a gruesome body horror experience. But above all, it’s a coming-of-age story that explores the complexities of family, loss, and the challenges of finding one’s identity in the face of overwhelming odds. It is a testament to Tilman Singer’s masterful direction and Hunter Schafer’s captivating performance. Cuckoo is currently playing in theaters.
