The Reel Review
17-year-old Gretchen reluctantly moves with her father’s new family to the German Alps, where her dad is to work on a new resort for the owner, Herr König. But once there, a series of strange occurrences leads Gretchen to realize that she is in grave danger. Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and Dan Stevens star in this horror/mystery.
Despite very committed, all-in performances by Schafer and Stevens, as the imperiled teen and creepy, hilariously idiosyncratic resort owner, Cuckoo is just so off the walls kooky that it feels more like experimental German performance art than a plot-driven horror film. We get repetitive time-loop moments, the screen trembling as though in some time warp, and a lot of unsettlingly absurd characters.
The more we learn of the convoluted plot, the more silly and maddening the otherwise stylish looking Cuckoo becomes. The big reveal is more of an “wait… what?” eye roll. Don’t be surprised if this one gets the parody treatment on Saturday Night Live, if any its writers bother to watch this strange film in the first place.
REEL FACTS
• Transgender model/actress Hunter Schafer, who transitioned at the age of 14, currently identifies as a lesbian. Her next film is the drama Mother Mary starring Anne Hathaway.
• Dan Stevens, who first gained fame in Downton Abbey, speaks fluent English, French and German. His next film is the 2025 Hulu biopic about Bumble founder and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd.
• Cuckoo was filmed in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
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