13 Nights of Shocktober: Cuckoo

by A.J.

Night 12: Hotel Horror Night

"If I were you, I wouldn't want to get hurt even more."

Cuckoo

Part monster movie, part mystery, part suspense picture, all of the seemingly disparate elements of director Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo come together for a strange and very entertaining horror movie that delivers everything the audience might want while also being something that stands out because it feels so different. Though this is a strange movie, it is not hard to follow. Director Singer plays fair and clues are here and there but this is not so much about solving the mystery or what it all means. This is also the rare movie that remains intriguing and interesting even after the big secret has been revealed. Singer’s direction and screenplay expertly build tension and mystery, increasing the strangeness of events so that by the time we reach the climax anything feels possible.

Teenage Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) moves with her family (father, stepmother, and younger half-sister) to the Bavarian Alps for her father to take an architecture job at a secluded mountain resort. The owner, Herr König (Dan Stevens), is very helpful. He remembers that Gretchen’s father and stepmother stayed there on their honeymoon. He insists that the family live at the resort and even gives Gretchen a job working at reception desk, but he insists that she not work at night or have an escort at night. From the mysterious prologue we know that Herr König is up to something secretive and sinister. 

Schafer is great at playing a believable and relatable teen and the script allows her to do dumb teen things like steal from the cash register and blow off work to make out with a girl she just met. She ignores the warning about going out at night alone and this is when the creepiness and horror really kick into gear. In a brilliant moment, all the creepier because it is underplayed, Gretchen rides her bike at night and in the woods a figure runs alongside her. Then she is attacked by a woman with glowing red eyes. She gets knocked around and that her injuries don’t just go away is a subtle but effective touch of realism. By the time the climax plays out Gretchen has an arm in a sling and bandage around her head. 

Other bizarre occurrences include Gretchen’s half sister Alma’s trance-like seizures that may, or may not, be linked with, or cause, time jumps. There is also Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a distraught former detective lurking around the resort grounds, who is set on some kind of revenge though he does not fully understand what happened in the past or what is happening now. 

Dan Stevens practically walks away with the whole movie, showing off not only his mastery of the German language but also a dark and villainous side. He is believably benevolent and dangerous. Unlike the detective, König never comes across as mad, though he is essentially a mad scientist. The most disturbing thing about his character is how cool and in control he comes across at all times. 

We eventually do find out what Herr König is up to and it may, or may not, be a surprise. Once the secret is revealed everything we’ve seen before makes sense and what follows is entertaining, even riveting, though it relies more on suspense and action than horror. This one of the very few times when a shootout in a horror movie is not a disappointment or used to make up for a lack of creativity. Herr König , Henry, and Gretchen stalking around, each with their own goal and agenda, is a very tense sequence. There is humor sprinkled throughout so neither dark plot points or themes become overwhelming. Gretchen is still mourning the death of her mother, but this used to build her character and explain her outlook and behavior, rather than as a shortcut for substance and subtext. Whether it is using horror or mystery techniques or even indulging in action, Cuckoo is well executed. Nothing happens randomly or for the sake of shock. It is weird, wild stuff.  

Cuckoo is available to stream on Hulu/Disney+.