A 17-year-old girl is forced to move with her family to a resort where things are not what they seem.
It’s been an exciting summer for horror movies. From the tepid start with “Tarot” to the unanticipated “I Saw the TV Glow” past “The Strangers: Chapter 1” and “The Watchers” into the indie world’s “In a Violent Nature” and on to big-budget fare like “A Quiet Place: Day One” and “MaxXxine” before landing right up to now with “Longlegs” making the rounds there’s been a consistent throughline of medium fare from all pedigrees. Some have rocked our worlds harder than others. Some are marketing successes. Some are franchise cash grabs, and some, people argue, aren’t horror movies. “Cuckoo” comes to us in our need for something more overtly horrific, overtly terrifying, and with a little more plot for us to chew on. With such rich locations and incredible performances, “Cuckoo” introduces us to a terrifying new monster in the horror lexicon, all while delivering the textbook classic story we need to feel satisfied with.
“Cuckoo” follows Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), a 17-year-old girl thrust upon her father and his family after her mother’s death. Gretchen’s father Luis (Marton Csokas) brings his wife Beth (Jessica Henwick) and their young daughter Alma (Mila Lieu) along with him when they move into a ski lodge along the Swiss Alps in their efforts to rebuild the lodge. The family’s host, Herr König (Dan Stevens), seemingly haunts Gretchen as the secrets behind the lodge avail themselves to her. Such a beautiful place becomes more and more dangerous as something stalks Gretchen and her new family. Something only Gretchen can detect. She will have to check out Herr König’s dark secret while avoiding a fierce creature with a cry so piercing it can haunt your wildest nightmares.
Man, who knew the pairing of Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens as protagonist and antagonist, respectively, would be the thing to make this movie sing? Schafer’s vulnerability and wounded expressions really dial up the emotional intensity. Watching her performance in this movie states that Schafer is a force to be reckoned with, making absolute feasts out of single takes. Meanwhile, its been Dan Stevens’ summer, and nobody’s acknowledged it. Between his spot in the latest “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and his thick New York Cop in “Abigail,” he’s the secret link between all our movies this summer, and all three of these movies know how to use him. In “Cuckoo,” Stevens plays the creepiest German I’ve seen in quite some time. His musical voice and mocking hospitality make him unsettling from the very beginning. These two really bring the best out of the rest of the cast: Jessica Henwick, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Mila Lieu, and so many more. Say what you will, but Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens make this movie what it is.
From the very beginning, the plot of the film feels knowable: the monster escapes, the family moves into the monster’s hunting ground, the creepy host tricks the family, and only the surly teenager suspects a thing. It all happens about how you would expect it to unravel, and that’s not to knock on the film itself. There’s something soothing about a horror movie that understands the world it’s playing in and makes the most of it. With a mid-movie monster reveal, the story can feel like it is built to a climax, but the real climax, the final thirty minutes or so, really does take the cake. It creeps in dreadful tones with the lush French-German forest abutting the mountain base of this ski lodge. I love how horror movies twisted the modern architectural style into evoking prisons.
The creature at the center of this feels fully rendered. With a clear sonic signature, the script fully uses the titular monster’s signature trait. That piercing whine plays into every sound, every noise, every gasp. Schafer’s battle with the creature reminds me of Odysseus’ own temptation to undergo the Siren song, lashed to his own ship for safety’s sake. There is no safety for Gretchen here.
“Cuckoo” hits all the classic beats of a horror movie, perhaps even extending some of its chase sequences. Thankfully, it never loses sight of its emotional core, and the final thirty minutes add up to a meaningful connection between Gretchen’s attempt to save her family and grieve the loss of her mother. That there’s a villainous German and a creepy crawly lurking in the background only makes that emotional connection all the more meaningful. “Cuckoo” plays by the rules here, but perhaps what we needed most this summer was a traditional horror movie all along.
In Theaters Nationwide Friday, August 9th
