‘Cuckoo’: Hunter Schafer Goes Nuts in the Deranged New Thriller
With a title like Cuckoo, out-there insanity is a must, and Tilman Singer’s sophomore feature mostly lives up to the bar it sets for itself. Energized by superb performances from Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, this gonzo body-horror thriller—in theaters Aug. 2—is a bewildering and gripping saga about reproduction, identity, and family that, at its finest, taps into a legitimately demented vein.
On a trip to a Bavarian Alps resort that will be their home for the summer, Luis (Marton Scokas), wife Beth (Jessica Henwick), and their mute child Alma (Mila Lieu) all drive together while Luis’ daughter from his first marriage, Gretchen (Schafer), rides in the moving van. As voicemails elucidate, Gretchen is a rock bassist whose band misses her and whose mother has just died, and she’s none too pleased to be the fourth wheel in a clan that she doesn’t consider her own—and which, to a significant degree, feels similarly about her.
Upon arrival, they’re greeted by the owner of this getaway, Mr. König (Stevens), whose smile is as precise and attractive as his neatly trimmed beard. From the get-go, he’s far too friendly to be trustworthy, although despite her wariness, Gretchen—bored and miserable in this enclave—nonetheless agrees to work for him at the hotel’s front desk.