I’ve seen a lot of strange or weird films in my day. David Cronenberg, Julia Decournau, and Lars Von Trier all come to mind when I think of strange or weird movies. Tilman Singer isn’t quite on that level yet, but with his latest film Cuckoo, he is headed in that very direction sooner rather than later. For a movie fan, this would generally be a good thing, but like the others, I mention he has made a film that didn’t quite connect with me.

Gretchen (Hunter Schafer)  is a teenager who reluctantly agrees to move to Germany to a ti live at a resort in the Getman Alps with her father Luis (Martin Csokas) and his new wife Beth (Jessica Hardwick) who is half his age, they have a child together Alma (Mila Lieu). They have a friend, Mr. Konig (Dan Stevens) who owns and runs the resort.  He has a shady side to him. When Schafer’s character starts to hear crazy sounds and a weird woman, she starts to question everything.

Schafer has come into her own as a young actress in the HBO series Euphoria. Like so many others in the cast, she is phenomenal in her role as Jules Vaughn. Schafer has the it factor that draws audiences to her as an actress. I was instantly interested in who she was and what her motivations were within the context of this story. I would have followed her to hell if that’s where the character went. She gets involved with a strange woman and an excommunicated police detective who sends her down a rabbit hole of science experiments and strange occurrences involving her step-sister and the women I already mentioned.  It’s an interesting journey that doesn’t quite go where you’d think it would go. She is great, though, as always.

Singer assembles an excellent cast for this movie. Csokas, Henwick, Greta Fernandez as a resort hostess who helps Schafers character, Astrid Betges-Frisbey as Ed a mysterious woman who once again helps Schafers character, but to tragic results, and Lars Mikkelsen as the Police Detective who can never get to the bottom of the mystery at hand. Dan Stevens, though as the owner of the resort, is hamming it up with his German accent, the third different one in subsequent films for him. He’s Australian in Godzilla X Kong, American in Abigail, and now Getman in this movie. He has a lot of range as an actor. He also plays the villain quite nicely as well. He is very aloof and shady but also tries to be friendly. It’s a tough line to balance, but he does. He almost steals the film from Schafer.

Movies that have mysterious things going on in them like this one have to be engaging. Yes, the characters are important, and with that, their performances. The story is important as well. This one was a bit confusing to me. Singer, who is also the scriptwriter, wrote a story that seemed fascinating and engaging to him, but it wasn’t to me. I did care about some of the characters and their plight, but the result of that was a letdown to me. He created a story where he didn’t fully flesh out the ending enough. There is a reveal near the end, but it wasn’t enough to get me fully on board with this film.

I am always up for a good, scary movie with equally scary creatures. The creature at the forefront of this film was interesting, but she wasn’t scary to me. She ended up being a part of the bigger picture in the end, but not enough of the story to where I cared about her that much. I wanted to care, but I didn’t. Singer didn’t create a monster or monsters if you would that kept me engaged in them through the film. That is a big no-no in horror films.

Cuckoo was a prime example of some of the parts worked, but all the parts didn’t come together to make a totally engaging movie. Singer came up with a story that seemed to him but didn’t think if it would be interesting to others. The acting by Schafer is amazing. Stevens is always good, but he’s hamming it up in a Getman accent with great results here. The monster was cool, but she wasn’t scary enough to totally keep me caring about her. That’s the real problem with this movie. I didn’t care enough about it to love it but nearly like it.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen