It might be a while before we get more Euphoria, but you can see Hunter Schafer onscreen again in her first leading movie role in Cuckoo. The horror film follows American teenager Gretchen, who moves into a hotel in the German Alps with her dad, his new wife, and her half-sister, Alma. Upon arrival, they meet the uber-creepy Mr. König (Dan Stevens), Gretchen’s father’s boss, who becomes obsessed with Alma. But the horrors don’t stop there; as Gretchen is plagued by terrifying noises and visions, secrets begin to unravel as her family becomes increasingly intertwined in the mystery that surrounds the German inn and forest.
Cuckoo comes from German director Tilman Singer, whose debut film, Luz, became a festival sensation in 2018 for its “experimental take on demonic possession and a bafflingly avant-garde psychodrama,” according to The New York Times. Dan Stevens discussed his excitement to work with Singer after watching Luz and admiring the director’s inventive vision. They worked together to make his character “very particular, very exact, a real German scientist” who was “charming, but exacting, Stevens told Den of Geek in 2023. As for Schafer, “I wanted to work with [Singer] on any degree and it was that much more of an honor to take on the lead,” she said in the same interview.
Singer also noted that he largely finds inspiration for his movies from feelings and the essence he wants to give to an audience. He came up with the idea for Cuckoo while he was in post-production for Luz, and the film began to take form. “Lot’s of ooze in this film,” Singer said. He shared that he did not want Cuckoo to be classified as classic horror, and that he incorporated the “gorgeous yet unsettling” setting to create a heightened reality.
In a review of the film for Variety, critic Jessica King commented on both Singer and his second feature. “Stay weird, man. ... Part of the massive entertainment value of his wild and unwieldy second feature is that it is refreshingly free of any kind of manifesto,” she wrote. If you’re brave enough to check out the film, here’s what to know.
When will Cuckoo be streaming?
The film is now playing in theaters, as of August 9. Although we do not know the exact timing for when Cuckoo will be released on streaming services, it is distributed by Neon, which has an agreement to exclusively stream their films on Hulu.
