Rent Cuckoo (2024)

Dull and slow - Cuckoo review by Alphaville

Couldn’t get into this film at all. Well done the trailer makers for making it look interesting, but after nearly half an hour nothing had happened and I gave up. Gretchen moves to an Alpine resort with her father and starts work as a receptionist. Dan Stevens, her boss, has a creepy German accent and there’s some weird music on the soundtrack. A FF through the rest of the film didn’t reveal anything more interesting. And if you’re expecting some nice Alpine scenery, forget it. Most of the non-action occurs indoors. Soooo slow. Horror film? Horrific bore, more like.

Original but flawed - Cuckoo review by NW

Well... erm... that was original, to say the least! It's a horror film, so from the off you can sort of guess what it's about from the title (cuckoo in the nest), and yes, that IS what it is about - but not in the way you expect.

Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen, a teen who accompanies her dad, his new wife and her sister to a resort town in the Bavarian Alps, presided over by Dr Konig (Dan Stevens - a genre stalwart from such fllms as The Guest, Colossal and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire). It's immediately obvious that 'Something's Off' and the mystery is well developed with strange noises from the woods, women unexpectedly throwing up, the sister (who is mute) having seizures and Gretchen being chased on her bike by a strange hooded woman.

This part of the movie is excellent and I was enthralled - but when it's all explained it all falls to pieces with so many unanswered questions. Weirdly, both too much and not enough is explained - we find out what's behind the strange happenings but not how the current situation at the resort came to be. How did Dr Konig and his cronies come to - well, spoilers! It all descends into action movie cliches with guns everywhere, disappointing. The story is good enough, the concept so original, that a better movie could have been made of it, a more sinister Wicker Man style affair. As it is the creepiness of the first hour is completely blown away - quite literally, with big guns.

And Gretchen is such a dislikeable character, that I could not engage with her plight at all. She's sulky, self-absorbed and selfish, and her hairstyle rather unfortunately reminded me of Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager character.

A shame - because at times this is wonderfully eerie and the concept behind it is unique and bonkers - but it didn't quite work for me.

Intriguing Although Flawed SciFi/Horror - Cuckoo review by GI

A somewhat off-kilter sci-fi/horror/thriller that suffers from intermittent plotting but has a neat atmospheric vibe and proves to be intriguing as it goes on. Set in Bavaria it follows Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), an American teenager, who has been forced to join her father (Marton Csókás) and his new family in Germany. Sulkingly she accepts a job on in the resort hotel of her father's boss, Herr König (Dan Stevens). But soon Gretchen begins to witness strange goings on including a rather nasty woman who seems to be lurking in the nearby forests. The plot revolves around König and his nearby hospital/research centre and his apparent interest in Gretchen's mute half sister. It's a bizarre story and not always easily coherent although it keeps you watching. Both Schafer and Stevens are excellent and although the climax is a bit unwieldy, clichéd and arguably underwhelming this is an interesting story and a film that is enjoyable.