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.

Disappointing Horror, feels very B-Movie. Loved the mountains, though! - Cuckoo review by PV

This starts well. It was genuinely tense and mysterious. Act One promised a lot. Sadly the later acts, esp the final one disappoint.

NO SPOILERS but the ending makes this a real B-Movie. Just silly, mad scientist territory. Almost Frankenstein. But less scary or meaningful.

Just not scary enough to be honest. I liked the sound effects and visual trickery, but it;s never really explained. Another poster is correct - the trailer makes this film look excellent and very creepy/scary. It is not though and loses momentum a lot when it gets very silly in Act 2.

Influenced by all those films about aliens/monsters/viruses possessing people or zombies - THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is the best of them.

Influenced by A QUIET PLACE too for sure. And maybe films like MIDSOMMAR. Even the classic THE OMEN. even ALIEN.

And it has been done way better in THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960) the first and best film version of the novel THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS (1957) by John Wyndham.

So 3 stars - just. Maybe 2.5 rounded up

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.