of Dan Stevens– a new horror thriller starring Cuckoo, The film has a major twist that has caused quite a stir among critics. On the surface, the film seems like a story about a young woman being chased by a monster. But in the final scene, Cuckoo It has morphed into something much stranger and more complicated.
Writer/Director Tillman SingerThe film follows 17-year-old American Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) who has just moved to a Bavarian resort town with her father Lewis (Marton Csokas), stepmother Beth (Jessica Henwick), and 8-year-old stepsister Alma (Mila Liu). While helping her parents expand the development for owner Mr. Koenig (Stevens), Gretchen is followed and attacked multiple times by a hooded figure. But when no one believes her, she is forced to investigate the mystery of the hooded figure almost on her own. What she uncovers may leave some viewers scratching their heads.
Let’s take a closer look at the secrets and spoilers Cuckoo.
Cuckoo‘s confusing opening scene is a clue.
Dan Stevens plays Koenig in “Cuckoo.”
Credit: Neon
Before introducing us to Gretchen and her family, the film begins in an unrelated, unhappy household. As a man and woman argue in German, in a nearby bedroom, a teenage girl (presumably their daughter) convulses violently in bed. There are no subtitles, so English speakers have no idea what they’re arguing about. But the loud noise that follows needs no translation. A loud bang, like being hit with a blunt object, is heard, suggesting that one parent has killed the other. This is followed by the sound of a man crying. The panicked girl runs off into the night. As we later find out, this is no ordinary girl, but an entirely different species that König is committed to protecting.
This chilling opening only comes together when the man reappears as one of the officers helping Koenig protect the mysterious species. When Koenig says on the phone, “You’ve already lost a teenager? That doesn’t make things any more complicated. I’m on the way to having a baby, and a mother gets hard to control without one,” he’s likely talking to the man from earlier, the father of the teenager.
The same officer is seen visiting Gretchen in the hospital to question her after she is attacked by the hooded woman. He later turns up at Koenig’s villa, confirming a conspiracy between the resort owner and the local police. This could suggest that the opening argument had to do with the officer’s wife discovering the truth about their daughter’s origins, and that he killed her to protect Koenig’s secret. This creepy bunch will go to any lengths to keep their kind alive; they’re willing to kill to do so.
Why is the hooded woman chasing Gretchen?
Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen in Cuckoo.
Credit: Neon
The hooded woman is the “mother” Koenig refers to on the phone. She and the “youth” are part of a race of cuckoo-like humanoids who plant their “eggs” in “nests” of human hosts. And just as Koenig’s companions viewed their biological mothers as a threat, the hooded woman sees Gretchen as a threat to her own child, her step-sister Alma. Or, as Koenig later puts it, Gretchen is “competing with her child for resources.”
Gretchen’s family was called to Bavaria to ensure Alma’s growth and development. However, Gretchen was not meant to be in Bavaria. Following her mother’s untimely death, she was left with her father and his new family. As she grieves, her parents are increasingly concerned about her sister Alma’s health and pay her little attention. Since coming to Bavaria, Alma has been plagued by seizures of unknown origin.
When the family arrives at the resort, Singer drops a hint about Alma’s origins: After greeting the family, König tells his father and stepmother, “You two lovebirds stumbled into my nest exactly eight years ago today. I think there was more to it than architectural plans.” The line explains their attachment to the König resort, since it’s where they spent their honeymoon, and it’s also a clue that Alma is connected to the place.
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This also explains why König and his co-conspirators at the hospital and the police are so dismissive of Great-Tchen’s story about the hooded woman. They know that she is telling the truth, but they see Great-Tchen as an obstacle to Alma’s development. As Dr. Bonomo (Proschat Madani) explains, Alma’s contact with her biological mother would be essential to accelerate the development of her abilities and body. Great-Tchen is the only one who denounces the strange behavior of König and his associates, preventing the two from uniting.
What is the creature in the center? Cuckoo?
Jessica Henwick plays Gretchen’s stepmother in Cuckoo.
Credit: Neon
As the title suggests, this species has a lot in common with the common cuckoo. König is an avid ornithologist and a big fan of the bird. As he drives Gretchen to her holiday home, she notices that he has a picture of a cuckoo on his dashboard, as well as a cuckoo keychain. “It’s an incredible creature,” König says of the bird. “It’s common, but its behaviour is not. Its nature is truly remarkable. Modern man is destroying this nature by ignoring it. Some species need our help to thrive, and I’m a conservationist.”
Koenig turned out not to be the case. Really We’re talking about the cuckoo bird. His Love Nest resort was created as a breeding ground for this humanoid cuckoo, which has the uncanny ability to attack humans with sound. “The creature can’t talk like you or me,” Koenig explains. “With training, its call can be dizzyingly persuasive.” Its “call” is a scream that effectively paralyzes anyone who hears it, and triggers time manipulation, creating short time loops that repeat every few seconds, allowing the creature to get closer. Koenig also helps by providing wigs and clothes that hide the creatures’ noticeable features. They look almost human, and all appear as women. But their large eyes, upturned faces and balding scalps could attract the attention of visiting tourists and victims. Hence the wigs, rain jackets and goggles, which help them to remain unseen.
What is a burial ceremony?
Greta Fernandez plays Trixie in Cuckoo.
Credit: Neon
Whenever a couple comes to König’s resort, the hooded female comes to lay her eggs before the expected intercourse. The cuckoo woman sneaks into the hut and renders the human female unconscious with her hypnotic screams, while the male is paralyzed and ends up unable to remember what happened. This is why Alma’s parents only have pleasant memories of their visit to the Lovers’ Nest hut. After the hooded female leaves, they have intercourse and she becomes pregnant, unaware that she is carrying someone else’s child.
The ritual itself is unpleasant to watch. The hooded woman squats and releases a glob of mucus from her crotch. After supposedly paralyzing the human woman with a scream, the cuckoo mucus is then inserted into her uterus. Once the human male’s sperm has fertilized the cuckoo female’s egg, the human mother becomes a surrogate mother inside the human woman’s body. This is similar to the behavior of the cuckoo, which deposits its eggs in the nests of other birds so that they can raise their chicks.
There were hints at Alma’s big reveal.
Unable to speak like her human family, Alma relies on a typing device to communicate – a muteness we later learn shares with her biological mother and the unnamed young man from the opening scene.
The seizures are another clue. The calls of the hooded woman have a dramatic physical effect on Alma that is different from that of her victims. Are the violent seizures proof that her closeness to her biological mother is causing her changes? It’s unclear, but these seizures could explain why Alma evolves into her own song by the end of the film. König also pays special attention to Alma, closely monitoring her development, giving her gifts and advising her on medical matters.
Why did Gretchen save Alma?
Gretchen and Trixie work at the front desk.
Credit: Neon
At the beginning of the film, it seems that Gretchen would not hesitate to sacrifice Alma for her own survival. She is always annoyed by Alma’s demand for everyone’s attention and is quick to point out that she is not her real sister. However, after listening to the voice message Alma left on Gretchen’s mother’s answering machine, Gretchen realizes that Alma cares deeply for her sister, which completely changes her perspective. Gretchen intends to get Alma out of Bavaria, regardless of whether Alma is of the same race (in fact, she is not). By the final confrontation with König, Gretchen has finally accepted Alma as family. This is a big change from her vehemently denying her connection to Alma when talking to her resort coworker Trixie earlier in the film.
In the film’s climax, Gretchen goes to the hospital, where Alma is being watched by König’s co-conspirators. But Gretchen outwits both König, who wants to leave Alma to turn into a monster, and Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a former victim of the Hooded Woman who wants to kill his own descendants. Their only escape route is through the line of fire of König and Henry, who stand on either side. As the men prepare to shoot, Alma takes it upon herself to cover her sister’s ears and then utter a paralyzing scream characteristic of her species, immobilizing the men as they flee.
As Gretchen and Alma escape the room, Henry and König shoot at each other. The sisters leave the hospital and find Ed (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), with whom Gretchen had a fling earlier in the film, by Gretchen’s car, who drives the sisters to safety. Alma’s ears keep twitching in the car, a reminder that she is not human. But her cuckoo development requires her to be close to her biological mother/hooded woman (who is killed by Gretchen at this point), so maybe Alma has a chance to become more human.
Cuckoo It will be released in theaters on August 9th.