Speaking of Neon Studios, Cuckoo is the final installment of the triumvirate of horror films they have heavily promoted for 2024, following Longlegs and Immaculate. The latter is particularly noteworthy as it marks Neon’s first collaboration with Tilman Singer, the German filmmaker who made a killer debut with 2018’s Luz.
Cuckoo stars Hunter Schafer and the always excellent Dan Stevens. Schafer delivers a solid performance, while Stevens is exceptional, and most notably, he seems like he's genuinely having fun here. As a fan of the bizarre camp-fest that was Luz, I was pretty excited to see what Singer would cook up with Cuckoo. In many ways, the film doesn’t disappoint. It shares that same uneasy, truly absurd atmosphere that is clearly Singer’s hallmark. Fans of quirky 80s horror will likely find a lot to love here, especially when the film dips its toe into the dark comedy pool.
However, Cuckoo starts to lose its grip as it begins to unfurl. The narrative becomes somewhat muddled, and even now, I'm not entirely sure I understand it all. It’s worth noting that Luz had a concise 70-minute runtime, which seemed to work in its favor, allowing the film to rest more on the aberrant moments instead of necessitating a focused plot. In contrast, Cuckoo stretches to 103 minutes, and the additional runtime may have hurt the film a bit narratively, causing it to meander in places where Luz stayed sharp.
Despite this, when Singer leans into those moments of pure uneasiness that he seems to create so effortlessly, it’s clear that he has a unique talent. There’s still a lot of room for Singer to grow as a filmmaker, and that’s what makes his work so exciting. Cuckoo might not be perfect, but it’s a thrilling glimpse into the future of a director whose best work is likely still unwritten.