Cuckoo

Throwing a dash of European flavor upon the American horror palette, Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo” is the kind of movie that you’d expect to find on a grainy VHS tape in the back of a condemned Blockbuster; a long lost creature feature/slasher set among the picturesque pines of the Bavarian Alps with the temperament of an Italian Giallo in the Argento variety.

Following a family that moves to a remote resort town to help build a hotel, the film follows Hunter Schafer’s (“Euphoria”) Gretchen as she reels from the recent death of her mother and the recent re-marriage of her father. With a new stepmother and mostly mute step-sister in tow, Gretchen keeps herself busy working for the hotel owner Herr König, played with delicious malevolence by Dan Stevens (“Abigail”). Soon, however, she learns that the strange sounds out in the woods aren’t just the wind, and someone, or something, has murderous designs for her newly minted family.

I saw “Cuckoo” as the opening night film of The Overlook Film Festival 2024 and was dazzled. The Bavarian locale is mesmerizing, sending audiences into a dream-like state that hypnotizes, entrances, and eventually ensnares us, and Gretchen, in a world where reality is bendable and escape is futile. In her first starring role, Schafer commands the center of a film that whirlwinds around her, all the while, never losing sight of Gretchen’s emotional core; her need to learn the truth about what is stalking her, her grief at the recent loss of her mother, and her burgeoning affection for her new step-sister. Adopted families are a motif throughout the film, to beautiful and terrible effect. A broiling emotionality simmers beneath the surface of the story, through all the blood and mucus (and there is a lot), so much so that once the climactic confrontation had played itself out I was shocked to find tears streaming down my face. The final moments of “Cuckoo” have stuck with me for months. It is beautiful cinema, simple and powerful and pure and fueled by Schafer’s performance. The film is a testament to her talent and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

“Cuckoo” is a sleeper crowd pleaser, somehow a weird, idiosyncratic art film with enough sly humor and monster mayhem to keep audiences cheering. It doesn’t hurt to have Dan Stevens around doing a silly accent. The man brings B-Movie credibility to every project he graces us with and is a delight to see in full villain mode. As a balm against the bombast of Blockbuster Movie Season, “Cuckoo” is the chilly little European screamer we deserve; odd, heartfelt, and an all-around good time. Check it out!

“Cuckoo” is NOW PLAYING at The Broad Theater and and Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.

OFF RAMP

And now for something completely different!

Local filmmaker Nathan Tape is bringing his Juggalo road trip opus “OFF RAMP” to the Broad Theater for one night only on Aug. 11.

For those who may not know, “Juggalos” are the devotees of ICP, the Insane Clown Posse, a shock rap group that prides themselves on harsh rhymes and dowsing their fans in Faygo cola. Every year, these fun loving folks have an event called “The Gathering of the Juggalos”, essentially a Burning Man with Grease Paint, where like minded clowns can get together for some good, old fashioned debauchery. “Off Ramp” follows the journey of one such reformed Juggalo who is coerced into taking one last ride to mythical “The Gathering”, the only place he ever felt accepted. Needless to say, this trip does not go as planned and our hero is left to decided whether or not he is truly “down with the clown, til’ he dead in the ground”.

Check out the trailer HERE and come on out to support some fantastic local filmmaking. Grease paint is optional but be sure to stock up on purple Faygo before hand.

You’ll be glad you did!

“Off Ramp” is playing FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY on Aug. 11 at the Broad Theater.