Includes SPOILERS for Cuckoo.
Summary
Hunter Schafer’s new Neon horror movie,Cuckoo, leaves audiences with plenty of unanswered questions. Schafer stars as Gretchen, a young woman from the United States who goes to the German Alps with her father, stepmother, and stepsister after her mother passes away. In the resort town she’s staying at, Gretchen discovers dark and mysterious happenings involving her father’s boss, Herr König (Dan Stevens). It’s revealed in theCuckooendingthat he’s involved in preserving the lives of deadly, unnamed creatures and is using local humans to breed more of them.
The movie’s ending sees Gretchen escape a deadly situation with her stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu), leaving König, the ex-detective Henry (Jan Bouchard) and the Hooded Woman (Kalin Morrow), dead behind them. Despite the climactic finish,the movie leaves many questions about the lore of its world unanswered. While the vital throughline is the relationship between Gretchen and Alma, director Tilman Singer creates an interesting world that’s worth discussing beyond just what’s revealed in the film.
Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens & Jessica Henwick Gush Over Demented New Horror Movie Cuckoo
Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, and Jessica Henwick talk filming new horror movie Cuckoo, a demented fairy tale creature feature set in the German Alps.
8What Are The Creatures?
They Seem To Be Part Human & Part Bird
Perhaps the biggest question mark followingCuckoois the general lack of information regarding what the creatures actually are. They breed with normal humans, and they even look like normal humans at first glance. It’s not until the Hooded Woman removes her sunglasses that her frightening eyes and features are revealed, differentiating her visually. Not to mention,the creatures have powers that seem to be cuckoo bird-themed, bolstering the film’s central metaphor that König is fascinated by.
The creatures are capable of sending out sonic screeches, disorienting their human targets. This is countered at the end by Gretchen and Alma plugging their ears to avoid being stunned. So, questioning their species is important.They’re described as being ancient and dying out, which is part of why König wants to preserve them. Given the Hooded Woman’s eyes, they could be some sort of demonic creature, but this was intentionally left as an obscurity. They could also be an ancient cross-breed between humans and birds.
7What Was König’s End Goal?
Does König Plan To Weaponize The Creatures?
The film reveals a decent amount about König’s motives, andmuch of it appears to be that he desires to preserve these creatures. To König’s credit, he does seem generally fascinated by them, but his character as presented to be so villainous that it feels unlikely to suggest that he’s just conducting a little experiment. König isn’t just preserving a species of harmless frogs or something of the sort; he’s preserving terrifying, murderous creatures and killing people in the process.
It’s possible that König wants to weaponize the creaturesor learn how to control them. It’s typically the case with the “preserving a species” scientist archetype villain characters that they see themselves as some sort of god-like figure, with the creatures as their underlings. Therefore, he could be having them reproduce with the intention of building up a more dangerous force for some purpose, but it’s entirely unclear. It doesn’t seem like he’d be able to use them effectively anywhere but in a remote location like the Alps.
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6How Long Has König’s Operation Gone On For?
König Has Been Working On This At Least A Decade
König has been working with these creatures for some time, but the length of his operation raises even more questions. He planned for Alma to become one of the creatures, and she could be roughly ten years old. If König has been operating for over a decade, it raises questions about how he’s been able to conduct business in this region while having murderous creatures running rampant in the area. He has cops working for him, but these can’t be the only police officers who would’ve caught wind of this.
Not to mention, if König has been working on this for decades,it’s likely that many more women have been impregnated and are involved in this. The movie shows that there are more creatures, including Alma, but they’re just left out in the world now without anyone attempting to control them. König and the other scientists involved are all dead, so the remaining creatures are an enormous threat to this area left entirely unchecked. There’s also the unexplained vomiting, which would’ve likely raised some alarms about the happenings at the resort.
5Why Did The Creatures Only Attack At Night?
The Creatures Can Come At During The Day
Earlier in the film, when Gretchen and Trixie are working at the resort, König tries to get Gretchen to ride home with him. The movie briefly hints that he has some sort of predatory desire for her, but afterward, it appears like his sole motivation for the offer is genuine concern for her being attacked by the creatures. When she hangs up the phone on him and rides home on her bike,König arrives at the resort speedily, knowing that she’s about to be in danger before she’s first chased by the Hooded Woman.
The movie shows them running around during the day, so they’re not incapable.
There’s also a brief debate about the fact that König doesn’t staff his resort at night. It seems like König is conducting his experiments in the cottage and doesn’t want potential witnesses to be present, but there’s no reason to suggest the creatures can only come out at night. The movie shows them running around during the day, so they’re not incapable. As for the Hooded Woman, this could just be that König is tracking her sleeping pattern, but it doesn’t really make much sense.
4What Does The Ending Mean For Alma?
Is Alma Still A Creature?
After defeating König and the Hooded Woman, the main threats are dealt with, and Gretchen and Alma are safe to leave the hospital. However, there are still so many unanswered questions about what’s occurred. One of which is that Alma is one of the murderous creatures and is now being brought back out to live a normal life. The implication is thatthe power of Gretchen’s sisterly love will help her resist any impulses, but it’s still confusing.
Alma’s creature powers and seizures were triggered by Gretchen’s arrival. Much like how Alma killed her twin in the womb, she’s threatened by Gretchen, disturbing her ecosystem and slashing at her. While this serves as an interesting analogy for the movie, it’s confusing now that she’s leaving unscathed. Sure, she doesn’t feel threatened by Gretchen anymore because they love each other, butshe’s still capable of losing control and lashing out with violence against future perceived threats.
3Why Is There A Time Loop Effect?
The Time Loop Mechanics Are Confusing
The time loop effect is one of the most interesting aspects ofCuckoothat seems to be entirely for aesthetic purposes. The creature screeches cause the effect, but they themselves aren’t affected by the time loop and can move freely while their victim is stunned. This is shown when Gretchen is trapped and left to die in König’s facility later in the film. So in that sense,the time loop is purely a cinematic way of demonstrating how the victim reacts to the piercing screech.
With all of that in mind, it’s still a point of confusion. The time loop appears to have different effects in different scenarios, and different characters are capable of realizing that they’re in the loop and breaking out of it. Over time, the effects dissipate, and characters insert earplugs or prepare some strategy to defend themselves, but this varies based on the person. The movie frames it from a point-of-view perspective from one of the characters in the scene, but it’s confusing and inconsistent throughoutCuckoo.
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2Did Beth Survive?
Beth Leaves The Movie In Horrible Condition & Never Comes Back
Alma’s parents are an enigma, with their motivations and intentions unclear throughout the film. Luis works for König, but Beth (Jessica Henwick), appears to have some loyalty to the resort owner as well. This could be due to his involvement in Alma’s birth, but there’s no clarity there. The important question regarding Beth and Luis, by extension, is where they end up at the end of the film. When Alma is taken to the hospital to help her with the seizures,Beth passes out in reaction to what’s happening, implying that she doesn’t know about the experimentation.
Luis takes Beth home, and the two miss all the action in the film’s climax. It would make sense for them to return later on, revealing a bit more about what they know, but the film ends with Gretchen and Alma escaping. Not only are audiences left without information on the parents' involvement but Beth is left in a brutal state when she leaves in the third act. It’s not really mentioned what happens to her, so it’s hard to discern what her fate would be.
1How Involved Was Luis?
Gretchen’s Father Is A Puzzling Figure
Gretchen’s father, Luis, is probably the most puzzling character in the movie. He’s the parent who appears to have some loyalty to König throughout the film, as he’s employed by him, and it’s alluded that he may have some notion of the more sinister activities at work. There’s no definitive answer on what he knows, andHenry even tells Gretchen that they “don’t know who they can trust,” when she calls her father. But there’s no confirmation or follow-up on the matter.
To make matters even more confusing, Luis seems put off by König at two moments earlier in the film, but this is also never brought up again. When they first arrive, König jokes around with Beth in a way that Luis is annoyed by. When König offers Gretchen a job, Luis encourages her not to take it but never expresses any reason why. Not only is he walking away with the “Worst Father” award, he’s also the most puzzling character inCuckoofor no clear purpose.
Cuckoo
On a trip to the German Alps with her father and stepmother, Gretchen (Hunter Schafer from HBO’s “Euphoria”) discovers that the resort town where they’re staying hides sinister secrets, as she’s plagued by strange noises and frightening visions of a woman pursuing her. Soon, Gretchen finds herself pulled into a conspiracy involving bizarre experiments by the resort’s owner that echo back generations.
