The Dan Stevens–fronted new horror-thriller, Cuckoo, has a big reveal that’s proven to be quite divisive among critics. On the surface, the movie appears to be the story of a young woman being chased by a monster. But by the final act, Cuckoo has morphed into something far stranger and more complicated.
Written and directed by Tilman Singer, the film follows 17-year-old American Gretchen (Hunter Schafer), who’s just moved to a resort in Bavaria with her father, Luis (Márton Csókás), stepmother, Beth (Jessica Henwick), and 8-year-old stepsister, Alma (Mila Lieu). While her parents are employed in helping the owner, Herr König (Stevens), expand his development, Gretchen is chased by a hooded woman who repeatedly attacks her. But no one believes her, so she’s forced to investigate the mystery of the hooded woman largely on her own. What she uncovers may leave some viewers scratching their heads.
Let’s dive into the secrets and spoilers of Cuckoo.
Cuckoo‘s confusing opening scene is a clue.
Credit: Neon
Before the film introduces Gretchen and her family, it begins in an unrelated unhappy household. A man and woman argue in German, while in a nearby bedroom, a teen girl — presumably their daughter — twitches violently on her bed. There are no subtitles, so English-speakers are left wondering what they’re arguing about. But the loud noise that follows needs no translation. A thick thud, the sound of a blunt object, implies one parent killed the other — followed by the sounds of the man crying. In a panic, the girl runs into the night. As we learn later, this is not an average girl, but an entirely different species that König is dedicated to preserving.
This frightening opening only fits into place when the man reappears as one of the cops who works with König to help preserve the mysterious species. When König says on the phone, “You lost your adolescent already? This will complicate matters. A young one is on the way, but the mother will be harder to control without a nestling around,” he is presumably talking to this man from the intro, the teen’s father.
After Gretchen is attacked by the hooded woman, we see the same cop visit her in the hospital to question her. Then, later, he appears in König’s villa, confirming a conspiracy between the resort owner and the local police. This could mean that the argument at the beginning involved the cop’s wife discovering the truth about her daughter’s origins, and suggests the officer killed his wife to keep König’s secret. That’s the length this creepy crew will go to to maintain this species: They’re willing to kill for it.
Why is the hooded woman chasing Gretchen?
Credit: Neon
The hooded woman is the “mother” König refers to on the phone. She and the “adolescent” are part of a cuckoo-like humanoid species, which implants its “eggs” in the “nest” of a human host. And, like the birth mom was perceived as a threat by König’s crony, Gretchen is perceived as a threat by the hooded woman to her offspring, the stepsister Alma. Or, as König puts it later, Gretchen is “competing for resources with her offspring.”
Gretchen’s family has been summoned to Bavaria to ensure Alma’s growth and development. But Gretchen wasn’t supposed to be here in Bavaria. The untimely death of her mother left her with her father and his new family. While she grapples with grief, her parents barely notice her, as they’re increasingly worried about her younger sister Alma’s health. Since they’ve gotten to Bavaria, Alma has suffered inexplicable seizures.
During the family’s arrival at the resort, Singer drops a hint about Alma’s origins. Greeting the family, König says to her father and stepmother: “You two lovebirds stumbled into my nest almost eight years ago to the day, and I believe there were more than just architectural plans conceived.” This line explains their affection for König’s resort — it’s where they honeymooned! And it’s the clue that Alma is tied to this place.
This also explains why König and his conspirators at the hospital and in the police force are so dismissive of Gretchen’s talk of the hooded woman. They know she’s telling the truth, but they see Gretchen as a barrier to Alma’s development. As Dr. Bonomo (Proschat Madani) explains, contact between Alma and her biological mother is essential to accelerating Alma’s abilities and physical development. Gretchen stands in the way of the two uniting, as she is the only one calling out the bizarre behavior of König and his crew.
What is the creature at the center of Cuckoo?
Credit: Neon
As the title suggests, the species has a lot in common with the “common cuckoo.” König is a passionate ornithologist and a big fan of this particular bird. As he drives Gretchen to his villa, she notices a picture of a cuckoo bird taped on his dashboard, as well as a cuckoo key ring. “Magnificent creature,” König says of the bird. “Common, but its behavior is not. Its nature is quite remarkable. A nature modern man destroys by disregard. Some species need our help to reproduce. I’m a preservationist, you know.”
Turns out, König isn’t really talking about cuckoo birds. His love nest resort has been created as a breeding ground for this humanoid cuckoo creature, which has a strange ability to assault humans through sound. “These creatures can’t speak like you or I,” König explains, “When trained, their song can be dizzyingly persuasive.” That “song” is the scream that effectively paralyzes those who can hear it — and can cause manipulations of time, creating a short time-loop repeating a few seconds over, allowing the creature to get closer. König helps as well, providing wigs and clothes to the creatures that hide their more eye-catching features. They largely look human, and all present as female. However, their large eyes, pinched faces, and balding scalps might catch the attention of the visiting tourists/victims. So a wig, rain jacket, and goggles can help in hiding them in plain sight.
What is the laying ceremony?
Credit: Neon
When couples come to König’s resort, the hooded woman comes in ahead of presumed fornication to lay her egg. The cuckoo woman sneaks into the cabin, using her hypnotizing scream to knock the human woman unconscious, and the male is paralyzed and ultimately unable to remember what’s happened. This is why Alma’s parents have only fond memories of their visit to the Lover’s Nest cabin. After the hooded woman left, they had sex and got pregnant with no idea they were carrying another’s child.
The ceremony itself is disgusting to watch. In a squat, the hooded woman pulls from her crotch a clump of slimy vaginal discharge. Having used her scream to paralyze the human female, she presumably inserts this cuckoo goo into the woman’s uterus. When the male human’s sperm fertilizes the cuckoo woman’s egg, all inside the human woman, this turns the human mother into a surrogate, which is similar to how cuckoo birds operate. They place their eggs in the nests of other birds, allowing those birds to foster and raise their chicks.
There were hints to Alma’s big reveal.
Alma cannot speak like her human family does, and so relies on a type-to-talk device to help her communicate. We later learn her inability to vocalize is something she shares with her biological mother and the unnamed adolescent from the first scene.
The seizures are another clue, as the call of the hooded woman has a dramatic effect on Alma’s body that’s different from her victims. Are the violent seizures proof that proximity to her biological mother is causing Alma to transform? It’s unclear, but these fits could explain why Alma has evolved to emit her own song by film’s end. Then there’s the special attention König pays to Alma, overseeing her upbringing closely, giving her gifts, and advising on her medical care.
Why did Gretchen save Alma?
Credit: Neon
At the beginning of the film, you’d imagine Gretchen wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice Alma for her own survival; she’s regularly frustrated with Alma demanding everyone’s attention and is quick to point out that she’s not her real sister. But after hearing a voice message Alma left on Gretchen’s mother’s voicemail, she discovers that Alma cares for her older sister deeply, and it changes her entire outlook. Gretchen’s going to get Alma the hell out of Bavaria, whether she’s the same species or not (and she isn’t). By the final showdown against König, Gretchen has finally accepted Alma as family, a big shift from her vehemently denying any ties to Alma when speaking to resort coworker Trixie earlier in the film.
The film’s climax brings Gretchen to the hospital where Alma is being guarded by König’s conspirators. However, Gretchen manages to outwit both König, who’d keep Alma to make her a monster, and Henry (Jan Bluthardt), a past victim of the hooded woman, who wants her offspring dead. Their only path out is in the line of fire of both König and Henry, who stand on either side of them. As the men prepare to shoot, Alma takes things into her own hands, covering her sister’s ears before letting out her species’ paralyzing scream, leaving both men unable to act as they escape.
As Gretchen and Alma make it out of the room, Henry and König shoot each other. The sisters leave the hospital and find Ed (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), who’d hooked up with Gretchen earlier in the movie, by her car, and she drives them to safety. Alma’s ear continues to twitch in the car – a reminder that she’s not human. But since her cuckoo development requires her to be in close proximity to her biological mother/the hooded woman — who by this point has been killed by Gretchen — maybe, just maybe, Alma will have a chance to be more human.
Cuckoo opens in theaters Aug. 9.
