I really wanted to like Cuckoo more. Original horror starring an actress I really admire coming from a distributor with a track record of picking up solid flicks? It was a slam dunk in the making for me. Unfortunately, I came out of it disappointed and, worst of all – bored. There was a lot of potential here that never grew into what it could have been. Cuckoo’s greatest downfall is that it’s more fixated on itself than doing anything with itself.

Cuckoo follows a 17-year-old girl named Gretchen (Schafer) who goes to a resort town with her father, stepmother, and half-sister. After that, it just stumbles into the mystique and surreal. As I am a day removed from seeing this, I can’t really describe this movie. It is a movie that kind of “bumper cars” itself along the plot until it eventually lands on the big reveal. Just slowly setting up the mystery and leaving the plot and character on the sideline.

Cuckoo is fixated on this type of prestige or mystique puzzle. While the movie was busy working on building the mystery around it, it never took the time to work on the other elements of the film. If you weren’t Hunter Schafer or Dan Stevens, you were sidelined in favor of the greater mystery. By the time the movie was over, I was so removed from the core of it. Sure, the mystery was unique and different from stuff I have seen recently, but it’s a husk of a movie without the emotional core.

Schafer and Stevens, though? They did excellent work. At this point, I’d be more surprised if Schafer delivered a phoned-in performance in the face of a weak script or direction. She draws the viewer in and commands your attention. Stevens occupies the screen and bleeds with menacing charisma. Every scene he was in had a tonal descent that radiates from him exclusively – absolutely rocks.

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But the script was all over. There is no sense of story direction, just that a mystery exists. The movie comes off as “I am a fan of both David Lynch and Michael Haneke! Look at me!” Like, good lord, take the time away from the Lynchian and do some of your own thing? The credits even riffed on the Lost Highway credits. There was a lot of potential washed away by trying to be closer to a Lynch film than one that’s closer to the creator.

The most disappointing aspect is that the movie had interesting ideas but never gave it time to breathe. The image that has been circulating with Cuckoo, the one with Schafer hiding behind a bookshelf, was from the most exciting scene in the movie. But the scene in question was short-lived and immediately moved on to something else. There’s a scene involving a standoff where Schafer is walking down the middle of a hallway. Emotionally, it could have more impact, but it never took the time to bring it all together and just placed it in.

Most of all, Cuckoo is just a boring film. A setup for something “greater” where said “greater” comes and goes. A rushed third act that leaves potential on the cutting room floor, Cuckoo is just a lot of build-up. The appeal is there, and there is an audience for this, but the lack of care in the characterization and development of the supporting cast leaves this feeling empty. This movie will become the one you watch clips of on TikTok, where they bait you into wanting to know what the next step is. The cast did what they could with a weak script, and the production looks good and inspired, but at the end of the day, you will probably fight a nap as you watch this.

I wanted to enjoy Cuckoo a whole lot more. There is a lot going on, and unfortunately, it fell under the weight of its own self. A lot of elements in the movie were enjoyable but holistically didn’t materialize into something better. I’d be intrigued to follow along with what comes next for writer/director Tilman Singer, but I was not a fan of Cuckoo.

Rating: 5/10