NEON’s Cuckoo is making a buzz for its delightful mix of B movie ideas and arthouse style. However, due to the movie’s unconventional storytelling, people might leave the theaters wondering what exactly happened in the isolated Bavarian resort.
Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Cuckoo.
Cuckoo follows Hunter Schafer as Gretchen, a 17-year-old who crosses the Atlantic after her mother’s passing, a traumatic event that forces her to live with her father in the Bavarian woods. There, Gretchen is chased by a mysterious hooded woman (Kalin Morrow), whose scream causes time-shifting hallucinations.
Meanwhile, Gretchen also finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy involving the nearby resort’s owner, Herr König (Dan Stevens), and a vengeful detective, Henry (Jan Bluthardt). Yes, this movie is wild, and a lot is going on! So, let’s break things down bit by bit.
Who is the hooded woman chasing Hunter Schafer’s Gretchen in Cuckoo?
The hooded woman is a creature from the Homo Cuculidae species. As the name betrays, this parasite mimics the cuckoo bird’s behavior, which leaves its eggs in other birds’ nests.
The Homo Cuculidae use their unique vocal cords to emit sound waves that paralyze their victims, making them feel displaced in time. Once they locate a fertile woman who can bear their child, the creature implants their eggs into the reproductive organ of their victim. These eggs must be fertilized by a man so that a new baby is born. Humans don’t remember the whole process because the creature’s voice erases memories, which is a handy ability for parasite species.
The movie suggests that all children born through this unnerving process are female. These babies also refuse to speak or communicate through non-verbal methods, although they are physically capable to. The children are born and raised as regular humans, only developing their Homo Cuculidae traits when they get in touch with their original mother. That’s what makes the creatures so rare, as their over-complex reproduction and development system slowly leads them to extinction.
Homo Cuculidade mothers become uncontrollable without their children, going after any fertile female human they can use to gestate a new baby. That’s exactly what happens in the first scene of Cuckoo when the current mother’s teenage child escapes. Since Gretchen ignores Herr König’s warnings and wanders by herself on the dark roads of the resort in the evening, she’s an easy target.
What does Dan Steven’s Herr König wants with the cuckoo creatures?
By using his resort as a front, Herr König dedicated his life to the preservation and study of the Homo Cuculidae. Since the resort’s bungalows are so charming and romantic, the tourist complex receives many couples. König identifies the potential victims and facilitates the insemination process of a Homo Cuculidade mother. Years later, König finds excuses to bring the family back so that the infant Homo Cuculidae can be brought back to their mother and develop their siren powers.
Henry is investigating König’s resort because his wife died during one of these attacks. The Homo Cuculidae’s hypnotic screech can cause convulsions. Henry’s wife, when attacked, choked on her vomit, pushing the detective into the revenge path that got him kicked out of the force.
As for Gretchen, her stepmother is hired by König to build a new resort because the deranged scientist wants to lure the whole family back. Gretchen’s half-sister, Alma (Mila Lieu), is a Homo Cuculidade child who König intends to become a mother for the next generation of creatures. Furthermore, the kidnapping and transformation of Alma is an urgent matter to König, as the new child is the key to controlling the hooded woman.
Will Gretchen’s sister become a monster?
At the end of Cuckoo, Gretchen learns that Alma has left a voice message for her deceased mother. Alma is unaware of the whole situation and only witnesses her half-sister crying while calling a mother who’s never there to pick up the phone. So, the girl asks Gretchen’s mother to reply and even invites her to come over for vacation. This beautiful gesture makes Gretchen understand that Alma loves her, leading the teenager to do everything she can to protect the girl.
In the final showdown, König points a gun at the sisters, hesitating to pull the trigger so he doesn’t harm Alma. Likewise, Henry wants to protect Gretchen but has vowed to slay every creature, including Alma. It seems like an unsolvable conundrum until Alma uses her siren voice to hypnotize König and Henry, buying the sisters time to escape. The two men shoot each other after that, meaning there’s no one to chase Alma. Still, the girl’s future is uncertain.
Over the movie, Alma reacts to the Homo Cuculidae noises coming from the woods, so she has had some contact with grow-up members of her species. Nevertheless, she will not be raised by another Homo Cuculidae, as Gretchen takes her sister on a ride with Ed (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) towards Paris.
In the final scene of Cuckoo, we see Alma’s ears moving like the ones from Homo Cuculidae, which tease the challenges the sisters will face. Even so, without knowing how many parasites are still on the loose, it’s impossible to know if another creature will rekindle Alma’s transformation. So… sequel, everyone?