Cuckoo
Neon | Release Date: August 9, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
18
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyAug 23, 2024
Cuckoo isn’t a horror movie for people who dislike unanswered questions, since Singer, who also wrote its script, is far more interested in emotional logic than the literal kind. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyAug 22, 2024
The gunplay of the final act isn’t as much fun as the properly creepy build-up. No matter. This self-aware German-Hollywood coproduction atones with plenty of Teutonsploitation humour. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshAug 19, 2024
One may not entirely understand exactly what is going on in “Cuckoo,” but there’s no denying how it makes you feel: rattled, unsettled, psychically imprinted with unforgettable images and sensations, which is how every good piece of horror should leave its audience. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 1, 2024
A bewildering and gripping saga about reproduction, identity, and family that, at its finest, taps into a legitimately demented vein. Read full review
80
SlashfilmBJ ColangeloApr 5, 2024
Cuckoo is equal parts head-scratcher and mind-blower but so ridiculously audacious that it's impossible not to obsess over. Read full review
80
ColliderChase HutchinsonMar 20, 2024
Cuckoo will most certainly not be for everyone, but for those looking for a horror film that draws you in just as it defies any of your expectations for where it is supposed to go, it’s hard to think of a trip this year you’ll find that is as bold and bonkers as this one. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonAug 12, 2024
If you’re willing to just go with it, no questions asked, “Cuckoo” is an entertaining horror offering. But I must warn you that trying to make sense of the plot will drive you, well, cuckoo. Read full review
75
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerAug 9, 2024
Cuckoo is a twisty, giallo-inspired, semi-body horror mystery that double acts as an impressive lead showcase proving that Schafer is more than just an “it girl.” Read full review
75
Washington PostJen YamatoAug 8, 2024
An American teen encounters peculiar horrors at a remote German resort in Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” a kooky sci-fi genre hybrid that crackles with offbeat turns and creature scares as it unfolds against a backdrop of deceptively serene forests and cheeky Euro-kitsch. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 7, 2024
Much of what transpires in “Cuckoo” depends on your willingness to just go with it, and your forgiveness for a couple of loose ends that remain untied throughout. The fun here is enjoying the screen-popping performances by Schafer and Dan Stevens as a snarling villain, not to mention the quality Jump Scares and the overall creepy vibe. Read full review
75
The Film StageRory O'ConnorFeb 22, 2024
As Cuckoo moves to its final third the fragments of its ideas never quite form a convincing whole. Luckily, Schafer is there to guide us through. Read full review
70
IGNEmma StefanskyAug 9, 2024
While it sometimes leans too heavily on its ickier aspects, Cuckoo has just enough sense of its own absurdity to remain disgustingly fun. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 8, 2024
All this gives “Cuckoo” a strange, lusty vigor that’s hugely entertaining. Read full review
70
Screen RantTatiana HullenderAug 7, 2024
The movie's atmospheric approach to horror sometimes works against it, but stellar performances from Dan Stevens and Schafer ultimately make it a home run. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicAmanda LubertoAug 7, 2024
Cuckoo is one of the best-looking horror films I’ve seen this year...But even with the highly stylized atmosphere, “Cuckoo” doesn’t quite land the plane. It’s not really clear what the villainous plan is or how the villains are executing it. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMarco Vito OddoAug 6, 2024
Cuckoo blends B-movie energy with arthouse ambition, delivering a fresh horror concept bolstered by Hunter Schafer's standout performance. While its scattered storytelling may divide audiences, the film's atmospheric tension makes it a worthy watch. Read full review
70
VarietyJessica KiangFeb 16, 2024
Part of the massive entertainment value of [Singer's] wild and unwieldy second feature is that it is refreshingly free of any kind of manifesto. Read full review
68
TheWrapBen CrollFeb 16, 2024
Viewed under the right conditions — that is to say, late at night, in a certain headspace and surrounded by an audience of fellow travelers ready to take the ride – “Cuckoo” will offer an awful lot of big-screen fun. Only those external factors are nearly necessary to meet an overeager film with only one note to play. Read full review
65
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 5, 2024
Certainly, it’s fun to see Schafer, best known for her work on HBO’s teenage-wasteland series Euphoria, match wits with Stevens, including a gnarly sequence of knife play. But neither actor can figure out where their director is going with all this madness or where he might want to be at any given moment, tonally and thematically. It’s enough to drive anybody, even the king of kook Stevens – well, you know. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrAug 6, 2024
As with many horrors, the big reveals were, for this critic, a little underwhelming — a strained attempt at a unifying theory for this weird place that doesn’t add much ultimately. Read full review
60
EmpireBen TravisAug 23, 2024
Despite great performances, stylish filmmaking, and a distinctive personality, Cuckoo emerges as slightly less than the sum of its parts. But it completes the hat-trick on Dan Stevens’ wildest year. Read full review
60
LooperReuben BaronAug 20, 2024
The cinematography is gorgeous, and the audacity of the twists can be darkly funny. But thinking about "Cuckoo" afterwards, I feel like I'm missing the key to making sense of and really connecting with it. Read full review
60
Little White LiesHannah StrongAug 20, 2024
While Hunter Schafer makes for a great Final Girl and Dan Stevens is on top form leaning into his knack for playing offputting weirdos, Cuckoo suffers from an ambiguity that hinders the story, unable to reconcile the comedic elements of the plot with the unsettling. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 12, 2024
Look at it through the lens of a dual star vehicle that isn’t afraid to sacrifice coherence in the name of cheap thrills, and this bird only slightly sings off-key. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 6, 2024
But as effective as the film might be in the moment, Singer’s increasingly sloppy plotting starts to get in the way of the bigger picture by the frantic last act, which is both strangely filled with exposition info dumps yet still lacking in much sense. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen A. RussellFeb 21, 2024
Sure to be a cult classic, it’s quite literally cuckoo – and often gloriously so. Read full review
60
Screen DailyWendy IdeFeb 16, 2024
While it is messy and frequently bewildering, Cuckoo does at least live up to its title, with a commitment to gleefully bonkers twists and a collection of entertainingly deranged supporting performances. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 16, 2024
At its best, the movie is kind of like The Stepford Wives meets Rosemary’s Baby, with side orders of Cronenberg, J-Horror and Lynch. Read full review
58
Original-CinChris KnightAug 7, 2024
I was ultimately less enthralled with the final film than I was with some of the performances in Cuckoo. Stevens and Schafer are amazing, and Bluthardt makes an excellent oddity, a convenient ally with his own mysterious agenda. But Cuckoo can’t quite bring all its disparate elements together into something cohesive and coherent. Read full review
55
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeAug 7, 2024
Cuckoo would have benefited from explaining itself much less or much, much more; as it is, it lives in the atmospheric middle of the road, confused by itself. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 9, 2024
Cuckoo gets more confusing the more it explains itself. The further writer-director Tilman Singer goes in articulating the strange goings-on that drive this stylish, unsettling thriller, the less compelling it becomes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 8, 2024
It’s a line that all horror movies must walk. The characters must be stupid enough to get themselves into trouble, but not so stupid that we don’t start thinking of them in Darwinian terms. Somehow, “Cuckoo” stays on the right side of that line, but barely. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePat BrownFeb 19, 2024
One may wish that the absurdity of the conceit had been matched by a bit more irreverence in the script and audacity in the imagery. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodAug 8, 2024
Honestly, you almost wish Singer had the foresight to ensure everyone involved took the proceedings completely seriously. That might have resulted in a camp classic that would be more memorable than this often aimless and thematically thin endeavor. Read full review
42
IndieWireAdam SolomonsFeb 16, 2024
The performances — especially Stevens’ — are silly and sincere, and the action competent enough for “Cuckoo” to have worked as pure pulp. But this film takes itself too seriously and pokes fun at its own silliness, a fatal combination. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithAug 8, 2024
Cuckoo brings up a lot of ideas but doesn’t organize them into anything like a satisfying resolution. As frenzy follows frenzy, it aspires merely to create a feeling of senseless chaos. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 8, 2024
There are so many underdeveloped themes that it’s not hard to see what Singer was trying to achieve, and how short he falls. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 16, 2024
Exuding more uncertainty than discipline, this wackadoo horror-thriller from German writer-director Tilman Singer can’t decide if wearing a smirk will see it through a sloppily developed plot, which keeps promising more than it delivers. Read full review
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