CUCKOO

I didn’t think Cuckoo was bad but it was definitely made by someone that thinks they understand late 70s/early 80s Cronenberg when in fact they’re way off in their understanding of his ideas. 

I really can’t highlight this tweet below enough:

Without giving away too many spoilers, Cuckoo really is what someone would think is an updated take on The Brood. This isn’t an exaggeration. Even the final moments of Cuckoo are literally the final moments of The Brood right down to the ominous zoom in on the surviving child. The film involves murderous feral children birthed from a mysterious surrogate and an Oliver Reed-esque scientist/borderline cult leader (but instead of things being told from the perspective of the father, we see things from the view of an angry teenager).

Again - I didn’t think this was bad I doubt I’ll never make an effort to watch it again. My time and money weren’t wasted at the theater but one viewing is enough for me.
In the same way Oz Perkins may have felt like he was doing a respectful homage to Silence Of The Lambs with Long Legs (…he wasn’t), Tilman Singer thinks he’s doing a proper homage to Cronenberg when he really isn't.

I know this all sounds arrogant as if to say “I understand Cronenberg better than the director” BUT…in this specific case - it’s like if a 17 year old thought; “you know what would make The Brood better? A shootout in the end! Just two crazy guys shooting at each other with machine guns” (I’m aware guns are fired at the end of The Brood but it’s nothing like in Cuckoo). Imagine if a young filmmaker thought; “what if Shivers made absolutely no sense at all??”

The Brood / Cuckoo

The Brood / Cuckoo

The Brood / Cuckoo

And this is my problem. Movies like this force you to be that annoying person to call out the stupidity & silliness within the plot when you don’t really want to. I’m fine with something that makes absolutely no sense but the movie needs to start off on that foot. Cuckoo doesn’t do this. The first 3/4 are building up to something and then the final quarter just throws the little bit of logic out the window. Now you’re forced to go “so wait - what’s the point of all this?” Only for some pretentious dork to go “WHO CARES ABOUT MAKING SENSE?” Well…in the case of Cuckoo, Tilman Singer cared about making sense until the last half hour. As the viewer I’m just following the director’s lead.

Much like when something is barely weird or slightly “off” it gets called Lynchian, anything with any type of body horror element gets labeled Cronenberg-ian. Now…Cuckoo actually is Cronenberg-ian but that’s not a good thing in this case. Influence isn’t always a positive. This is Cronenberg-ian for bad surface reasons. Instead of taking away any type of deeper understanding from stuff like The Brood (a story that was birthed out of personal family drama between David Cronenberg and his first wife) or Shivers (a clever take on sexually transmitted diseases and promiscuity), it’s as if all Tilman Singer got from those films was gore and shocking imagery. I think Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Evolution (2015) did a much better job at whatever I think Singer was trying to do with Cuckoo.

There are some positives. Jan Bluthardt does give an entertaining supporting performance as the detective investigating the homicides within the film. But it isn’t enough.
Overall I’ve been disappointed with this recent string of new horror films. Between this, I Saw The Devil and multiples viewings of both Long Legs and In A Violent Nature - you can’t say I didn’t try.