Cuckoo

Cuckoo, a psychological horror-thriller directed by Anna Notaras, begins with the grueling journey of 11-year-old Gretchen Spencer as she relocates to the small town of Oberstdorf in the German Alps with her father, Mike, and his new family. Mike, a surgeon, has recently remarried, and Gretchen is forced to adapt to a whole new family dynamic and environment. As they settle into their new life, Gretchen struggles to integrate with her stepmother, Barbara, and her stepsiblings, Felix, Clara, and Isidor. Gretchen finds herself at odds with her new family members, particularly her stepsiblings, who seem to be overly obedient to their mother. Gretchen starts to feel isolated and disconnected from her own family and, more pertinently, herself. Gretchen's isolation, coupled with the stifling atmosphere of the small German town, becomes oppressive when she starts experiencing strange occurrences. The most peculiar events occur in the dead of night, and they all seem to revolve around a sense of something watching her. This unease stems from her burgeoning awareness of a presence lurking around the town, observing her. Gretchen's insecurities grow as the perception that something terribly haunting is shadowing her intensifies, slowly morphing into hallucinations. Gretchen realizes that she is not alone in her fears as one instance has her waking up to find her stepsister Clara seemingly enthranced by something in her room. The girls exchange an eerie smile just before Clara mysteriously departs her room. As with the other ambiguous indications hinting at a malicious existence lurking in the shadows, Gretchen is unclear if she is genuinely possessed by a spirit or the events are simply her fragile emotional imagination. That voice in the background haunting Gretchen has an otherworldly presence that creates alarm within her each time its presence pierces her eardrums, its eeriness instilling fear. Each reoccurrence is associated with Gretchen as if it is in pursuit. The persistent spirit seems relentless as its appearance transcends both Gretchen's dark rooms and the town streets, blurring any meaningful perceptible delineation between a living being and her hallucinations. Throughout the unfolding drama, it is unclear whether Gretchen is mentally ill and these hallucinations form part of a tangible internal conflict, the byproduct of the despair associated with her move to Germany or even the outcome of the menacing energy that has engulfed the town. Mike and Barbara, unaware of the strange occurrences surrounding Gretchen, believe her to be possessed by her own hallucinations, fostering an incredibly tense atmosphere that reiterates Gretchen's isolation. At some point, Gretchen starts to delve deep into the town's dark side: searching for hints she can unlock the mysteries behind this menacing entity, her relentless self-surveys, her anxious overthinkings and nightmares, all of which hint that Gretchen's mysterious vision has unflinching roots, validating her experience of sensing that unsettling presence in the dark depths of this mystical German town. Yet, the truth remains concealed like a phantom in plain sight - shrouded in such utter perplexity. And as one digs deeper to understand the full depth and implication of the demon in Gretchen's head - through some dark, unfathomable sequence of unexplained events that in themselves have rendered answers mute - it gives a deep sense that nothing provides reason for genuine existential confirmation. Amid fears of these unexplained happenings, Gretchen makes an attempt to assert that her own body has the ability to confront the omnipresence haunting her. Her strength lies within the darkness. It is up to Gretchen to solve this eerie mystery cloaking the land in cold dread. But by finding some inconclusive revelation, it only creates unsettling ambiguity.