'Cuckoo' trailer: Hunter Schafer leads Neon horror film by Tilman Singer

Hunter Schafer in a stiff from "Cuckoo" trailer (via NEON)
Hunter Schafer in a stiff from "Cuckoo" trailer (Image via NEON)

"They think I'm crazy," Hunter Schafer's character says in the trailer for her new horror film Cuckoo. Directed by Tilman Singer, the first trailer for Cuckoo was dropped on YouTube by NEON on April 3, 2024.

The latest film starring the Euphoria actress sees her play Gretchen, a teenager forced to relocate to a German town with her father, stepmother and stepsister. However, her father's boss Mr König (played by Dan Stevens) has a sinister aura. After he asks Gretchen to work for him, strange things start happening to her. Soon, she finds herself trapped in a game of survival.

Cuckoo premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2024. Soon after, it was screened at South by Southwest in Austin on March 14. The horror flick received mostly mixed to positive reviews, with many praising Stevens' performance.


Every detail revealed in the Hunter Schafer-led Cuckoo trailer, explored

The trailer for Tilman Singer's latest film Cuckoo opens with a recording in a casette tape. "Mom, I really want to come home", the voice recording plays. Hunter Schafer's Gretchen cries as the recording continues, "It's getting bad."

Gretchen has just moved to a remote town in Germany with her father's new family due to his work. His boss, Mr. König asks, "How was the jouney?" While his wife is excited, Gretchen's father wants her to meet his boss. In the next scene, a neighbour introduces herself to Gretchen and says that she hadn't heard about the teenager.

"Why would you have heard about me?", Hunter Schafer's character asks. The scene then cuts to her stepsister's dog barking at something in the woods. A strange noise, akin to a scream, is heard.

"How would you like to come work for me at the resort?" Mr. König offers Gretchen, who accepts the job. She does not seem to be having a good time though, and a girl approaches to tell her, "You look like you do not belong here."

Hunter Schafer's Gretchen is confused about the working hours, as no one seems to work after 10 at night. Over the phone, Mr. König tells her to wait and he would come pick her up from the resort. However, it seems Gretchen did not listen to him as she is seen riding her bicycle alone in the darkness of the night.

She is unaware that a strange figure is chasing after her. As she slowly turns her head around, she seems to be attacked by the stranger.

"If I were you, I wouldn't want to get hurt even more," Mr. König tells Hunter Schafer's Gretchen in another scene as she sits battered and bruised on a hospital bed. When she asks him why he brought them "here" in a different scene, he gives a strange reply, "Your family belongs here."

A series of quick shots reveal a man looking at something through binoculars and Gretchen sitting in the corner of a floor, holding a knife and her face covered in blood. "They think I'm crazy," her voice narrates over different shots. In one of them, Mr. König seems to be watching something on a monitor.

A longer scene showcases a woman sitting in her bedroom as she blow-dries her hair post-shower. However, a disfigured being appears and the woman screams in fear. Another series of shots follow depicting a dead body, Mr. König holding a wig, and a man tip-toeing in the dark, as König can be heard saying, "Nature is quite remarkable."

Hunter Schafer's Gretchen can be seen hiding from someone as the voice continues, "Some species need our help." In a later scene, she is shown in a room as the voice continues speaking through what seems like a speaker, "I'm giving you the chance to be of great use in our quest for preservation."

As a figure approaches the room she is in, Gretchen prepares to defend herself with a piece of wood. However, the figure suddenly appears behind Gretchen. As she screams, König's last words echo in the final seconds of the trailer, "Consider yourself lucky."

In the NEON website, a synopsis for the film states:

"Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father's boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen's mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn't seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family."

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With a cast that includes Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csokas and Mila Lieu, Cuckoo is set to be released in Germany on July 18, 2024 and in the United States on August 9, 2024.

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Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay
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