Ally Rambo

Most horror films don’t capture me as emotionally as Cuckoo did. I’ve found that the constant stream of slashers and haunting I pipe into my brain have completely desensitized me to horror. However, I can look at a movie and tell you if it was “objectively scary” even though it didn’t scare me personally. I can tell you now that Cuckoo is not by any means a scary movie. There are a few moments of high intensity-based dread, but that isn’t the reason you should watch. Cuckoo fully gripped my heartstrings and by the end of the film was pulling on them like the bells of Notre Dame. The sisterly bond between Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) and her half sister, Alma, had me in tears during the closing moments. Cuckoo succeeds in being a fun creature-feature with decent horror elements and some great comedic moments, but its real strength is in the performance of its lead actress and the amazing script.