TICKING CLOCK

CUCKOO Tilman Singer’s increasingly barmy horror defies sanity – and that’s a good thing…

Cuckoo is set at an Alpine resort where things are not as normal as they seem…

Idon’t think I’m that good making sane, normal stuff,’ says German director Tilman Singer. ‘I don’t think I could really do it. And I don’t think it would work really well.’ For anyone who saw Singer’s ‘abstract’ 2018 demonic debut Luz, that must surely be a relief. Likewise, his sophomore film Cuckoo doesn’t disappoint on the batshit-crazy-o-meter – it’s a reproductive chiller that channels the likes of David Cronenberg, J-horror and Rosemary’s Baby.

Set in the German Alps, the story sees American 17-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) join her father (Marton Csokas), stepmum Beth (Jessica Henwick) and mute young stepsister Alma (Mila Lieu) at a resort owned by Herr König (Dan Stevens), her dad’s new boss. Things get weirder from here on in, although ask Singer what his inspirations were and he taps into the emotions of the piece. ‘It was a mix of fear, or some sort of anxiety and sadness. And then just things in the world that interest me.’

Among those was a BBC nature documentary presented by Sir David Attenborough he saw on the cuckoo. ‘You know what they do, right? They drop their eggs, they kick one of the eggs out, and then the cuckoo bird hatches, but faster than the other chicks, and it pushes everything that touches its back out of the nest. And that’s pretty sinister. But it’s a natural process.’ Soon, he was fascinated by this idea of ‘brood parasitism’.

Somehow all of this lit a flame inside Singer, as he began to construct a bizarre tale involving impregnation – one that sees ex-Downton Abbey star Stevens go into full-on creepy mode as König. While the actor previously showed he could speak German in 2021’s I’m Your Man, Singer was unaware until Stevens started conversing fluently during their first meeting. ‘I almost fell off my chair, because I had no idea and I was immediately embarrassed for not having done proper research.’ So what made him right for this oily character? ‘Because of the sinister charm he has!’

‘It was amix of fear, or some sort of anxiety and sadness’

TILMAN SINGER

As for 25-year-old Euphoria star Schafer, this marks her first time fronting a movie. ‘I knew she was perfect for the role,’ says Singer, who arms his leading lady with a switchblade as she’s forced to defend herself in increasingly bizarre circumstances (think Dr. Moreau-like experiments and plenty of weird bodily fluids). While some early reviews have seen writers scratching their scalps at the barmy absence of narrative logic in the film’s latter half (it is, you might say, totally cuckoo), Singer promises that he isn’t trying to be obscure deliberately. ‘I do wish that a big audience enjoys the movie. I don’t have an interest to make something utterly unapproachable or cryptic for the sake of art.’

CUCKOO OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 17 MAY