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Danika

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Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler/My Cousin Vinny) steps into the more mature role of Danika Merrick – a mother of three with a nice house and a nice job at the bank, living the atypical normal family life. This is what is presented to us on the surface. Danika’s flip side is that she is possibly losing her mind. She has an overprotective streak when it comes to her children that is stressing her relationships with them. It may have something to do with her constant hallucinations. Visions of murdered children and their demises, which flood her daily life and cause her to seek psychiatric counseling.

Straight to the point – Danika quickly begins to unravel. The movie, and this woman’s mind. It’s well shot, well written, and very well acted. Marisa Tomei is so convincing at being this oversensitive, overprotective, mentally slipping mother that it’s almost too good. Because her insanity became mine. I was wary coming into this film when I had read the synopsis – about someone wondering if they were perhaps going insane. This scares me, because it leaves no boundaries of reason for a screenplay.

Hidden plot teasers and familiar themes casually occur from time to time. There are many things to pick up on – such as the buses driving by. Children being injured or hurt. The deception of her husband. In a mysterious, suspenseful and psychological thriller such as this, they are key, because as you watch and wonder, you want to try and perhaps put it together. Make some sense out of it before all the confusion is explained in some twist ending that justifies it all. And it does – to a point. But is it worth watching and wondering like a mental patient for 80 minutes? That’s where the two sides of the fence divide on this one.

Four did as with piece then severed quiet tin whispers. Oh – excuse me – was I not making sense? Some of Danika just didn’t make sense. The bank robbery, which did or didn’t occur? And then the boss, who fired her I assumed, calls her back to see what’s going on, and the bank robbery starts in the background… The sixth grade teacher, her death, and the book? You know what – lets just cut it here and get to the final analysis – because its like trying to zero in on the method to someone’s madness.

Danika is a beautiful mess. Marisa Tomei is an incredible actress and really has you believing that she is struggling with her mental grip on reality. Thirty minutes into the movie, you really find yourself wanting to like it. But when you have the story of a sweet protective mother of three, who starts to hallucinate and question her own sanity, the poetic license of the filmmaker has nothing to answer to. Anything can happen and be filed under the category of “dream sequence” or “flashback” or “visions”, and soon you’re watching bogus news reports and ghosts appear and strange plot loops that make no sense and you’re the one who ends up needing Zyprexa. Resolution aside, this was 80 minutes of off-balance second guessing, and when it comes together in the finale, its a bit frustrating, because as you look back and apply it – some of it didn’t fall within its own context. In fact, some of this film was as confusing as looking into the mind of a psychopath. Perhaps by having induced such a conclusion, this movie was successful and true to its own nature – just on a slightly disappointing level. I’m not sure anymore. Where am I?

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NEON’s Horror Movie ‘Cuckoo’ Gets New Poster, New Release Date

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Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer - Cuckoo release date

Up next from writer/director Tilman Singer (Luz) is NEON’s strange horror movie Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schafer (“Euphoria”). NEON unveiled a new poster for the upcoming horror movie today, along with a new Cuckoo release date.

Look for Cuckoo to now arrive in theaters nationwide on August 9, 2024.

Check out the new poster below, and expect the trailer for Cuckoo next week.

In Cuckoo: “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.”

Dan Stevens (The Guest), Jessica Henwick (Underwater), Marton Csókás (Freelance), Greta Fernández (Santo) and Jan Bluthardt (Luz) also star in Cuckoo.

I wrote in my review out of SXSW, “There’s inventive worldbuilding on display that sets this high-concept horror movie apart and a few intense horror cat-and-mouse scenes that deliver palpable tension. But Singer approaches it with a playful sense of humor that only further nudges Cuckoo into the realm of weird cinema. It’s so refreshingly unconventional and unpredictable in every way, right down to its raucous, entertainingly silly finale, that it’s hard to care about all of the plot that gets discarded along the way.”

NEON is having a busy year in horror. The Sydney Sweeney-starring Immaculate is in theaters now with the Nicolas Cage-starring Longlegs set to arrive in July.

Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman, Emily Thomas and Ryan Friscia executive produced Cuckoo for Neon, with producers including Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, and Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell and Ben Rimmer. Shot on 35mm in Germany, the upcoming film is a cooperation between Germany’s Fiction Park and the United States’ Waypoint Entertainment.

Cuckoo release date

 

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