Cuckoo Ending Explained

The following contains spoilers for Cuckoo, now playing in theaters

Summary Gretchen protects her sister Alma from the Woman with Red Eyes, potentially freeing her from a dark fate.

The Woman with Red Eyes manipulates and attacks visitors, aiming to unleash her children's potential abilities.

Gretchen and Alma's sisterhood plays a crucial role in their survival, showcasing the importance of family bonds.

Cuckoo is an unsettling and effective horror film that builds to a surprisingly bloody and emotionally resonant finale. Cuckoo focuses on Hunter Schafer's Gretchen, an average teenager forced to spend the summer with their estranged father, his wife, and her half-sibling Alma. Relocating to a remote resort in the German Alps, the scenic setting is given a sense of mysterious menace thanks to Dr. Köning and his polite but forceful control of the resort. However, mysteries surrounding the resort steadily unravel and endanger Gretchen, especially after she encounters a monstrous Woman with Red Eyes.

By the end of the film, Cuckoo has teased out the connection between Alma and the mysterious woman, as well as why Köning has been working so hard to keep the resort's secrets hidden from the rest of the world. However, there are enough lingering threads that a prospective sequel would have plenty of material to explore. Here's what happens in the ending of Cuckoo and how it could set up more stories within the universe.

Related This Upcoming Horror Movie Is Very Exciting For One Euphoria Star's Career & Continues A Great 2024 Trend Cuckoo will follow a 2024 horror movie trend by introducing Hunter Schafer as a new scream queen, making this a promising new feature of her career.

Is Alma Still Connected To The Cuckoo?

One of the lingering threads from Cuckoo's ending is the fate of Alma and her connection to the Red Eyed Woman. Cuckoo is largely focused on Gretchen, who is an unexpected wrinkle in the plans of Dr. Köning. Although Gretchen is initially distant from her younger half-sister Alma, she becomes more defensive of her when she discovers she's one of the progeny of the Woman With Red Eyes. This gives Alma some of the same abilties. However, her full abilities need to be unlocked by reuniting with the Woman With Red Eyes, which also would alter Alma's mind.

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Gretchen's efforts to protect her sister end up upending Dr. Köning's plans, as her escape from his traps with the help of Henry allows her to interfere with the reunion between Alma and the Woman With Red Eyes. Gretchen even kills the monstrous villain, potentially freeing Alma from that fate. However, the ending of the film suggests that Alma may retain some of the physical characteristics and powers of the Woman With Red Eyes. This gives the ending of Cuckoo a mysterious little touch that could be explored in future stories.

The Woman With Red Eyes In Cuckoo Explained

The Woman With Red Eyes is a mysterious and threatening force within Cuckoo. Although she isn't necessarily behind the events of the film in the same way Dr. Köning is, she is the motivating factor behind his machinations. A new life-form similar to humans, the Woman With Red Eyes has been using her abilites to attack and manipulate the visitors to Dr. Köning's resort. A fearsome creature, the Woman With Red Eyes is capable of emitting a sound that incapacitates people, allowing her to attack them or mess with their perception of time and memory.

She effectively infects the children conceived on the grounds, resulting in them developing potential abilities like hers. Dr. Köning seeks to foster the development of this species, explaining his isolated resort and machiantions. The Woman With Red Eyes has been targeting people for years, and uses her innate connection with her "children" to unleash their full potential. However, before she can do so with Alma, Gretchen is able to lure her away and even kill her. The Woman With Red Eyes is the closest thing Cuckoo has to an old-school monster, and proves to be an effective threat.

Henry's Real Motivations & What Happened To His Wife

One of Gretchen's only allies in Cuckoo is Henry. Introduced as a detective looking into the resort, it's steadily revealed that Henry and his wife were former guests at the resort. However, their experience ultimately resulted in his wife dying. Henry's investigation is entirely self-focused, as he seeks revenge for her loss. At first, this makes him exactly the kind of ally Gretchen needs. No one else believes her about the Woman With Red Eyes. Henry's investigative skills and prior experience make him crucial in not only protecting Gretchen, but helping her escape capture.

However, the fact that he wants to kill everyone connected to the Woman, including Alma, makes Henry a dangerous wildcard in the third act of the film. Gretchen doesn't just have to work to avoid Dr. Köning but also Henry. There's also the genuine truth that he might be right about the dangerous qualities of Alma. Although she proves strong enough to help Gretchen escape and avoids the overt corruption of the Woman With Red Eyes, she may yet prove to be a similar threat. However, Gretchen's refusal to turn on her sister turns Henry from friend to reluctant foe.

Related 2024 Is One Of The Best Years For Horror In My Lifetime The horror genre has been having one of the best years it's ever had, with over a dozen critically-acclaimed scary films coming out in 2024.

Do Köning & Henry Die In Cuckoo's Ending?

Cuckoo has a number of deaths, especially in the third act once Gretchen has been exposed to the truth about the Woman With Red Eyes and Dr. Köning. Many of Dr. Köning's allies, including his fellow doctors researching the new species, are either killed by Henry or Dr. Köning himself. The monstrous Woman is slain by Gretchen after an intense game of cat-and-mouse. However, the last two big deaths are left somewhat unresolved. Discovering one another within the lab, Dr. Köning and Henry get into a shoot-out that only becomes more intense when Gretchen and Alma arrive.

The pair are able to shield one another from the gunmen, who hold back out of fear of hitting the wrong person. However, once the sisters have cleared the room, two gunshots ring out. Considering neither of them rush out to stop their escape, it's implied that Dr. Köning and Henry killed one another. However, because the moment is somewhat ambiguous, it would be possible for either or even both of them to have escaped with their lives in a prospective follow-up.

How Cuckoo Sets Up A Sequel

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The ending of Cuckoo resolves the primary threats of the film, but leaves enough lingering threads that could be brought back for a follow-up. Although the Woman With Red Eyes has been killed, it's possible that others like her may continue to exist or evovle. There were other women who transformed in a similar fashion to Alma, who could eventually replace her. There's also the chance that Alma could eventually given in to that side of herself, fully unlocking her abilities and transforming into a more monstrous figure.

The continued existence of the new species could easily justify a follow-up, expanding on their abilities and full history. It's also possible that Henry or Dr. Köning survived their fateful shoot-out. Given their motivations and how things played out at the end of the film, it's possible that either or both of them could return, seeking to finish their original plans. There's also the lingering possibility that Gretchen and Alma's father was more involved in the plan than he appeared, adding to the mystery that could be resolved with a sequel.

The Real Meaning Of Cuckoo

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Cuckoo is quietly a powerful movie about growing up and sisterhood, especially in regards to Gretchen and Alma. It's steadily revealed through the film that Gretchen was always closer with her mother over her father, especially after he left and had a new family. This divide remains between those two, but a softer one steadily grows between Gretchen and Alma. This builds to the point where Gretchen is willing to risk her life in a bid to try and rescue Alma, despite Henry explaining the dangers her survival presents the world. Their bond becomes the most important remaining connection Gretchen has, and it underscores much of the film's climax.

One of Dr. Köning's machinations is to effectively isolate Gretchen for much of the film, separating her from her family either through the mundanity of a part-time job to the more malicious efforts to keep her imprisoned in his resort. However, that emotional connection steadily proves to be an unshakable aspect of their relationship, and a key factor in both Gretchen and Alma's survival. Despite their different origins and family connections, the two are sisters. It's a surprisingly strong message of family bonds overcoming generational manipulation and pain, and gives Cuckoo a soft core beneath the unsettling scares.