Did you love 'Cuckoo'? Check out the bird-themed horror classic that inspired it

Horror films are evergreen. While people lament the death of the western every couple years (apologies to Kevin Costner), and cinephiles campaign for the death of the superhero era, horror keeps plugging along. There's a low-budget hit every few months, and Cuckoo looks to be next up.

The Neon release has been earning rave reviews for its tense atmosphere and stellar lead turns from Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens. Rightfully so. Cuckoo director Tilman Singer really gave his stars a chance to shine, and sink their teeth into some genuinely unsettling material.

Horror fans should check it and out come back to this article. The ones who have already seen the film, though, are in the right place. Cuckoo is filled with pop culture references and allusions to old horror films, but one reference point stands out as the most prominent.

(Mild) SPOILERS AHEAD for the plot of Cuckoo...

Cuckoo is in conversation with Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece The Birds (1963). Both films utilize the unpredictability of our feathered friends to explore the ways in which humans treat (and turn on) one another.

Tilman Singer told Screen Rant that he watched a documentary about the cuckoo bird, and was taken aback by the way they abandon their eggs in the nests of other birds. The director became taken with the idea of applying this to our own species.

" That was kind of beautiful — beautiful in a horrific way. So after a while, I thought like, how am I projecting this on humans?"

Cuckoo borrows imagery from The Birds

The Birds takes a more obvious approach than Cuckoo by having birds literally attack humans, but the similarities between the two films are notable. Both feature a blonde protagonist who ventures to a new location, and has several unnerving encounters with nature.

Both The Birds and Cuckoo see their blonde protagonists succumb to gruesome injuries as a result of these encounters, and are subsequently bandaged up. The promotional material for Cuckoo sees Hunter Schafer's character sporting a white bandage over her forehead, which is nearly identical to the appearance of Tippi Hedren's character at the end of the 1963 film.

Both films break the fourth wall in crucial scenes

The most pointed connection, however, is so subtle it may be overlooked on first viewing. During a crucial moment in Cuckoo, the character played by Dan Stevens breaks the fourth wall and looks at the viewer through the camera. It's a startling flourish, and one that has a direct parallel in The Birds.

During a scene in which birds attack a gas station, Tippi Hedren's character is confronted by a local. The local walks towards her, and accuses her of bringing about these occurrences. As she accosts Hedren's character, however, she looks straight down the lens of the camera. "I think you're the cause of all this," she proclaims.

In both instances, the films shatter the illusion and force the viewer to confront their own complicit role in what's happening. Cuckoo and The Birds have their distinct strengths, of course, but suffice to say, these two would make for a stellar double feature.