'Cuckoo' review: Hunter Schafer leads Tilman Singer’s eerie horror film

Courtesy of NEON

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German writer-director Tilman Singer knows how to build suspense and atmosphere much in the same way his contemporary, Osgood Perkins displayed with “Longlegs.” Now comes “Cuckoo,” an eerie, moody horror film featuring “Euphoria” breakout Hunter Schafer playing a teenager in the crosshairs of some unnerving (and bizarre) characters who seem weirdly obsessed with her family. The movie proves Singer, making his English language debut following a string of short films and one feature, is an emerging voice worth paying attention to, even if his film can’t quite deliver on the premise it initially establishes. 

But there is a free-wheeling “let’s see where this goes” attitude that gives “Cuckoo” some edge and an inspired ambiance that evokes memories of both “The Shining,” and “Rosemary’s Baby” certainly doesn’t hurt. Schafter pays Gretchen, an angsty teen forced to relocate with her estranged father and step-mother (Marton Csokas and Jessica Henwick) and half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu) to a secluded resort in the German alps. 

Once there, we’re introduced to the prickly and solicitous Dr. König (Dan Stevens - bringing the juice as he always does), who takes a keen interest almost immediately in Alma. Red flags pop up all over Gretchen’s radar and she begins questioning why everyone is so strange, abstract, and weirdly chill with people coming out of the woods and making screeching mating calls that seem to alter perception of space and time. Trying to piece together the mystery at the center of Dr. König’s sinister agenda is where Singer’s screenplay really cooks. 

Gretchen is a smart character and Singer enjoys playing with the final girl trope as she walks the line of understanding the resort is obviously not what it’s advertised to be versus why her dad brought them there. It leads towards some wild, head scratching revelations that left this viewer feeling a little perplexed and, ultimately, disappointed. As is the case with every movie that tries hiding the twists until the end (“Longlegs” suffered from this too), you eventually have to try and give some resolution and whether or not it works will be based more on personal preference than anything. 

Singer can’t escape horror cliches either, like how Gretchen pleads with her parents about the shady things she’s recently encountered, be it witnessing people throwing up daily while working the overnight shift at the hotel or that time she got chased down by a crazy blonde women with red, glowing eyes, and nobody believes her. Still, Gretchen is a well defined character who the filmmaker makes easy to root for and the closing moments pack an unexpected emotional wallop about the bond of sisterhood and the tragedy of loss. It’s these sequences that stick with you (as does Stevens perfectly dialed in performance) that make “Cuckoo” a film one can’t easily shake, but perhaps one not worth revisting. 

Grade: B 

CUCKOO is now playing in theaters.