Hunter Schafer from “Euphoria” has her first leading role in a feature film as a Final Girl in the spine-chilling body horror film “Cuckoo,” and Schafer absolutely slays it in a badass performance that’s funny, empathetic, powerful and resolute. When Schafer’s Gretchen learns some devastating news, she responds by punching the person who delivers that news square in the nose. It’s a moment equal parts funny and emotional, and it’s indicative of how Schafer owns every scenes she’s in, and how “Cuckoo” often zigs when we expect it to zag, and zags when we expect it to zig.
Writer-director Tilman Singer has delivered a tightly spun piece of twisted folklore, which has echoes of films such as “The Shining,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and there’s even a callback to a flashback scene in “The Godfather II,” I kid you not. Much of what transpires in “Cuckoo” depends on your willingness to just go with it, and your forgiveness for a couple of loose ends that remain untied throughout. The fun here is enjoying the screen-popping performances by Schafer and Dan Stevens as a snarling villain, not to mention the quality Jump Scares and the overall creepy vibe.
Armed with a world of attitude and resentment (not to mention a switchblade), 17-year-old Gretchen arrives at a Bavarian Alps resort with her father, Luis (Martin Csokas), and Luis’ second family: his wife Beth (Jessica Henwick) and their child Alma (Mila Lieu), who is mute and communicates primarily through a smartphone app. Luis and Beth are both architects, and they’ve been hired by the hotel’s operator, Herr König (Dan Stevens) to design a new tourist resort. (Stevens speaks flawless German, as evidenced by roles in previous films such as “I’m Your Man” and “Hilde.”)
With Stevens turning in a fantastically bonkers performance, it’s quickly evident that the weirdly controlling and ominous König is not going to be the most welcoming of hosts. For one thing, König is prone to taking out a little flute and playing a tune like some kind of demented pied piper. He also calls himself a “preservationist” and waxes rhapsodic about how the cuckoo is a brood parasite, which means they don’t make their own nests and don’t raise their young. (Gretchen should be taking notes.)
While Luis obsesses over Alma, who is starting to experience seizures, Gretchen is terrorized by a hooded woman in a raincoat who seems to have some kind of supernatural influence and screeches like the aliens in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” (Hooded Woman, played by Kalin Morrow, is among the scarier characters in any movie this year.)
“Cuckoo” embraces horror movie tropes, e.g., an inexplicably located on-site medical facility run by the rigid and intimidating Dr. Bonomo (Proschat Madari), who would probably tell you her all-time favorite movie is “Frankenstein,” no wait, “The Bride of Frankenstein.” There are a number of grossout scenes involving young women vomiting and experiencing weird tremors, and some stabbings and shootings as well. Something very, very, very disturbing is happening at this resort, and if Gretchen manages to get out of there alive, she’ll surely be haunted by nightmares and perhaps even the possibility of a sequel down the road.