“Cuckoo” alternatively baffled and unnerved me with its deliberate oddness. Although I am not sure about whether it is as effective as intended, I admire how it gradually dials up the level of its sinister suspense beneath the screen before eventually revealing more of its wacky aspects, and that compensates for its rather weak narrative and thin characterization to some degree.

The story mainly revolves around an adolescent girl named Gretchen (Hunter Schafer). She has been grieving a lot over her mother’s death, but her father Luis (Marton Csokas) married his second wife Beth (Jessica Henwick) not long after his first wife’s death, and he and Beth already have a young daughter, who is incidentally mute for some unspecific reason.

Anyway, Gretchen and her family are moving to somewhere in the German Alps just because Luis’s old German friend, Mr. König (Dan Stevens), offers him not only a job but also a nice house to stay. Needless to say, Gretchen does not like this change that much, and we observe more of the distance between her and the family as they start the first day at their new house. Feeling more isolated and alienated than before, she misses her dead mother more, but there is no comfort or consolation from the others around her, and that makes her all the more frustrated.

Meanwhile, Mr. König suggests that Gretchen should work at his nearby hotel. She accepts his suggestion because, well, that is a bit better than being stuck with her father and his new family in their new house, and then she is quite baffled by how the hotel is managed. While it looks mostly neat and clean, there are only a very few guests and staff members, and that makes the hotel looks as empty and unnerving as that spooky hotel in “The Shining” (1980). 

Moreover, Mr. König emphasizes that Gretchen must go back to the house before nighttime without explaining anything at all, and she becomes more baffled as gradually sensing more of how weird his hotel and its surrounding area are. For example, she notices a guest looking not so well at one point, but her co-worker is not concerned that much, even though there is actually a big hospital not so far from the hotel.

 Above all, it seems that there is something sinister about the area surrounding the hotel – especially after Gretchen has a particularly frightening incident at one late night. When Gretchen later happens to be with her stepsister during one afternoon, she suddenly experiences something quite strange and disturbing, and then her stepsister has sort of seizure. She is immediately taken to that local hospital, but her doctor does not tell much about what is exactly happening to her, and that certainly makes her parents quite worried to say the least.

Becoming more confused and unnerved, Gretchen wants to go away more than before, but, not so surprisingly, she only finds herself menaced and entrapped more by whatever is Mr. König is hiding behind his back. Thanks to a certain stranger who turns out to be more helpful than expected, she subsequently delves deeper into whatever is happening around her, and what she eventually discovers is not so pleasant to say the least.

During the last act, the movie becomes much weirder as going further with more surprise and horror, but that is where it stumbles more than once. Besides Gretchen and Mr. König, most of the other main characters in the story are under-developed, and the movie could bring more depth to Gretchen’s strained relationship with her new family. In addition, once the origin of its horror, which is incidentally associated with its very title, is fully revealed at last, the movie does not seem to know what to do next, and that is why the finale feels deficient without much dramatic impact.

Nevertheless, the movie keeps us engaged to some degree thanks to the committed efforts from its two good performers. Hunter Schafer, who has been mainly known for her supporting performance in HBO drama series “Euphoria”, is compelling as palpably illustrating her character’s inner struggles along the story, and her convincing performance steadily holds the ground to the end. On the opposite, Dan Stevens, who already demonstrated that he can speak German fairy well in “I’m Your Man” (2021), is fun to watch as deftly balancing his character between charm and insidiousness, and his offbeat performance, which is often coupled with a certain little musical instrument, keeps us on the edge right from the start.

In contrast, the movie does not utilize much of its several other main cast members, and that is the main weakness of the film. While Jan Bluthardt, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Marton Csokas, and Jessica Henwick are mostly stuck in their thankless supporting roles, young performer Mila Lieu manages to hold her own place well around her adult co-performers, and I wish the movie paid a bit more attention to her character.

Overall, “Cuckoo” is not entirely satisfying, but it is not boring at all mainly thanks to the enjoyable performances from Schafer and Stevens as well as the competent direction of director/writer Tilman Singer, who previously made a feature film debut with “Luz” (2018). As far as I can see, he is a good filmmaker who does know how to intrigue us with mood and detail, and he may impress me more with whatever he will make next after this flawed but curious second feature film of his.