Pulpy 'Cuckoo' delivers in ear-splitting shrieks and performances

In horror films, there are a few pantheons.

Best villains, best locations, best kills, for example. But the most likely debated hall of fame is the best Final Girl. A Final Girl, for those of you who don’t spend your movie time trying to find something even more twisted than the last thing you watched, is the female character in a horror movie (often a slasher film) who evades evil until the very end and makes it out alive.

Famous Final Girls include Laurie Strode from the “Halloween” franchise, Sally Hardesty from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and, more recently, Maxine Minx from A24’s "X" trilogy.

The best part of German filmmaker Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo” is his contribution to the Final Girl conversation. Hunter Schafer (HBO’s "Euphoria") plays Gretchen, a bloodied and switchblade-wielding heroine who will stop at nothing to survive.

What happens in 'Cuckoo?'

After the passing of her mother, Gretchen (Schafer) moves with her disengaged father (Martin Csokas), stepmother (Jessica Henwick) and her non-verbal sister Alma (Mila Lieu) to a secluded resort in the German Alps while her father helps build a new part of the hotel.

There to greet them is hotelier Herr K?nig (Dan Stevens) who quickly deserves the twinge in the music that happens when he’s on screen. Is he just overly friendly and Gretchen is angsty about being here, or is there something more happening behind the round glasses of this German family friend?

As she starts working at the hotel desk, Gretchen notices more than just K?nig is off about this place. Guests are violently throwing up in the lobby, dismissed as commonplace when it’s brought up, and one night she seeks refuge at the hospital after being chased on her way home.

Gretchen starts with just a gouge on her head after running into a glass door at the hospital, but as she falls deeper into understanding the strained scream that radiates throughout the area, the hooded woman with big round white glasses who is after her and the glitches in time, she gains more bruises, a robotic looking arm cast and a blood- drenched style that earns her a spot in the Final Girl conversation.

Along with a new friend (can we really trust new friends we meet in creepy hotels in the woods?), Gretchen puts everything on the line to rescue her sister from nefarious experimentation and control.

Dan Stevens and Hunter Schafer elevate 'Cuckoo'

“Cuckoo” is one of the best-looking horror films I’ve seen this year. (Producer Josh Rosenbaum is from Phoenix.) Shot on 35mm film, the colors capture the contrast of beautiful surroundings and absolute terror. It’s stylistic and sexy. There’s a heart-pounding shot that Singer repeatedly returns to; the camera alters to show that something is just not right.

But even with the highly stylized atmosphere, “Cuckoo” doesn’t quite land the plane. It’s not really clear what the villainous plan is or how the villains are executing it. It feels like the pieces are there — something to do with parasitic birds and human breeding? — but how it all connects to Lieu’s Alma character or girls before her isn’t explained enough to satisfy.

Stevens and Schafer are outstanding, though. They create powerful tension and an eerie ambiance that brings the movie to a higher level. Any time they’re on-screen, it’s easy to forget that the ending doesn’t make a lot of sense.

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'Cuckoo' 3.5 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Tilman Singer

Cast: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Martin Csokas

Rating: R for violence, bloody images, language and brief teen drug use.

How to Watch: In theaters Friday, August 9

Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @amandaluberto.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Cuckoo' review: Hunter Schafer is horror's new Final Girl