It’s nutty.
Hunter Schafer from “Euphoria” plays Gretchen, a sullen 17-year-old who travels to a resort in the German Alps with her father, stepmom and young step-sis who doesn’t speak. Almost immediately things get weird, with their creepy host, Herr Konig, played by an over-the-top Dan Stevens as a cross between Christoph Waltz and Vincent Price, making little effort to hide the fact that something very sinister is going on.
Sure enough, Konig gives grumpy Gretchen a job at the resort’s reception desk, and other than encountering puking guests and other odd strangers, she’s attacked by … well, I don’t want to give too much away. Let’s just say writer-director Tilman Singer (“Luz”) knows how to bring the chills with suspense, shadows and a screeching creature that has a big mouth in more ways than one.
Hunter Schafer encounters terror in “Cuckoo.” (Neon)
In keeping with Stevens’ take on Herr Konig, this is a mad-scientist kind of movie – think ’50 sci-fi horror schlock with a touch of David Lynch – that is so convoluted and off-kilter that you’ll probably either struggle to follow it or will simply give up.
I admit to being confused, but for some reason the movie’s relentless insanity, combining awkwardness and awfulness, tickled me. I don’t know how much of the humor is intentional, and I don’t really care: This movie is a hoot. Sure, it would be better if there were a little more clarity as to what exactly is going on, but maybe that would take away from its WTF appeal. I know some of my colleagues absolutely hated it – consider that a warning. But it made me giggle. *** (out of four)
** Click here for Tim Miller’s previous movie columns for Cape Cod Wave **
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Tim Miller, Movie Critic
Tim Miller is co-president of the Boston Society of Film Critics and a Tomatometer-approved critic. He teaches film and journalism at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or follow him onTwitter @TimMillerCritic. Or you can ignore him completely.
