Cuckoo (2024)

A shriek keeps echoing through the Bavarian Alps in Cuckoo, and the movie seems about as sure what it means as the characters are. Gretchen, a teenager who just lost her mother, gets hauled to a resort town by her dad Luis, her stepmom Beth and her silent little half sister Alma. Herr König, the resort’s enigmatic boss, puts Gretchen behind the front desk. Female guests keep falling ill. Alma has seizures whenever that noise rings out. Something hooded comes after Gretchen as she bikes home, and the local police brush it off. Hunter Schafer holds the whole thing together through sheer will, and Dan Stevens plays König as a joke and a threat at the same time. Tilman Singer’s style is moody and inventive, but the story gets messier the more it explains. It made $6.56 million worldwide on a reported $7M. A 5.4 because the leads are great and the plot is too silly to be scary. $98.66 says the next time a hotel manager is extra friendly at check-in, you ask for a room by the exit.

What works: Hunter Schafer is a strong, prickly lead, Dan Stevens is a blast as König, and the Alpine atmosphere is moody and inventive.

What doesn’t: The story turns chaotic as it explains itself, and the tone swings between serious and goofy so often that the scares never build.

Who it’s for: Horror fans who like weird European atmosphere and B-movie swings more than tidy plots.