CUJO (1983)

CUJO (1983)

Tagline: Now there's a new name for terror...

(Horror, Thriller, Dogs Can Smell Infidelity And Fear) [R]

Who let the monster out of my closet? Who let the monster out of my closet?

In this one, Donna Trenton is taking one of their cars with her son Tad to get it repaired. Little do they know that Joe Camber has just run into the worst nightmare of his life as the family’s St. Bernard “Cujo” has contracted rabies and has begun terrorizing anyone in his path. 

First off, I read this book back in the 7th grade and I remember freakin hating it. Having already seen the movie, for me the book was just a massive downer. Re-watching this movie recently I know that pretty much everyone hates Donna and that the central theme of this movie is that sin and cruelty in general get repaid in sometimes gruesome and horrifying ways. In fact, that is a central theme of a LOT of the great horror flicks. The fact that horror has gotten more and more away from this central theme actually sucks. Anyway, back to the movie. Donna for me, kind of highlights a bigger problem. Marriage and kids are always more than just the physical side of things. You have to be in the moment emotional and spiritually as well. This is not to say that Vic wasn’t also meeting those needs for her. The movie never gets into it, but it’s a least a subtle caution that society in general needs well-rounded rock solid men putting time into their wives. 

Acting wise Dee Wallace crushes this role as Donna and it’s no surprise. She is a phenomenal actress and probably the single most talented scream queen of them all aside from possibly Jamie Lee Curtis. That would actually be a great debate overall. Dee currently has 12 projects in the works as of the writing of this review and has starred in everything from CRITTERS to THE HOWLING with 271 acting credits and counting (you read that right). Daniel Hugh Kelly who plays Vic has also had a very successful career in Hollywood and is probably best known for THE GOOD SON. In this role, he is very solid and I really don’t have any complaints. It’s possible the second best and also most annoying performance comes from Danny Pintauro who plays Donna and Vic’s son Tad. Danny Pintauro has had an off-and-on career acting, but is best known for the TV show “Who’s The Boss”. 

Regarding the pacing, the first two-thirds of this movie are mostly used for set up with a very faint way of trying to get us to let Donna off the hook, but overall I only found myself rooting for half this cast and most of them were out of town. The build-up suspense wise is very good and I felt the final act couldn’t have been set in a more terrifying situation, given how realistic this movie is. Yes, you can actually picture someone getting in this predicament and the gore is pretty spot on. I don’t agree that it was over the top just to give this more of a horror feel. When dogs get pissed they can do a LOT of damage. We don't get an overbearing soundtrack, but the score is superb. 

This is probably one of Stephen King’s least unique ideas being that it’s basically a horror version of OLD YELLER and apparently he doesn’t even remember writing the book. It should also be noted that the book was loosely a sequel to THE DEAD ZONE via Frank Dodd being killed and becoming a kind of spook in Castle Rock and allegedly haunted Tad. Having said that CUJO is effective horror that hits close to home with a situation like this always lurking around the corner. 

I give CUJO a 6 out of 7. It’s one of King’s better endings and there are a lot of lessons here even if the film wasn’t intending to be teaching them. 

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