Cujo (film)

Last updated

Cujo
CujoVHScover.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Lewis Teague
Screenplay by
Based on Cujo
by Stephen King
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Jan de Bont
Edited by Neil Travis
Music by Charles Bernstein
Production
companies
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • August 12, 1983 (1983-08-12)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million [2]
Box office$21.2 million [3]

Cujo is a 1983 American horror film directed by Lewis Teague, written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Barbara Turner (using the pen name Lauren Currier), [4] and starring Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Danny Pintauro. An adaptation of Stephen King's 1981 novel of the same name, it follows a mother and her son who are trapped inside their car while protecting themselves from a rabid St. Bernard.

Contents

Plot

Cujo, a friendly and easygoing St. Bernard, chases a wild rabbit and inserts his head into a cave, where a rabid bat bites him on the nose. The Trenton family—advertising executive Vic, housewife Donna, and young son Tad—take their car to the rural home of abusive mechanic Joe Camber for repairs, where they meet Cujo, the Camber family's pet, and get along well with him.

Vic and Donna's marriage is tested when Vic learns that Donna had been having an affair with her ex-boyfriend from high school, Steve Kemp. The early signs of Cujo's infection start to appear, though no one notices. Joe Camber's wife Charity and his son Brett decide to leave for a week to visit Charity's sister. The furious stage of Cujo's infection sets in. Cujo refrains from attacking Brett but goes completely mad and kills the Cambers' alcoholic neighbor Gary. He then mauls Joe to death.

Vic goes out of town on a business trip as Donna and Tad return to the Cambers' house for more car repairs. Cujo tries to attack them, and they are forced to take shelter in their Ford Pinto. Donna tries to drive home, but the car's alternator dies, and the two are trapped inside. The hot sun makes conditions unbearable, and Donna realizes that she must do something before they both die from heatstroke or dehydration.

Attempts at escape are foiled by Cujo repeatedly attacking the car, breaking a window, and biting Donna. Vic returns after his phone calls go unanswered, and finds Donna and Tad missing and his house vandalized by Kemp. Police realize his wife and son might be at the Cambers'. Local sheriff George Bannerman goes, but Cujo mauls him to death.

Donna attempts to get to the house to bring an overheated Tad water; she fights Cujo with a baseball bat until it breaks. Cujo jumps and is impaled in the stomach by the broken bat. Donna takes the sheriff's gun and contemplates shooting the dog but decides saving Tad is more important. Inside the house, Cujo tries again to attack Donna, but she manages to shoot Cujo before Vic arrives and reunites with his family.

Cast

Production

Principal photography of Cujo took place mainly on a cattle ranch on Sonoma Mountain near Petaluma, California in the fall of 1982. [6]

The original director was Peter Medak, who left the project two days into filming, along with DOP Anthony B. Richmond. They were replaced by Lewis Teague and Jan de Bont respectively. [7]

Cujo was played by four St. Bernards, several mechanical dogs, and a black Labrador–Great Dane mix in a St. Bernard costume. [8] In some shots, stuntman Gary Morgan played Cujo while wearing a large dog costume. [9] Karl Miller was the trainer for the dogs in Cujo. [10] Frank Welker provided the vocal effects of Cujo. [5]

Release

Warner Bros. released Cujo theatrically in the United States on August 12, 1983. [2]

Home media

Artisan Entertainment first released Cujo on DVD format in 2000. [11] A 25th-anniversary DVD was subsequently released by Artisan in 2007. [12] Olive Films issued a 30th-anniversary Blu-ray on January 22, 2013. [13] Kino Lorber released a 40th-anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray edition on October 24, 2023. [14]

Reception

Box office

Cujo was a modest box office success for Warner Bros. The film opened in second place at the U.S. box office. [15] It grossed a total of $21,156,152 domestically, [3] making it the fourth-highest-grossing horror film of 1983 behind Jaws 3-D , Psycho II , and Twilight Zone: The Movie . [16]

Critical response

Reviews from critics were mixed. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote the film was "by no means a horror classic, but it's suspenseful and scary". [17] Variety panned it as "a dull, uneventful entry in the horror genre, a film virtually devoid of surprises or any original suspense". [18] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one star out of four, calling it "one of the dumbest, flimsiest excuses for a movie I have ever seen". [19] Roger Ebert called it "dreadful", [20] while Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "no theater is air conditioned enough to justify watching this scary, gory and beastly movie," though she did concede that Teague "directs the violent, scary scenes and some of the quiet domestic ones with efficiency." [21]

Steve Jenkins of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "for the most part Cujo works very effectively as a near reductio ad absurdum of the woman-in-peril-mode", but disliked that the film changed the ending from the book, thinking it made "absolutely no sense in terms of the film's logic". [22] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film three out of a possible four stars, calling it "genuinely frightening", and also writing: "Builds slowly but surely to [its] terrifying (but not gory) climax". [23] Stephen King called the film "terrific" and named it one of his favorite adaptations. [24]

Film student Alice Foulkes wrote a retrospective review of Cujo for The National Student in 2018, in which she argued that the absence of fantasy elements and general plausibility of Cujo make it more terrifying than most horror films. [25]

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 60% approval rating based on 45 reviews, with the website's consensus stating: "Cujo is artless work punctuated with moments of high canine gore and one wild Dee Wallace performance". [26] On Metacritic, the film holds a 57 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [27]

Remake

In March 2025, Netflix announced they were developing a remake of the film with Roy Lee serving as producer. [28] [29]

Notes

  1. ↑ Credited as Lauren Currier.

References

  1. ↑ "Blu-Ray Art and Details: Near Dark, Cujo, and Frailty". May 22, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Cujo (1983)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute.
  3. 1 2 "Cujo (1983)". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  4. ↑ Gingold, Michael (April 6, 2016). "RIP "Cujo" scripter Barbara Turner". Fangoria . Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Barking For A Living". The Bark. December 1, 2010. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  6. ↑ Rossman, Randi (October 29, 1982). "A ranch where the mad Cujos roam". The Press Democrat . p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Garris, Mick. "Mick Garris on Cujo". Trailers from Hell . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  8. ↑ London, Michael (August 19, 1983). "A Pack Of Bogus Bernards Helps Give 'Cujo' Its Bite". Los Angeles Times . p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Miska, Brad (March 14, 2017). "Stephen King's 'Cujo': Never-before-seen Photos From the Set! (Exclusive)". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Roll over, Beethoven, for the Real 'Saints' : Dogs: Owners and trainers say the film canine gave their pets an unruly reputation. But, they admit, they are more popular then ever". Los Angeles Times . May 14, 1992. Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  11. ↑ Cujo (DVD). Artisan Entertainment. 2000. OCLC   1079872101.
  12. ↑ Miller, Randy III. "Cujo: 25th Anniversary Edition". DVD Talk . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  13. ↑ Miller, Randy III (January 20, 2013). "Cujo: 30th Anniversary Edition". DVD Talk . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Cujo 4K Blu-ray (40th Anniversary Edition)". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on November 27, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Weekend Box Office August 12-14, 1983". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Domestic Box Office For 1983". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on July 12, 2012.
  17. ↑ Maslin, Janet (August 13, 1983). "Film: 'Cujo,' Good Dog Gone Wrong". The New York Times : 13. Archived from the original on December 22, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Cujo". Variety : 23. August 17, 1983.
  19. ↑ Siskel, Gene (August 12, 1983). "Trashy 'Cujo' shouldn't happen to a dog". Chicago Tribune . section 3, p. 1
  20. ↑ Ebert, Roger (October 26, 1983). "The Dead Zone". Chicago Sun-Times . Archived from the original on August 14, 2015 – via RogerEbert.com.
  21. ↑ Gross, Linda (August 15, 1983). "Rabid Dog On The Rampage In 'Cujo'". Los Angeles Times . p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Cujo". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 60 (598): 302. November 1983.
  23. ↑ Maltin, Leonard; Sader, Luke; Clark, Mike; Edelman, Rob (2013). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide . Penguin Press. p.  308. ISBN   978-0-451-41810-4.
  24. ↑ Greene, Andy (October 31, 2014). "Stephen King: The Rolling Stone Interview, Rolling Stone Issue 1221, November 6, 2014". Rolling Stone . Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  25. ↑ Foulkes, Alice (August 12, 2018). "Cujo - reviewing the cult classic through modern eyes, 35 years on". The National Student . Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Cujo (1983)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Cujo", Metacritic , CBS Interactive , retrieved October 24, 2019
  28. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (March 11, 2025). "Netflix Sets Remake of Stephen King's 'Cujo'". Variety. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
  29. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 11, 2025). "Stephen King's 'Cujo' Still Has Bite; Netflix Sets Movie Deal For Classic Thriller Novel". Deadline. Retrieved March 12, 2025.
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