[HorrorScience] Cujo (1983)

Reading time: 5 minutes

Qualification

Cujo

Year

1983

Duration

93 minutes

Director

Peter Medak and Lewis Teague

Distribution

Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Christopher Stone, Ed Lauter, Kaiulani Lee, Billy Jacoby, Mills Watson, Jerry Hardin, Sandy Ward, Owen Ashworth

Script

Stephen King (original story) Lauren Currier

After having spoken some time ago about Misery, I comment again in this section on a film based on a story by Stephen King.

Although there are many famous adaptations of his books (Pet Sematary, The Shining, It, Carrie, The Mist…) I have decided to comment Cujo, a film based on a somewhat less popular work by the writer, although it is still better known than others (perhaps in large part thanks to this film).

In this film the center of the story is a huge Saint Bernard, an animal generally considered kind and friendly not only in cinema and television (thanks to the popular film saga Beethoven) but also in real life, when these dogs are used to save people trapped or lost in snowy areas.

The film begins by showing us how a Saint Bernard dog named Cujo chases a rabbit to a small hole where the animal is hiding. In his search, the dog puts his head in the hole and barks at the rabbit, which causes some bats to bite him on the nose and make him flee. From here we go to the home of the Trenton family, who will meet Cujo when they take one of their cars to be fixed by a mechanic who lives on the outskirts of town. Cujo is calm and playful, but over time starts acting strange, making his family worry about him.

A few days later, the poor animal succumbed to the disease transmitted to it by the bats, foams at the mouth and begins to behave aggressively, so it will not take long to attack humans, attracted by the noise they make.

Without knowing it, Donna Trenton decides to go with her son to the mechanic to have his other car looked at, but there will be no one waiting there, only Cujo.

[HorrorScience] Cujo (1983) — Cujo in the final part of the film

Cujo It can be divided into two parts, on the one hand the family scenes and on the other the scenes of the dog himself. The first ones are boring and lengthen the film, they are supposed to make us interested in the characters, but in my case it didn't work. The dog scenes, even when he doesn't attack and just moves or looks threateningly, are the best in the movie and the only thing that stands out.

I suppose that is why I consider that the final part, with Donna trapped in the car along with her son completely watched and dominated by Cujo, is the best part of the film, making me remember (within the distance) the final part of Jaws (Shark) where the three protagonists are on the high seas suffering harassment from the shark and trying to hunt it.

In general Cujo It's a decent movie The first part is very slow and does not contribute anything that really helps the movie build up to what's to come, but then it becomes quite interesting and keeps you in suspense.

Curiosities about the film:

The director (Peter Medak) left the film before completing it, a task that fell to Lewis Teague.
The dog trainer proposed changing the Saint Bernard for another type of dog that was more common and easier to train like a Doberman, but the producer did not want to.
Although it does not seem to be clear how many exactly, it is known that quite a few different Saint Bernards were used to make the film due to the difficulty of training one in everything. A costumed actor and a fake Saint Bernard were also used for some scenes (such as the headbutt against the car).
Although the film tries to show a warm atmosphere (especially in the final part) it was actually October and it was quite cold.
Because the dogs wagged their tails happily, they tied them down when filming their scenes to make them appear more threatening.
In the novel the boy dies at the end, the producers decided to leave him alive in the film. Stephen King said that he thought it was a good change, as this would prevent them from receiving threatening emails.
The dog trainer in this movie is the same one who trained the dogs in the comedies. Beethoven and Beethoven 2.