Plot
A friendly St. Bernard named "Cujo" contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.

Release Year: 1983

Rating: 5.8/10 (12,771 voted)

Director: Lewis Teague

Stars: Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Danny Pintauro

Storyline
Donna Trenton is a frustrated suburban housewife whose life is a turmoil after her husband learns about her having an affair. Brett Camber is a young boy whose only companion is a Saint-Bernard named "Cujo", who in turn is bitten by a rabid bat. Whilst Vic, Donna's husband is away on business, and thinking over his marital troubles, Donna and her 5-year-old son Tad take her Pinto to Brett Cambers' dad's car shop... the car fails, and "Cujo" is very, very sick...

Writers: Stephen King, Don Carlos Dunaway

Cast:
Dee Wallace - Donna Trenton
Danny Pintauro - Tad Trenton
Daniel Hugh Kelly - Vic Trenton (as Daniel Hugh-Kelly)
Christopher Stone - Steve Kemp
Ed Lauter - Joe Camber
Kaiulani Lee - Charity Camber
Billy Jayne - Brett Camber (as Billy Jacoby)
Mills Watson - Gary Pervier
Sandy Ward - Bannerman
Jerry Hardin - Masen
Merritt Olsen - Professor
Arthur Rosenberg - Roger Breakstone
Terry Donovan-Smith - Harry
Robert Elross - Meara
Robert Behling - Fournier

Taglines: From Stephen King's novel comes a chilling tale of a quiet New England town and a horrible evil in the dead of Summer

Release Date: 12 August 1983

Filming Locations: Glen Ellen, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $6,114,000 (USA) (14 August 1983) (1239 Screens)

Gross: $21,200,000 (USA)

Runtime: 93 min

Trivia:
After the film Dee Wallace went on record saying she hoped she'd never see another Pinto in her life.

Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When Vic is at the elevator, about to leave the hotel, and Roger is talking to him, one or two crew members are reflected in the picture hanging on the wall next to the elevator.

Quotes:
Professor: Nope. Nothing wrong here.

A film that tells you that your demons will come back to haunt you.

Rating: 7/10

We all know Cujo is a giant St. Bernard that has to kill because he is rabid. The film works as a horror film because of that concept, but this film and the story writer behind it believe that paybacks are a bitch. Retribution is always around the corner and when it is your time, you don't know if it is going to from a guy in a hockey mask, a massive great white shark,a 58 red and white Plymouth Fury, some idiot with long finger knives or a lovable Saint Bernard. Whatever it is though, sin always accounted for. Cujo subscribes to that theory.

Everyone that dies in this film, with the exception of maybe one, does so because they are not very likable people to begin with. They are all tainted and when Cujo gets a hold of them, we are almost glad that he wants their blood. But it is the climax of the film that is the most intriguing. Because here we have a woman who has gotten rid of her sin. But she now has to face the music not for what she is doing, but for what she has done. And if you read the book, you will see that it sticks to that theory and message much more than the film does. It is understood that Cujo has to have a happy Hollywood ending, and that is fine, but the book tells a much more clear yet paradoxically convoluted tale of a boy, his dog, and how sin is never really forgiven.

What is also great about Cujo is how it shows the dog coming unravelled. We see the transformation from lovable suck of a family dog, to vicious killing machine that has an insatiable need for blood. We see his nose get more wet, we see how certain noises bother him more and we see how much saliva this dog has stored up in his nasty mouth.

Cujo is a good movie. It is scary, especially the last half hour and it actually has a point. It also does a fairly good job of bringing King's vision to life. It is not easy to do that, after all King has a very vivid imagination. But Cujo comes close. Very close

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