Cujo (film)

Cujo
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lewis Teague
Produced by	Robert Singer Daniel H. Blatt
Screenplay by	Don Carlos Dunaway Lauren Currier
Based on	Cujo by Stephen King
Starring	Dee Wallace Daniel Hugh-Kelly Danny Pintauro Ed Lauter Christopher Stone
Music by	Charles Bernstein
Cinematography	Jan de Bont
Edited by	Neil Travis
Production company	Taft Entertainment Sunn Classic Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. (United States and Canada) PSO International (Icon Productions) (international)
Release dates	August 12, 1983
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$21,156,152 (USA)

Cujo is a 1983 American psychological horror/thriller film based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. It was directed by Lewis Teague, and written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Lauren Currier.

Plot

The film begins with a rabbit hopping out of its hole, when a St. Bernard playfully chases it, until it accidentally gets its head in a bat cave, and a rabid bat bites its nose.

The Trentons – Vic, Donna and their son Tad – are an upper-middle-class suburban family. Vic works in advertising, Donna is a housewife and Tad is a sensitive little boy who has a strong fear of monsters in his closet. One day, the Trenton family takes their car to the rural home of abusive mechanic Joe Camber for some repairs, where they meet Cujo (the dog from the beginning) – the Camber family's easy-going St. Bernard who still has the bite on his nose received from the bat while chasing the rabbit in the cave. Donna suspiciously notices the bite but thinks little of it. Vic and Donna's marriage on the rocks is tested when Vic learns that Donna is having an affair with her ex-boyfriend from high school, Steve Kemp, while Vic's advertising for a cereal commercial is failing and he tries to save his marriage with Donna.

After Joe's wife, Charity, and her son, Brett, leave for a week to visit her sister, Holly, Cujo's bite from the rabid bat drives him mad, and he kills the Camber's alcoholic neighbor, Gary Pervier, and Joe in the garage, who attempts to call the authorities for help but fails to defend himself from his now rabid dog. Meanwhile, Vic goes out of town on a business trip as Donna and Tad return to the Cambers' house for more car repairs where Cujo attacks them (with Donna presumably realizing the reason of the bite on Cujo's nose). Donna and Tad take shelter in their Ford Pinto as Tad tries to convince Donna to drive home, but the alternator dies and the two are trapped. Therefore, they are forced to stay inside their car while Cujo attacks repeatedly. The hot sun makes conditions nearly unbearable and Donna knows that she must do something, before they both die from heatstroke or dehydration. Attempts at escape, however, are foiled by the mad Cujo's repeated attacks. Vic returns home to rekindle his marriage, only to find Donna and Tad missing and his house vandalized by Kemp. He suspects the possessive Steve Kemp of kidnapping, but then realizes his wife and son might be at the Camber's residence. The local Sheriff comes to the house for a brief standoff, before Cujo brutally kills him, knocking him off the catwalk and biting him.

Meanwhile, Donna takes advantage of a momentary distraction and hits Cujo with a baseball bat until it breaks off, leaving only a jagged handle. Cujo jumps at her and is impaled in the stomach by the broken bat. Donna then breaks the back window of the Pinto with the sheriff's revolver and retrieves Tad, as Cujo broke all of the door handles. As Donna revives the dehydrated and over-heated Tad in the house, a recovered Cujo breaks through the kitchen window and tries one final attempt to kill them, but Donna fatally shoots him just as Vic arrives, and is reunited with Donna and Tad.

Cast

• Dee Wallace as Donna Trenton
• Danny Pintauro as Tad Trenton
• Daniel Hugh-Kelly as Vic Trenton
• Christopher Stone as Steve Kemp
• Ed Lauter as Joe Camber
• Kaiulani Lee as Charity Camber
• Billy Jacoby as Brett Camber
• Mills Watson as Gary Pervier
• Jerry Hardin as Masen
• Sandy Ward as George Bannerman

Production

The original director was Peter Medak, who left the project two days into filming, along with his DOP Tony Richardson. They were replaced by Lewis Teague and Jan de Bont respectively.

Reception

Reviews of the film were mixed, and a more recent collation of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes has earned Cujo a "rotten" rating of 59% based on 29 reviews. Eleanor Mannikka of the New York Times wrote that:

"Cujo is not as menacing or frightening as other film adaptations of King's popular stories and especially can not compare to the 1976 Carrie...His condition deteriorates as he attacks people again and again, until finally, mom Donna Trenton and her son Tad are trapped inside the family car with Cujo lurking nearby, set to kill them any way he can. A showdown is inevitable but is just as predictable as the rest of the film."

Cujo was a modest box office success for Warner Brothers. The film was released August 12, 1983 in the United States, opening in second place that weekend. It grossed a total of $21,156,152 domestically, making it the fourth highest grossing horror film of 1983.

Remake

In 2015, Sunn Classic Pictures announced they would develop a remake titled C.U.J.O., which stands for “Canine Unit Joint Operations”.

External links

• Cujo at IMDb
• Cujo at AllMovie
• Cujo at Box Office Mojo
• Cujo at Rotten Tomatoes