Cujo (1983)

John Chard

7.0

Oct 19, 2014

Barmy Bernard. Stephen King’s Cujo was brought to the screen and met with indifference back in 1983, yet it’s aged surprisingly well and comes out as one of the better “mad animal” movies that followed in the wake of Jaws. A big cuddly St. Bernard dog is bitten on the nose by a bat, cops a serious bout of Hydrophobia and then terrorises anyone in its path. Which spells bad news for Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) and her young son Tad (Danny Pintauro), who have the misfortune to be stuck in a battered old Pinto that has broken down in Cujo’s territory. Lewis Teague directs with no little…

This was solid and unexpectedly fulfilling--perhaps because I'm a cat enthusiast and am neutral towards dogs to begin with. My 13-year-old son and I enjoyed it very much. I haven't read the book yet, so it's unnecessary for enjoyment of the movie IMHO. Worth both a purchase and rewatching for genre aficionados.

Gimly

5.0

Jul 18, 2019

God I forgot how fuckin' annoying that kids screaming is... Mad props to the titular Cujo, but I think this particular King adaptation maybe doesn't hold up as well as I thought it might. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._