Director: Lewis Teague
Writer: Don Carlos Dunaway, Lauren Currir (Screenplay) Stephen King (Novel)
Starring: Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Christopher Stone, Ed Lauter
Plot: A friendly St. Bernard named “Cujo” contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Ravenously Dark Horror
Story: Cujo starts with the friendly St Bernard Cujo chasing rabbits where he bites off more than he can chew after getting his head inside a den filled with bats, where he ends up getting bitten by fore mentioned bats. We go onto meet our main family the Trenton’s mother Donna (Wallace), father Vic (Kelly) and young son Tad (Pintauro).
When the Trenton’s have car trouble they turn to Joe Camber (Lauter) the local go to car mechnic and owner of Cujo, but as the bite becomes infected Cujo slowly starts to fall victim of the rabies he has been infected with. When Donna and Tad go to have the car looked at again they find themselves trapped by Cujo who has become a ravenous because of the rabies.
Cujo brings us such a simple idea behind a horror that could easily be real, what happens to Cujo could happen to any animal and when man’s best friend turns nasty it becomes hard to escape their strength. The trapped trying to survive a horror is such a tried and tested horror idea this films ends up using it excellently. (8/10)
Actor Review
Dee Wallace: Donna Trenton is the mother of Tad as well us the cheating wife of Vic, she needs to get her car fixed while looking after Tad but when they reach the mechanic’s house they find themselves in a battle against a now ravenous Cujo. Dee is great in this leading role trying to protect her child. (8/10)
Danny Pintauro: Tad Trenton is the young son of the Trenton family who believe in monsters however many times Vic tries to convince him there are no such things. When he visits the mechanic’s house he gets an encounter with a real life monster in the ravenous Cujo. Danny does a good job looking scared not just for the film but most likely for years to come. (7/10)
Support Cast: Cujo has a supporting cast that is mostly local residents and a few victims for Cujo.
Director Review: Lewis Teague – Lewis brings us a genuine horror film that truly scares the audience. (7/10)
Horror: Cujo puts the characters into a position where the horror will continue throughout their situation. (9/10)
Thriller: Cujo keeps you guessing to whether they will survive the problem. (8/10)
Settings: Cujo starts mostly in a small town but when Cujo traps Donna and Tad it keeps the idea of isolation together. (9/10)
Suggestion: Cujo is one for all the horror fans to have seen at least once. (Horror Fans Watch)
Best Part: Cujo is terrifying.
Worst Part: Not really one.
Scariest Scene: Cujo first attack on Donna and Tad.
Believability: Rabies will do this to animals so it would be fair to say it could happen. (6/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Box Office: $21 Million
Budget: $5 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
Tagline: Now there’s a new name for terror.
Trivia: Stephen King has stated that he feels Dee Wallace gives the best performance in this film of any film or TV adaptation of his books, including Kathy Bates‘s Oscar-winning turn in Misery (1990).
Overall: Scary, frightening man’s best friend gone evil that will scary you for days.
Rating
