A frusterated housewife named Donna
Trenton (Dee Wallace Stone) has a great
husband named Vic (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and
a 5 year old son named Tad (Danny
Pintauro) but yet she has been having an
affair with another man named Steve Kemp
(Christopher Stone) but she tries to
break it off with him but Vic finds out
about the affair with Kemp and goes away
on business for 10 days to think about
their marriage.
Meanwhile, they have one of their
vehicles which is a pinto being repaired
by an owner named Joe Camber (Ed Lauter)
as him and his family owns a Saint
Bernard named Cujo whom is supposedly
friendly but Cujo was bitten on the nose
by a bat while chasing after a rabbit in
a cave and ends up having rabies.
Noises disturb Cujo and slowly he gets
moody eventually getting sicker all the
time from the bat bite to the point where
he ends up first killing Ed's friend Gary
Pervier (Mills Watson) and then Ed spots
Gary's corpse in his friend and then Cujo
attacks him as well leaving them both
dead as well as Ed's son Joe (Billy
Jacoby).
Donna and Tad drives up to Ed's ranch to
find out how their pinto is coming along
and thier car battery dies right when
they arrive and are pitted against Cujo
as the two of them are stranded trapped
in their car.
Someone advised me that this was a good
movie abut I found it pointless.
Yes, it is suspenseful and disturbing as
you wonder how the mother and child will
be able to survive in their car with that
dog as you want that dog killed for being
deadly but the story lacks a stroong plot
as basically the rest of the time it's
set with the mother and child trapped in
their car pitted again that vicious
beast. The book by Stephen King
is apparently much better.
The acting is very
good as we have a nice performance again
by Dee Wallace Stone. I have
never had an issue with her acting in any
of the films and she does a great job in
all of them. She knew how to drive her
confusions on what choices she had to
make and was also very good with her
actions towards the Saint Bernard.
We have a debut film performance by TV
child star Danny Pintauro who
has such a cute personality in the film
as if you'd want to have a child like
that in your life to make your day every
day. He was terrific with his terrifying
emotions when the dog attacks the car and
when he was having seizures too wondering
if they were really happening. A year
after this film he'd be well remembered
in the sitcom Who's the Boss?
Two men are bloodily
attacked by the dog.
The dog keeps looking gruesome too the
sicker he gets.
Otherwise the gore in this film is a
total bomb.
Lewis Teague keeps
the flow going
with his work on the film even if
the plot is a little weak.
He shows great scenery with Dee
Wallace Stone and Danny Pintauro
pitted against the dog showing their
fears and stress. You totally jump too
when the dog for the first time tries to
attack their characters through an open
car window too.
There was great direction with the late Christopher
Stone's role being forceful towards
real life wife Dee Wallace Stone
herself.
Charles
Bernstein has some excellent
composition with his music and I
especially admired his deep echoing
synthesizer sounds when it shows the
vicious Saint Bernard. He knows how to
compose for a dark horror film for sure.
Vic
Trenton: There are no real monsters.
Tad Trenton: Except for the one in
my closet.
Donna
Trenton: Fuck you, dog.
[Joe
Camber has encountered Cujo in the
garage. Cujo glares at him menacingly
& growls]
Joe Camber: Cujo?
[the dog snarls again, and approaches
him menacingly]
Joe Camber: Oh my God... you're
rabid!
[Cujo barks savagely and charges at
Joe. He puts his arms up to defend
himself as Cujo attacks]
Joe Camber: [yelling] NO!
NO! CUJO!
[the dog jumps on him & knocks him
down]
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