Cujo (1983) Review

"Nope, nothing wrong here."

-Professor 

Cujo follows the story of the Trenton family.  Vic Trenton (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) is father-of-the-year and an all around great guy, but is having some serious problems at work.  His wife, Donna (Dee Wallace), isn't as natural at parenting as Vic and is also having an affair.  Their son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), is convinced a monster lives in his closet.  When Vic has to go out of town for a business meeting, Donna and Tad take their car to get repaired at a mechanic just outside of town.  When they arrive, their car dies and they are attacked by a giant St. Bernard called Cujo who is rabid.  Trapped in the car, facing death via dehydration, Donna has to overcome her fear and find a way to defeat the monster and save her son.

What Works:

Cujo is an interesting movie in that the first half is pretty much a family drama, while the killer dog stuff doesn't happen until the second half.  Some people may not care for the slow pace, but I really enjoyed it.  It allowed the tension to increase as we watched Cujo get sicker and sicker knowing any moment might be when he finally snaps.  It also gave a good chunk of time to really develop the Trenton family and their dynamic, which I really appreciated.  It allowed us to really care about them and their fate.

The lead characters are excellent.  Vic just seems like a fantastic guy and we feel awful for him when he discovers his wife's affair.  He has a great relationship with his son and Daniel Hugh-Kelly gives a really solid performance.

I am always skeptical of child actors, but Danny Pintauro does a great job.  He has a few really sweet and actually adorable moments with his Dad and his introductory scene where he turns off the lights and runs to his bed so as not to get eaten by the monster in his closest is way too relatable.  Even after Cujo attacks and Tad starts freaking out, I didn't really find him annoying.  It helps that Cujo's attacks are terrifying.  As far as child actors go, Pintauro does a great job.

Dee Wallace's character, Donna, is not very likable out of the gate.  She's not as close with her son as Vic is and she is having an affair.  She's by far the least likable of the three, but she has a fantastic character arc.  She tries to break off the affair and focus on her family.  It doesn't work out of course, but the really good stuff happens with Cujo.  She has to learn how to handle her son and not just rely on Vic.  Her final confrontation with Cujo is fantastic and badass.  She's a really solid protagonist and a complex character.

Cujo himself is horrifying.  It's some of the best dog acting I have ever seen.  He is a terrifying beast and disgusting to look at.  The filmmakers did a great job of transforming an adorable dog into a vicious monster.  He's a great villain and he gives us some really intense and scary sequences.

Finally, although half of this movie takes place in a car, it's never boring.  The tension is through the roof and I love how the filmmakers took such a simple premise and made it terrifying.  

What Sucks:

I only have nitpicks in regards to Cujo.  I wish the movie had done a better job of establishing that the town was having a heat wave.  I didn't really understand what was happening to Tad when he got sick.  Also, Jerry Hardin's character is a overly incompetent detective.  It was a bit too much and stretched my suspension of disbelief too far, but he's not very important to the story so it doesn't really matter.

Verdict:

Cujo is a simple film that does almost everything right.  It's slowly paced to ramp up the tension, the characters are interesting, the acting is excellent, and the scares are very well done.  Cujo is a fantastic villain and although I have a few nitpicks, I can safely say Cujo is one of the best Stephen King adaptations and the film has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great