Cujo [30th Anniversary Edition]

Director: Lewis Teague

Overview

Cujo is a frightening, but uneven horror tale of a rabid St. Bernard dog who terrorizes a woman and her son who are trapped in a stalled car. Donna (Dee Wallace Stone) and her son are forced to stay in the car for several days as the dog prowls around outside the car and they try to find a way to escape. Cujo, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, is directed by Lewis Teague, who, while taking a leisurely pace in the beginning of the film, succeeds in building the suspense to a conclusion that, when it finally arrives, is truly terrifying and for horror fans, well-worth the wait. Cujo one of the more successful adaptations of King's work, is a genuinely frightening if somewhat slow horror film, and definitely not for children.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/22/2013
UPC:	0887090051507
Original Release:	1983
Rating:	R
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	10,618

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Danny Pintauro	Tad Trenton
Ed Lauter	Joe Camber Camber
Kaiulani Lee	Charity Camber
Billy Jacoby	Brett
Mills Watson	Gary
Sandy Ward	Bannerman
Jerry Hardin	Masen
Merritt Olsen	Professor
Arthur Rosenberg	Roger Breakstone
Bob Elross	Actor,Actor
Robert Behling	Fournier
Clare Nono	Actor
Daniel H. Blatt	Actor
Billy Jayne	Brett Camber
Dee Wallace Stone	Donna Trenton
Daniel Hugh Kelly	Vic Trenton
Christopher Stone	Steve Kemp
Terence Donovan	Actor
Charles Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

Don Carlos Dunaway

Stephen King

Lauren Currier

Daniel H. Blatt	Producer
Robert Singer	Producer
Lewis Teague	Director
Don Carlos Dunaway	Screenwriter
Stephen King	Screenwriter
Marcia Ross	Casting
Judith Holstra	Casting
Lauren Currier	Screenwriter
Rick Josephsen	Special Effects
Mark Ulano	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This widely reviled adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling novel about a viciously rabid dog actually looks better with age. True, story lines move in and out of the first half of the film, inconsistencies abound, and the viewer may be just about to give up hope when Donna (Dee Wallace) and her young son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), pull into a junkyard in a broken-down car. From that point on, the film becomes a sort of landlocked Jaws, as mother and son are trapped in the stalled machine by the bloody, slobbering hellhound waiting just outside. The final 40 minutes are surprisingly scary, as director Lewis Teague builds the tension to a fever-pitch with a combination of stunning attack sequences and effective hysterical-mother moments inside the car. Wallace is outstanding in one of her better performances, but cinematographer Jan De Bont (who later directed The Haunting and Twister) is the real star of the show and rarely falters. Neil Travis' editing deserves special praise for enhancing the horror of the dog attacks, but the music (by Charles Bernstein) is awful. Still, if one can patiently withstand the dumb first half, there are plenty of thrills, chills, and a great jump-scene later in the film.