[image ID: the first image is of Cujo from Danny Phantom, a small, glowing green dog with a purple tongue, red eyes, and black ears. he's wearing a spiked collar. the second image is of Cujo from the 1983 movie. he's a St. Bernard, covered in blood. end ID]
The dog actor who played Cujo was phenomenal and I totally believed in his whole good boy gone bad (with rabies) routine. Much like the book, the movie is all about sitting and waiting which is a little boring to watch at times. This is a classic film about a classic King book so worth a watch but then I’d tell you the book is worth a read first (though be warned the content is rougher than the movie). It was nice to see the characters come to life and our strong female lead take care of her son and the dog.
⭐⭐⭐.5
Trigger Warning Sexual Abuse, Spinning Camera, Child Seizure, Mild Child Death
(SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK as well which ends differently from the movie if that matters to you (it matters to me))
I said to myself after a few drinks, I said, “Fuck it, let’s watch CUJO, lets watch this baby die, fuck this baby.” but really I am so sad for this child. I just came from an outdoor movie party where we were supposed to watch a spooky Halloween movie but instead we watched SING because a bunch of children were there and they wanted to watch SING, okay? So, yeah, I like kids and appreciate that they get their way even when I, an adult, want to watch a spooky movie during my favorite holiday month. BUT I don’t know when and where King decided that Tad was toast and I JUST WANNA TALK TO HIM ABOUT IT, OKAY? (No I will not put my knife down)
ANYWAY. We barely get to meet Cujo before the rabies. The movie starts with him chasing a rabbit into the bat den and getting bitten. Sad! Tragic! For many reasons! I mean, that is also how the book basically starts but still! I am sad! (This isn’t a “comparing the movie to the book” review just like MISERY but still, I can’t help myself) Rabies is a wild sickness of brain rot and Cujo was/is a loyal dog but the disease is stronger than any dog or man will ever be. Poor bub. This is a cautionary tale. Please vaccinate your pets!
They did a really good job making a friendly dog look scary, the attacks are really alarming and feel like the animal is vicious even though if you really look you can catch the actor dog wagging his tail (dog actors will often do that when they are proud they are doing a good job, which is just precious). But this is a welcome turn of events because Church from PET SEMATARY 2019 just looked dirty and that didn’t make for a scary cat, just bad grooming (which can be scary), and while Cujo is certainly dirty, the watery eyes and overall energy he brings gives him the rabid touch that is so terrifying for this film in particular.
Cujo turns rabid by the time his boy and the mother are out of town and Cuj disposes of the father and his shady friend before our main characters Donna and Tad are unfortunate enough to roll their broken down car into the purebreds path. This is one of the more brutal Stephen King stories because of the waiting, the inaction, which is the best choice, but it is so painful. I can only compare it to GERALD’S GAME but even then she had plans going constantly, here it is just the brutality of the Maine Sun on their car.
Donna tries to leave once and gets wrecked by the dog, in front of Tad, which is horrifying for him to see, and of course then she is having the issue of contracting rabies probably, but no time for that because it is still time to SURVIVE this ordeal. All the while the husband is off trying to clean up an ad campaign disaster which is a big deal for him but absolutely not a big deal when you are literally fighting for your life. AND THE FACT THAT THE COP DOESN’T call in that there is blood on the doors of Donna’s vehicle right away is such a stupid move. I hate it and cannot believe it and missed it in the book but see it clearly in the movie and it is so obvious and STUPID. Also the movie randomly brings up the plot of the Camber family but never does anything with it which is a real shame, it is like they ran out of time with their own film.
Okay. I have watched the end and now we have gone RADICALLY off book. And I gotta say. I don’t know how to feel. I am glad that there was a happy ending, but in that same breath it isn’t what the original story had in mind so I don’t really like the change. The movie literally ended on a freeze frame of the family all together, hell, Donna even found the gun and used it on Cujo, which was certainly not part of the book. It was actually specifically mentioned in the book that she didn’t know the location of the dropped service weapon that would have aided her so heavily but AGAIN, this is not a direct comparison, just bringing up some things of note.
This story was intended to be a tragedy, a cautionary tale of how so many bad choices can lead to something so terrible, but instead this movie ends with a miracle. I’m not sure that it works as well that way. Before it had this horrible weight to it and now the film ends on this light happy note and you go on with your day, when the book ended I was shell-shocked. Maybe the ending doesn’t need to be upsetting but it should be powerful and I think they undercut themselves by changing a Stephen King ending.
