Friday 12 August 2016


ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - August 12th
"CUJO" released in 1983


While having his motorcycle repaired one day, famed horror author Stephen King was inspired to write the chilling novel Cujo after being intimidated by the mechanics dog. Setting the plot in King's fictional Castle Rock, Maine, Cujo revolves around a St Bernard dog trapping a mother, Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) and her child, Tad (Danny Pintauro) inside their vehicle, after the dog has gone mad from rabies.


Watch the Cujo trailer below!





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The Trentons – Vic (Daniel Hugh-Kelly), Donna (Wallace) and their son Tad (Pintauro) – are an upper-middle-class suburban family. Vic works in advertising, Donna is a housewife and Tad is a sensitive little boy who has a strong fear of monsters in his closet.  One day, the Trenton family takes their car to the rural home of abusive mechanic Joe Camber (Ed Lauter) for some repairs, where they meet Cujo, the Camber family's easy-going St. Bernard. Donna suspiciously notices the bite on Cujo's nose but thinks little of it. Unbeknowst to them all, Cujo had earlier chased a rabbit into a bat's cave and was bitten by the rabid bat, slowly driving the once playful Cujo mad. After Joe's wife, Charity (Kaiulani Lee), and her son, Brett (Billy Jacoby), leave for a week to visit her sister in upstate Maine, Cujo's finally succumbs to the bite from the rabid bat and in his madness kills Joe and Joe's alcoholic neighbour Gary Pervier (Mills Watson). Meanwhile, Vic goes out of town on a business trip as Donna and Tad return to the Cambers' house for more car repairs where Cujo attacks them. Donna and Tad are trapped in their Pinto as the alternator in the car has died, stranding them with a prowling killer dog. As the hot sun makes conditions nearly unbearable, Donna knows that she must do something before they both die from heatstroke or dehydration and must face a demented 300-pound beast to save herself and her child!


[Cujo attacks the passenger side again. Unable to get in, he runs around to Donna's side & jumps up on the driver's side, barking & snarling]
Tad Trenton: Who let the monster out of my closet? Who let the monster out of my closet?
Donna Trenton: It's not a monster. It's not a monster. It's just a doggy -
[Cujo attacks from the front this time, jumping up on the hood of the Pinto & snarling and barking at Donna & Tad. He paws ferociously at the windshield, but finally jumps off the car after Donna blasts the horn at him]
Top:   Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) holds her son Tad (Danny Pintauro);
Above:   Succumbing to rabies, Cujo attacks the Trentons!


Stephen King has admitted several times that he was so into his alcohol addiction at the time that he does not remember writing the book, later stating that if he could go back and change anything from one of his books it would be letting Tad live (this is why he survives in this film). King contributed substantially to the script but eventually declined Writer's Guild credit, leaving that to screenwriters Don Carlos Dunaway and Lauren Currier. Horror film veteran Dee Wallace Stone was cast in the role of Donna Trenton early on in development, while Cujo would act as the feature debut Daniel Hugh Kelly (as Vic) for the two youngest star, Danny Pintauro (playing Tad Trenton). Ironically, Wallace was at the time married to actor Christopher Stone who plays Steve Kemp in the movie, a character that Wallace's character Donna is supposedly having an extramarital affair with!

Original director Peter Medak would leave the production just two days into filming, along with his cinematographer Tony Richardson, for reasons that have not yet been published. Stephen King would recommend Lewis Teague for director after being impressed with Teague's earlier film, Alligator (1980). Shot in the same Mendocino, California community as the film Dead & Buried (1981) (in fact in one shot the Pinto can be seen driving past the same church, with the 'reaper' shaped steeple, that's featured in Dead & Buried), a number of cars were used for the filming, each was disassembled for specific camera shots. The fog in the scene where Brett encounters a sick Cujo was created by a naval fog machine. The smoke was so thick, it brought out the local fire department who feared the woods were burning!


[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!
Top:   Cujo claims his first victim, Joe Camber (Ed Lauter);
Above:   Cujo kills Castle Rock Sheriff George Bannerman (Sandy Ward)


By far the most difficult aspects of filming Cujo was the film canine co-star - in the end five St. Bernards were used (for some of the scenes because they couldn't get the St. Bernard to look mean enough a rottweiller was used ), one mechanical head, and a guy in a dog costume! To simulate the foamy rabies coming out of Cujo's mouth, a concoction of egg whites and sugar used. This would cause problems on the set as the dogs kept constantly licking the tasty stuff off. To make the St. Bernards attack the car, animal trainers put the dog's favorite toys inside the car so the dogs would try to get them. On one occassion stunt double Jean Coulter was in the car and had the one of the toys used by the dogs' trainers as a "lure". The window was partially down, so the dog jumped up and put his paws on the window, forcing it down and he reached in for his toy. Jeannie's reaction was to lower the toy and the dog bit her nose. She was later treated at the hospital and released, but there was a rumor at the time that she was bitten by a actual rabid dog (which was entirely incorrect). Sadly, the St. Bernard that was featured the most in the film died of bloat during production.


TRIVIA:   Ranked #58 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movies countdown.
Top:   Trainers work with one of the St Bernards on set;
Above:   Dee Wallace and director Lewis Teague with a Cujo stand-in!


Cujo was a modest box office hit for Warner Bros., opening in second place that weekend (behind National Lampoon's Vacation). While most reviews were mixed, Eleanor Mannikka of the New York Times wrote that, "Cujo is not as menacing or frightening as other film adaptations of King's popular stories and especially can not compare to the 1976 Carrie...His condition deteriorates as he attacks people again and again, until finally, mom Donna Trenton and her son Tad are trapped inside the family car with Cujo lurking nearby, set to kill them any way he can. A showdown is inevitable but is just as predictable as the rest of the film." In contrast, 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).



ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   59%






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