Cujo (1983)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Vic Trenton: There are no real monsters.  Tad Trenton: Except for the one in my closet.  "Unleash the terror." Cujo isn't a terrible movie by any means and it isn't a bad adaption of the Stephen King book either. It's just that Cujo isn't anywhere near… More
  Vic Trenton: There are no real monsters.  Tad Trenton: Except for the one in my closet.  "Unleash the terror." Cujo isn't a terrible movie by any means and it isn't a bad adaption of the Stephen King book either. It's just that Cujo isn't anywhere near King's best work. It's one of his least terrifying, horror stories. It's only scary is you have a St. Bernard, that just happens to be named Cujo. At the start of the movie Cujo is chasing a rabbit. He sticks his head into a hole and gets attacked by a bay, which bites him on the nose. The dog goes on a killing spree, before trapping a mother and son inside their dead car. The movie isn't really all that thrilling, but given that most of it is shot in a car, I have to say it is pretty well done. I especially liked the scene where the mother sits and the front of the car, after an attack, and the kid sits crying in the back. The camera is in the middle and slowly rotates between the two before it goes nuts and spins faster and faster, until it's just a blurry mess. The acting isn't too bad and the movie looks really good, with some great cinematography by Jan De Bont. If you are intrigues by the premise, you'll probably love this one; I however was not and it made the last hour very hard to sit through because I wasn't in anyway absorbed into the story. 

• Alexander D

  
  Based on the novel by Stephen King, CUJO is a poorly-adapted, pet-centric horror movie. It's frustrating watching a movie where some scenes look like exact copies as they appeared in the book, other scenes are barely faithful and move through way too quickly, and some memorable… More
  Based on the novel by Stephen King, CUJO is a poorly-adapted, pet-centric horror movie. It's frustrating watching a movie where some scenes look like exact copies as they appeared in the book, other scenes are barely faithful and move through way too quickly, and some memorable scenes from the book were scrapped from the entire feature. It should be clear to people as professional as screenwriters: never make a screenplay uneven and off balance--either adapt the book word-for-word, adapt it somewhat faithfully, or forget it and scrap your idea because no one's going to enjoy the end result. If Stephen King had experience with directing more than just one film, and if he could adapt his books into screenplays well, he would have directed and written this (for the screen) into a great movie. Instead, it's a disappointing flop.

• AJ V

  
  Simple and scary, in fact it's too simple and it's not a great horror movie, but it's okay.

• Ken S

  
  There are parts of this movie that are really really effective. There are other bits...not so much. Worth checking out for the Jan De Bont photography too.

• Jeff "

  
  Cujo is one of the scariest Stephen King Adaptations. The film is a type of Horror that leaves gripping your seat and biting your nails. The film is filled with the scariest and most suspenseful moments of any King adaptations, as one of the best too. The cast does a great job in this… More
  Cujo is one of the scariest Stephen King Adaptations. The film is a type of Horror that leaves gripping your seat and biting your nails. The film is filled with the scariest and most suspenseful moments of any King adaptations, as one of the best too. The cast does a great job in this film, and it only adds to build this effective chiller. Cujo is a film that will make you think twice about St Bernards and lose a night of sleep or two. Either it will stick with you for a while. Lewis Teagues directing is superb, and when Cujo has the Trentons under siege in the Pinto you feel like you're enduring the ordeal with. You really shouldn't be a claustrophobic because that pinto is small, and a lot of the film takes place with Cujo holding Donna Trenton and her son in that car. Cujo is one great film, and like I said, is one of the best Stephen King adaptations.

• Carlos M

  
  Cujo creates a monster, a real one, able to crawl out of our inner closets and into our worst nightmares, and the result is a terrifying horror story.

• Jason O

  
  Awesome awesome awesome movie! I love horror and Stephen King movies to begin with, but what I love most about "Cujo" is that it's one that I could see happening in real life, which made it all the more suspenseful and yes, scary. An all-time classic if you ask me.

• Coxxie M

  
  dogs arent really that scary

• Cassandra M

  
  Cujo is a movie that will scare the hell out of dog owners, to say the least. It's very frightening and very underrated, and for most of the movie, there is no sign that it is a horror movie. However, Cujo is very frightening, mainly because these kind of things do happen, a lot… More
  Cujo is a movie that will scare the hell out of dog owners, to say the least. It's very frightening and very underrated, and for most of the movie, there is no sign that it is a horror movie. However, Cujo is very frightening, mainly because these kind of things do happen, a lot of people (kids in particular) are bitten by dogs every day. The leading lady of 80's horror movies, Dee Wallace Stone, plays a woman who is trapped in her car with her 5 year old son, as a rabid St. Bernard terrorises them. The tension in Cujo takes a long time to build up, but when it starts, it never lets up. Under no circumstances should young kids watch this movie, they'll be wetting their beds for weeks.

• Luke B

  
  Stephen King does killer dog. The film's not bad but it's kind of just, boring. What was really needed was to build upon the relationship between Cujo and his family. The most frightening aspect of this film is a beloved family pet turning against the ones it loves. Cujo… More
  Stephen King does killer dog. The film's not bad but it's kind of just, boring. What was really needed was to build upon the relationship between Cujo and his family. The most frightening aspect of this film is a beloved family pet turning against the ones it loves. Cujo never seems THAT loved. The family don't even notice the gigantic bat bite on his nose. The most memorable part is Dee Wallace's performance, of special note the scene where she screams at her son when they are being attacked. It's a perfectly honest and rare reaction of a parent in such a film. Despite being just 90 minutes it seemed very long. Perhaps a St. Bernard isn't as enthralling for me as Vampires, Clowns or Aliens.

• Curtis L

  
  Pretty good.

• Candy R

  
  Horror movie about a vicious dog.

• Dr Blood  

  
  More like a soap opera than a horror film until Dee Wallace is trapped in her car by the rabid beast.

• Jason S

  
  Stay in the car... really.

• Michael G

  
  I saw it a long time ago and remember not being impressed. And that's when I was really impressionable.

• Dean M

  
  A St. Bernard dog frightened me a bit when it turned terror alike a dog-vampire.

• Jacob P

  
  Descent. Not Stephen King's best work.

• Mike T

  
  Dee Wallace is downright phenomenal in this structurally unfocused adaptation. It's fun enough, but it should have retained the bleak conclusion of the source material. Most of the acting is mid-grade, and the script is clunky as hell. I'm a sucker for Stephen King movies,… More
  Dee Wallace is downright phenomenal in this structurally unfocused adaptation. It's fun enough, but it should have retained the bleak conclusion of the source material. Most of the acting is mid-grade, and the script is clunky as hell. I'm a sucker for Stephen King movies, though, so I did kind of like it.

• Quinto W

  
  Starts and ends completely bland, but there's a very thrilling middle.

• Donna D

  
  Another good one from the novels of Stephen King. ;) Rabied dog Cujo attacks Dee Wallace and son in this suspense, thriller.

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