Film Review: Cujo

Sometimes, and especially with horror novels, stories just are better in print form rather than adapted to the big screen. While it's nowhere close to being his best book, Stephen King's Cujo was a fine read, but when it came to portraying the events of it on the big (or small) screen, it just doesn't pass muster.

The story kicks off with lovable looking St. Bernard Cujo chasing a rabbit into a warren, where he is bitten by a rat, thus contracting rabies. After that, the story centers on the Trentons, Donna (Dee Wallace), Vic (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and their son Tad (Danny Pintauro.)

Things soon plunge into the realms of soap opera, as Donna has been having an affair with 'local stud' Steve (Christopher Stone, not appearing that...erm...studly?) and Vic soon finds out, even though she has just broken things off with Steve. But Vic needs some time so he leaves town to try and salvage his advertising deal with a cereal company.

Meanwhile Cujo has been looking a bit threatening, before he eventually starts attacking and mauling people to death. Whilst out in their car Donna and Tad break down, and are subject to a relentless assault by the rabid pooch. For the entire second half of the film. Yeah.

Therein lies the problem with the second half of the film. On paper (literally) a long spell trapped in a car by a dog with rabies sounds good, but it's just seems like one long set piece with the same thing happening over and over again onscreen: character tries to get out of the car, dog makes a lunge, character hysterically gets back in.

Don't get me wrong, there's initially some superb 'jumps' to be had from the dog attack, but after a while it gets very samey. It's just going back to the well too many times.

Also another thing not in the films favour is the dog itself. Obviously, the filmmakers couldn't use the exact same dog throughout the shoot, but it's really obvious that they are different dogs used, and painfully obvious when I noticed a different BREED of dog entirely at one point (a quick check online, and they did indeed use Rottweilers at one point as they seemed more scary.) It just takes you out of proceedings completely.

Maybe it was because this was a time when every Stephen King novel, short story, clipping was being hurriedly adapted into movies no matter what the story, or maybe it was just me not finding as much drama onscreen, but save a few good jumps there's really not much of Cujo to get your teeth into.

**

A couple of good scares aside, this is half soap opera, half repetitive car attack, not helped by the ever changing face of the titular canine attacker.