Dave’s Rewind: Cujo

Since being quarantined and working from home I have had a bit of extra time on my hands. So I had set out to take some of this extra time to watch either classics I have never seen but have been meaning to get around to.

This has ranged from biggies like The Godfather Trilogy and Lawrence of Arabia to cult classics like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Well since Halloween is upon us I will be focusing on horror movies I have not gotten to.

So this week I watched Children of the Corn and Cujo, but will only be focusing on Cujo. I’m sorry but Children of the Corn is utterly mediocre outside of a couple of really creepy kids and a one or two moments. It is not the classic I thought it would be and it’s not really worth writing about.

Make no mistake, Cujo is a slasher film. Doesn’t matter that he is not human or use a knife, machete or chainsaw; Cujo is a crazed killer who will stop at nothing to get to his prey. Even down to the, spoiler alert, killer comes back for one more stab ending, this movie has all the elements of a classic slasher.

There are a few differences however as not every person Cujo ultimately kills has done something wrong. In fact, one person, a cop, was actually trying to help. But Cujo’s main focus, the mother, has had an affair so this clearly gives Cujo the right, by horror movie logic, to try to kill her.

To break Cujo down to it’s basic plot; a mother (Dee Wallace) gets stuck out at a remote auto shop with her young son and has to fend off a rabid St. Bernard.

Now that is the basics but there is quite a lot more going on that leads to every possible circumstance to not get someone out to save this poor woman and her child.

First off, this is the 80’s so no cell phones or OnStar. They are literally sitting ducks. The owner of the shop was already attacked, his wife and kid are out of town, her husband is out of town on business and doesn’t know where she is, Postal Delivery is being delayed, etc.

There seems to be no help for this poor mother at all. Besides the dog there is also the elements. They are stuck in a tin can in the hot sun for days. You can literally see their lips cracked from dehydration. There is a relentless screaming child, so you can see the mother’s frustration on her face that she in equal parts wants to help her son but also wants him to stop crying for just a minute.

One thing this movie doesn’t get enough credit for is how genuinely tense and terrifying it is. It has some jump scares that are genuine. It is claustrophobic roughly 2/3 of this movie is trapped in a car.

You feel the sweat and heat. You feel the mother’s mental breakdown. Not to mention you have a 260lb rabid St. Bernard waiting to rip you apart at any minute you open the door. The most terrifying thing about this movie is that it is plausible.

This could literally happen with the right set of circumstances. So much so , I was side-eyeing my Black Lab the whole time. All kidding aside, you do feel bad for the dog as well. His owners ignored his plight, it got worse, and then it turned into rage.

Now it’s not entirely true that I had never seen Cujo before. I had tried watching it as a child and it scared the shit out of me and had to stop watching. I had actually been bitten by a couple dogs badly when I was a kid so hey, no judgements. LOL. But even as an adult this movie still has me on edge and I don’t know what I would do, if I was stuck in this situation.

Binge now, binge later, or binge never? Binge now.

Dave says rewind Cujo.