Cujo (1983)

Director: Lewis Teague

Writers: Stephen King, Don Carlos Dunaway, Lauren Currier

Composer: Charles Bernstein

Starring: Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Dnaiel Hugh Kelly, Christopher Stone, Ed Lauter, Laiulani Lee, Billy Jayne, Mills Watson

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Now there's a new name for terror.

Plot: Donna Trenton is a frustrated suburban housewife whose life is a turmoil after her husband learns about her having an affair. Brett Camber is a young boy whose only companion is a Saint-Bernard named "Cujo", who in turn is bitten by a rabid bat. Whilst Vic, Donna's husband is away on business, and thinking over his marital troubles, Donna and her 5-year-old son Tad take her Pinto to Brett Cambers' dad's car shop... the car fails, and "Cujo" is very, very sick...

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

It's been about 25 years since I saw this.  I liked it then and I like it now.  The horror isn't supernatural but it's found in a rabid dog.  The most effective scenes are of Donna and her son, Tad, trapped in their car at the Camber place, isolated from the world and tormented by Cujo.  These scenes are fantastic.  The editing (Neil Travis) is top notch as it really feels like Cujo's attacking them.  Between Travis, director Teague and Cujo's handlers, Glen Garner and Jackie Martin, they've constructed some great terror.  Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro go a long way in helping out, too.  Everything else is fine but it's these scenes with Cujo and the car that make the film.  It's funny but there were times when I thought Cujo looked an awful lot like Fred Gwynne.