Review of Cujo (1983) by Patrick E — 17 Jun 2010

Cujo is a decent Stephen King adaptation that takes far too long to get going but once it does it has buckets of tension and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Essentially a story of a mother and son trapped in a car by a Rabid St. Bernard but really this plot point actually only take sup up the final act, the first two acts are largely boring and play out as a simple family drama. I know there is only so much time you can spend on a rabid dog attacking a car but the writers should have focused more on the relationship between the dog?s owners and the dog instead of on the family that end up getting trapped. The first 50 minutes are far too boring a build up for a horror film and will leave you bored and not caring about the outcome. Once the action does move to Cujo's attack then it is great, especially the very first scene of Cujo attacking through the passenger window which is sure to make you jump.

It's all shot very well, Cujo looks genuinely frightening and the acting is great. It's just a shame that the opening 50 minutes are so average as the last act definitely deserved something better.