This Day in Horror History: Stephen King’s CUJO Was Unleashed in 1983
Mike Sprague
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On this day in horror history, director Lewis Teague’s killer adaptation of Stephen King’s Cujo with Dee Wallace was released in 1983.
Cujo was played by four St. Bernards, several mechanical dogs, and as crazy as it sounds, stuntman (Gary Morgan) wearing a dog costume.
Original director Peter Medak (The Changeling) left two days into filming with cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond (Don’t Look Now). They were replaced by Lewis Teague (Alligator) and Jan de Bont (Die Hard).
While it didn’t blow up the box-office, it was a modest success grossing $21.1M domestically, making it the fourth-highest-grossing horror film of 1983 behind Jaws 3-D, Psycho II, and Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Lauren Currier it tells the tale of man’s best friend who turns into his worst enemy. When sweet St. Bernard Cujo is bitten by a bat, he starts behaving oddly and becomes very aggressive. As Cujo morphs into a dangerous beast, he goes on a rampage in a small town. Stay-at-home mom Donna gets caught in Cujo’s crosshairs on a fateful errand with her son, Tad. Stuck in their tiny car, Donna and Tad have a frightening showdown with the crazed animal.
It co-stars Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Christopher Stone, Ed Lauter, Kaiulani Lee, Billy Jacoby, Mills Watson, and Danny Pintauro as Tad Trenton.
The film sports a 61% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: Cujo is artless work punctuated with moments of high canine gore and one wild Dee Wallace performance.
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