Cujo

1983 Directed by Lewis Teague

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

A friendly St. Bernard named "Cujo" contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.

Dee Wallace Danny Pintauro Daniel Hugh Kelly Christopher Stone Ed Lauter Kaiulani Lee Billy Jayne Mills Watson Sandy Ward Jerry Hardin Merritt Olsen Frank Welker

Alternative Titles

Cujo: El perro maldito, Cujo, to vromoskylo, Cujo: tres días de terror, Cujo, el perro asesino, Stephen King's Cujo

horror thriller

93 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Logan ★★★½ 6

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Woman: Fuck you dog you lose I'm driving away!
Car petrol: I THINK THE FUCK NOT YOU TRICK ASS BITCH
Good boy cujo eat them white bitches up. GOOD DOGGY!
So erm they saw the dog was injured and nobody bothered to send him to the vet? Gurl... you get what you fucking deserve! The jump scare when cujo attacks the car made me JUMP.
This film felt like that horror film with the safari where the family is stuck in a car and it's surrounded by lions and they wanna eat them because they were too white and uneducated...
It lacks story that's my only problem with it. Cujo didn't deserve to die. We don't kill dogs! Just let them rip you to shreds ma!
stephen king ranked
Review by Ade Setiawan ★★★★ 2

*me tearing up during a horror film (T▽T)*
My Dad : What's wrong?
Me : hhhhhhhhhh. Dog.
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★ 4

While I haven't seen all of Stephen King's films, out of the films I've seen thus far Cujo is my favorite!
The first 32 minutes are devoted to character development! For the most part it's a lil sneaky peaky at the skeletons in everyone's closets!
The next 50 minutes of the film is devoted entirely to scaring the living daylights out of you and I! And it succeeds!
Dee Wallace's agonizingly realistic performance made it easy to buy into the whole premise with her truly riveting portrayal of a mom and her young son struggling to survive a ghastly ordeal that only the sick twisted mind of Stephen King could conjure up!
Currently Streaming on NF!
Review by Cam ★★★ 4

Stephen’s King’dom Marathon: Film #8
”Nope, nothing wrong here”
“Well... that’s not entirely true”
Ever been stuck in a car for hours and wondered if it could get any worse? Why yes it can!
It’s hard to believe you could take the mom from ET, the dog from Beethoven, a kid with a Monster’s Inc complex, and a cheap American made car, put ‘em together and create such a stressful 40 minute run.
Even though the first half tends to drag as it spends most of its time setting up the set-piece, once we get to the Pinto of Terror things finally take off.
BONUS POINTS for Dee Wallace’s performance and her willingness to go to bat for her son.
”Cujo won’t hurt him... He likes kids.”

Cinematic Playlist – Stephen King Ranked
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★ 5

A horror film that unfolds against the meltdown of a young family, Lewis Teague's "Cujo" spends more of its time setting up its domestic drama than presenting its horror elements. When those elements hit, however, they are intense, harrowing, and relentless.
"Cujo" is probably best known as the Stephen King adaptation about the rabid St. Bernard that terrorizes a mother and son trapped in their vehicle. This description is adequate but does not do the film's narrative justice. "Cujo" begins by alternating between the story of a pet dog, bitten by a bat and breaking down thanks to a rabies infection, and a family breaking down thanks to job stresses and infidelity. The film does a solid job of setting…
Review by Arlo McLean ★★★★

Thank you Steven King for making mist, dogs, cats, children, hotels, fame, handcuffs, prom and clowns scary. Really thank/fuck you.
Review by dion🌹 ★★★★ 7

jesus christ cujo is terrifying
Review by Luke Kane ★★★ 4

I think Dee Wallace's performance is what inevitably draws me back to Cujo.
Inherently feminine, with a small frame and a weak, flutey voice, she starts off as a shallow adulteress whose inner strength emerges in a crisis; the kind of strength that's retiring, downhearted and quietly resentful.
Based on Stephen King's bestseller (he says he was so drunk he can't remember writing it), this movie debases itself by establishing its family in colourless scenes that recall TV movies circa 1980. Dee Wallace is cheating on her prim-and-proper husband with a bearded 'rebel'. She decides to end it and save her marriage, so he ransacks their house.
The movie insists on these gossipy scenes, believing an audience watching a young…
Review by Hollie Horror ★★★ 5

I sort of hate that the entire premise boils down to "cheating mommy must be punished for having an affair," and I also feel awful for the dogs who are covered in all of that goo and makeup to appear rabid, but Cujo gets a pass because of Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro (who was only 7-years-old, making it almost unbelievable that he delivered such a powerful performance).
When it comes to "animals attack" movies, if the animal in question is a dog, uuuugggghhhhhhh, I can't even feign interest unless the movie takes on a more supernatural vibe, possibly infecting a human with rabies (basically I just want to watch Mongrel, y'all). Maybe if I was afraid of dogs these…
Review by Elwood B. ★★★★ 1

The wife should be really thankful for not owning a convertable like her husband.
Review by 𝑤𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 ★★★ 2

i͟t͟’͟s͟ ͟j͟u͟s͟t͟ ͟a͟ ͟d͟o͟g͟g͟y͟.͟.͟.͟
dee wallace reminds me so much of my mom by the way she looks on here. she looks just like her when i was real little haha. it just phases me everytime lol. not to mention my mother’s 66th birthday was today but had to keep my distance because of this damn virus :(((( so i couldn’t give her a hug or kiss today. but it was still lovely to spend today with her. talk about old films and what she was planning to farm this year. in her cute overalls. i love her to death.
but yes this is still one of my fav king adaptations and i think it gets overlooked quite a bit. this just strikes me as so realistic, dirty, sweaty and infecting. it has some pacing issues and editing mistakes. but at the end. it’s just a hot boiling film in general and very happy i saw it again.
Review by <Todd> ★★★½ 1

"Nope, nothing wrong here," -The Professor,
DAILY HORROR SCAVENGER HUNT (August 2018): boxd.it/1T4hU
DAY EIGHT: "On August 8, 1986 Stand By Me was released...today we will watch a horror movie based on a Stephen King book."
Good job Cujo! Whose a good boy?
Yeah, this film is super creepy and scary and well-done. Cujo is the story of people being attacked by a dog...but with characters and stories added. The dog attack scenes are really impressive and the performances by Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro ground the film. I liked this far more than I expected and would definitely recommend.

Recent reviews

Review by Max ★★★

I was going to watch Close Up tonight, a start to a filmmaker with a seemingly interesting body of work and a film said by many on here to be one of the greats. Instead, my father said, "Hey, Steven King dog movie from the eighties", so I ended up watching a Steven King dog movie from the eighties.
Honestly, it's not that bad. It's probably not as good as Close Up will be, but for what it is, it's enjoyable. The filmmaking isn't anything special. It's never ugly or unbelievable or anything like that, it's just not impressive. It's very nicely plotted- things fall into place in a way that feels natural and makes sense, which probably originated in…
Review by Arthur J. Panoyan

The first half of this is spent building empathy for these characters, including Cujo, who is sort of made out to be a tragic character — a friendly dog stricken by a disease. These are all incredibly interesting people who all have a lot going on in their lives.
At the midpoint, the killings start and Cujo begins to live up to his infamous reputation — and boy, does he. At one point, trying to calm her son down, Donna says, “It’s not a monster. It’s just a doggie.” I’ve seen few movie monsters scarier than this doggie.
Review by tottituominen ★★★

Effective film and adaptation. It takes its time to build up the tension and the story. It’s simple and effective with it’s scares. A dog is supposed to be a loyal friend to us, so it’s terrifying to see what happens when it unleashes it’s anger towards us.
Review by JasDhil ★★½

Anytime that little boy was crying and talking it sounded like “bdiwhwowjwbdkaosisbwbcujo” and honestly that felt like the most authentic part of the movie
Review by IslandUnto ★★½

Beethoven's Revenge.
Review by ashydude97 ½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

so bad, i don’t know what i was expecting. Also the real villain in this movie are cujo’s owners
Review by sierra ★★★½

Dog :(
Review by ButtNugget ★★★★

Aside from being a highly effective PSA for vaccinating your pets, this film has to be one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever. This probably did some damage to the image of St. Bernards as Jaws did to the great white shark (although I’m sure that was short-lived thanks to the Beethoven movies a decade later). The film builds up terror so patiently and methodically in a way that even rivals Jaws. I’m not one for jumpscares these days, but that one scene—boy, it got me good. Hats off to the animal trainers for the dog's believably ferocious behaviour. And hats off to Dee Walace and her little boy for their bone-chilling reactions. That went from zero to a hundred super quick. Parallels with the T-Rex attack scene from Jurassic Park came rushing to mind.
Review by Antonio Ortega ★★★★

CUJO WAS A GOOD BOY IDGAF ABOUT DEE WALLACE OR TAD, IMMA RISK MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THAT FUCKIN DOG!!! AND THAT'S A FACT!!!! Dee Wallace was great in this. Loved it!
Review by M ★★★

Being trapped in a hot car is one thing. A savage beast waiting for you outside is another. You can FEEL how absolutely fucked these characters are as you conjure up scenarios of how you would get yourself out of this situation. Unfortunately, those chances are slim and that is displayed here with these helpless characters. That is the true fear of this film and why Cujo was a great film adaption. I think the beginning drags, but it sort of has to in order to set everything into motion.
Review by kenji_marcos ★★

Um Beethoven com raiva, sofrendo um body horror mucho loco e com nome de preposição hahaha
Só isso que tem de interessante nesse filme, o resto é um moralismo insuportável. As cenas de terror são todas picotadas e nada assustadoras.
Nem é ruim de um jeito jocoso ;-;
Review by Dustin ★★★½

Can't believe it's taken me so long to see this. Absolutely one of the better King movies. In making Cujo they used 5 different dogs, a mechanical dog head, and apparently a dude in a dog suit. I could not tell where they used the guy in the dog costume. Impressive for a movie from 1983. Really great how they make you feel terrified of Cujo and at the same time feel horribly bad for him.
2 stars for the dog actors who deliver the goods while having to be covered in blood and goo. Good dogs!
1 star for Dee Wallace. Great performance
Half star for the boy who played Tad who was very good at freaking the #%@! out