Cujo (1983)

Should have been doing productive, forward-moving things with my life when I got sucked into this one…start to finish. One of my favorite King adaptations (The Dead Zone is top of the list), this one has nuances that you’d never see in contemporary horror. A good 35 minutes passes before the first kill, during which a marital affair culminates between Dee Wallace Stone’s character and the “town stud.” Only in the late 70’s/early-80’s would the “town stud” be a 38-year-old, bearded, nautically tattooed, floor-sleeping, handyman/tennis pro who lives in a ragged bungalow, walks around clad only in tight jeans, and drives a beat-up sports car. A lost film archetype. Today, this character exists largely inside the walls of the local halfway house. Also during the film’s slow build is the gradual unraveling of the dog, as Cujo increasingly reacts badly to loud noises and forceful petting. And now that decapitation is a big buzzword, points to Cujo for the prescient severing-by-way-of-dog-jaw kill sequence. And why does Dee Wallace’s character drive a broken down Pinto, while her husband tools around in a Jag E-Type? Cujo’s owner is played by Ed Lauter - the poor man’s Terry O’Quinn (The Stepfather, Pin), who in turn is the poor man’s Craig T. Nelson (”Coach”). Rarely do they work in three’s.