Cujo [Blu-ray]

Cujo is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen and I have probably seen them all. I think the movie is grossly underrated by all the reviewers. Current IMDB score is 6 which I think is a joke. People complain about St. Bernard not being a scary dog and that they should have used a scarier breed. That's a ridiculous criticism. Any dog with rabies is scary, regardless of its breed. Even a raccoon with rabies would be scary. This is a gigantic dog and just its sheer size intimidating enough. Apparently, people do not get intimated by large dogs. They should go to countries where stray dogs roam the streets and attack people and maul them to death. None of them are as big as St. Bernard, and some of them are pretty looking dogs. But once something sets them off, they turn to wild animals, which is what this movie is about. I think the movie is very-well directed. There were 5 St. Bernard dogs used in the making of this movie. They were trained. Some scenes are made with a mechanic (robot) dog and a man in dog suit but the scenes are edited so nicely, you don't even notice that. In my opinion, the movie successfully puts all the elements together and delivers the suspense. When I watched the movie first time years ago, I was amazed how they made the dog act like that. One other criticism is that the movie being boring. I think the movie being boring is a criticism usually comes from young viewers that are used to seeing action all the time. This is basically a simple monster movie and a very believable one at that (I think it is probably the most believable monster movie after Jaws). I am so glad they made this movie back in 1983 with the techniques they used. If this movie was made today, in the scene where Cujo gets bitten, the cave would be CGI, bats would be CGI, and heck even Cujo would be CGI. Yes, I am sure they would use a CGI dog all the way through the movie. That's why, I get very upset when people criticize old movies. In my opinion, CGI effects destroyed the art of film making and turned it into a computer-video imagery. I am so glad this movie has none of that stupid CGI effects. As for Blu-ray transfer, I have to say that it is not the best Blu-ray transfer. I think Firestarter Blu-ray is better. Some scenes appear to have been DNRed (Digital Noise Reduction); they have a smooth look but not enough details, and there are some blemishes in certain scenes. My biggest complain is that there are no subtitles. There is no excuse for not having subtitles on a Blu-ray movie today. I think the production company did a lousy job with the product. Yes, there is 2012 feature commentary, and that's the only extra feature. But I would really have loved to see behind-the-scenes documentary, featurettes showing how they trained the dogs, interviews with the cast and crew, maybe additional commentaries by the editor of the movie and special effects coordinator of the movie. Those would be the features I would look for in this movie. But, no, there is none of that. You would have to just settle for 2012 feature commentary. Overall, I highly recommend Cujo to any horror fan as a movie. Other Stephen King movies that I like and recommend are: Carrie, Christine, Firestarter, Salem's Lot (1974), The Dead Zone, The Shining (1980), Silver Bullet and Misery.

I have waited a looooooong time to see this film get the special treatment it deserved. For years, the only way I had to view this classic horror treat was on an old DVD release with cropped edges, horrible picture, and NO special features at all.....not to mention the ugliest DVD artwork ever for a Stephen King release. Lionsgate has now given us Cujo as it has never been seen on home video. I was blown away by how clear the picture is, and how vibrant the colors are. The old transfer just seemed washed out and faded. I watched this on my PS3, which upscales it to hi-def, and I never dreamed this film could ever look this good. I'm also glad that there was no effort to try to create a surround sound track for this film, since most of it takes place inside a car. You have the choice of watching it in the original mono, or a 2 channel stereo mix. While this is not a film I would choose to show off my surround system, it is very effective for what is happening on screen. Not only do we get treated to a remastered copy of the film, but Cujo also has some really good special features. The 3-part documentary runs about 45 min. total, and is very informative about the way the film was made. Both Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro take part in the documentary. The director, Lewis Teague, also provides a good commentary track. I only have two minor complaints: 1st, there is no trailer for Cujo and 2nd, with it being the 25th anniversary edition, I would rather have seen the artwork from the original movie poster as the cover. I'm not complaining too much about the artwork since it is a huge improvement over the previous version, I just think the poster with the white picket fence and the word "Cujo" in blood was a great poster. Bottom line: If you own the original DVD version of Cujo, put it in the doghouse. You will be glad you upgraded to this fantastic version of what I think is one of the best adaptations of Stephen King's work on film. 2013 Blu ray UPDATE: I just got my new copy of Cujo in the mail, and thought I would add this to my previous DVD review. Of course, the one thing you want to know; is this worthy of a double dip?? Well, that depends on how much you like this movie. I'll break it down into a list of pros and cons, then you can make your own decision. PROS * FINALLY, we get cover art from the original movie poster. This packaging is AWESOME!!! Original artwork is also reflected on the disc itself. * New commentary from director Lewis Teague. This is a really entertaining track. * Sound seems to be remastered. * When I saw the video of the 25th anniv. of Cujo, I thought it couldn't get better. I have to admit that I was wrong. This is the best Cujo has ever looked!!! The HD transfer has obviously been remastered since the 25th anniv. edition. The picture looks gorgeous!!!! * On-screen menu also uses original poster artwork. CONS * No other extras included other than commentary * Price is a little high for a bare bones movie. BOTTOM LINE: In the case of the new 30th anniv. edition of this film, it really comes down to how much you're willing to pay for a new commentary track and some awesome artwork. If you do decide to double dip on this one, I would definitely save the previous 25th anniv. edition. That way you have the complete extra features.

It's been at least fifteen years since I last saw this movie, and then it was on some cable channel, cropped, edited, and full of commercial interruption. Still, I sat through it, loving every minute, as THAT had been the first time since I went as a teen to see it...so I was proud to make the 25th Anniversary edition of "Cujo" one of my very first Blu-Ray purchases. As you all likely know, "Cujo" is the story of an affable Saint Bernard that becomes infected with rabies, and through a course of events terrorizes a woman and her young son trapped in an incapacitated car. Now, on the surface, that just doesn't sound like the formula for a great horror film...but if you stop there, you rob the film of it's "bite", and rob YOURSELF of a great film experience. While some belabor the 'soap-opera' qualities of the first half of the film, my opinion is that if we aren't led to care about the characters, we are kind of indifferent to their plight in the second half. Character development is SO important, and in this case, it's used to show us how this woman pays for her sins, yet redeems herself. First off, you have the brilliant portrayal of the woman in question by the talented Dee Wallace (this woman SHOULD have won some Oscars down the line). During the first half of the flick, we see her darker side as an unfaithful but repentant wife; whereas the dialogue does not play upon the matter much, her performance exudes a woman who has made a mistake, and is paying for it with the guilt she is saddled with. When we reach the climax, Wallace takes the role to a new level, giving us first an undeniable portrait of a woman taxed emotionally to the breaking point, then of a mother hell-bent to protect her child. Danny Pintauro, only six at the time, delivers a tour-de-force portrayal of the young boy, bringing us physical and emotional acting chops that we don't often see in actors six times his age. The scenes in the car are claustrophobic and chilling, and the camera work was a marvel to behold (watch for the "spinning" scene at a particular high-tension point...sheer genius). The special effects make the friendly, jovial dog into a menacing and terrifying monster, his red eyes and slavering jowls a glimpse into the gates of Hell itself. Add together the confined feeling, the explosive and unpredictable rages of the dog, and the stellar acting and cinematography, and you have one of the most realistic, most relatable, and most personal horror flicks of the 80's. Watching it again was a marvelous experience: the transfer is the best it's ever looked, and the 5.1 audio mix was astounding...you really feel as if you're in that car...the bonus behind the scenes feature was informative and fun to watch, loaded with little facts and trivia that make the overall experience that much better. For eleven bucks, you really shouldn't miss out on this tense, intimate classic.

Along with CAT'S EYE (1985), CUJO is the one movie that I tend to think about when I think about Stephen King cinema product. With all due respect to the creative Frank Darabont, I can't say that I personally was terribly moved by the movies THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION or the CGI-flooded THE MIST for that matter; maybe, eventually, Darabont will redeem himself with a competent adaptation of "The Monkey," but that remains to be seen. CUJO is helmed by the criminally underrated genre specialist Lewis Teague, who has given us many enjoyable genre spectaculars over the years (two of my favorites are FIGHTING BACK and ALLIGATOR, respectively). I, admittedly, have not read the novel that CUJO is based upon, but I saw this picture initially when I was only eight years old and I have not been right since. It not only turned me into a horror writer and genre/TV/speculative fiction enthusiast, but it also made me realize that the greatest horror tales are those that connect viewers with a fall from grace, something experienced by several characters in the film--and this is a theme that King himself has explored in much of his own fiction (and their subsequent motion picture adaptations). With a title that reeks of both tonal joy and rustic voodoo magic, CUJO represents the dark forces that are on the loose in nature, and paints an unimaginably cruel picture of fate that is not going to be for every taste. While the picture is unpleasant and undeniably eerie, it left such a bizarre and lasting (and also quite disturbing) impact on me that I can do nothing more than feel a sense of awe in its presence...even today, as an adult, this picture really does mess with my mind, and there is a definite creepy quality to it that can be explained in no other terms than that of the childhood nightmare come true! It is not only the dog's sad fate that alarmed me so, but also the fate of Donna and Tad Trenton, as each character in this story seemed poised for doom, with some type of otherworldly influence hanging over them in a story that can only be described as natural horror. Even though there were more than six dogs that starred in the film as the title character, I think each of them should have taken home an Oscar (I'm not kidding)--the dog's performance anchors the movie, and makes me feel a bit choked up in point of fact because today's movies would never take the time to get such a performance on camera as these filmmakers back then achieved (with apparent ease). This is what makes CUJO so special--it's a picture about animals, the cruelty of nature, and the stupid predicaments that human beings get themselves into almost with utter naiveté, and the brutality of punishment that must come forth whenever nature is out to get us. CUJO is a movie geared to make you feel uncomfortable, but that's part of its appeal as well. This isn't fast-paced out-and-out horror (compared to the extreme-fests that we get fed today), but if you regress into your childhood mind and watch the film without putting your critical hat on there is a really good chance that you'll find the movie intense, disturbing, and unforgettable. Dee Wallace is both sexy and off-putting in the role that solidified her position as a genre movie heavyweight, and I disagree with Stephen King that she should have gotten an Oscar nod for her efforts here because CUJO is of a quality that people who attend award ceremonies probably wouldn't understand. Those who know that Wallace is great here just, well, we just know! Although the project probably made King associated with the type of B-grade, TV-style low-budget thrillers that belie the later day respect he eventually achieved (with his more boring novels, such as DOLOROES CLAIBORNE), those of us who prefer genre cinema to "great" movies will always see it as the gem that it really is. This picture wasn't made by the politically correct, smile-for-the-cameras group that attend the Academy Awards and have a certain image that they want to sell to the public. This picture was made by hard-working folks who had a genuine love of gutter-sprung genre filmmaking and who didn't need the validation of Hollywood or intellectuals to tell them they'd done a good job. Teague's original audio commentary is great because he is so committed to the movie itself that awards and recognition almost have nothing to do with his original aspirations; I have always preferred B-movies over the more accepted refined productions because not only are genre films more fun they will also last a lot longer in the long run. Teague and his team have done a splendid job of practical filmmaking here, almost a lost art by today's computer driven standards. The CUJO 25th Anniversary disc is the one that fans will most likely want, since it has the three part documentary entitled DOG DAYS on its menu option in the extras. For my taste, this documentary did not go quite as in depth as it should have, even though we do hear from everyone (except, rather regrettably, King himself) and we do get an introduction about the novel itself from Douglas E. Winter. I think the insinuation of some archival footage into this documentary would have made it great, and some modern day perspective wouldn't have hurt either, with some entertainment journalists discussing the impact of the movie and even cultural counterparts like BEETHOVEN. The picture and sound quality on the disc, though, are quite good indeed, with a lot of the grain and color the same as it always appeared to be in the old full-screen TV prints that I watched years and years ago. CUJO is not a picture that needs to be "cleaned up" by modern day restoration tactics, and thankfully I was quite pleased with the image representation on this release. Now the Olive Films release from last year actually has a crisper, more tightly focused picture representation, but it's not a necessary purchase unless you want to pick up a Blu-Ray copy of this release as well. Director Teague does offer a NEW commentary track on the Olive release, and it is enjoyable listening, but it's probably not essential if you're trying to decide on buying (he mentions in this commentary, for instance, that King's book ON WRITING is as useful for screenwriters as it is for novelists...well duh!). Teague is fun to listen to for sure, but he doesn't encompass enough information about the financing of the movie and his own vision for B pictures in the way that someone like Larry Cohen does (for example). In the final verdict, the movie CUJO is a masterpiece of psychological fear that will probably not be well understood by the movie audiences of today, who are so plugged into cellular phones and Internet connections that the idea of being stranded on an old, desolate country farm without any communication hook up might seem silly or even (to them) impossible, I don't know. But if you are a fan of real psychological horror pictures, don't miss it! Teague and his crew do a great job of building up the scares and maximizing the shocks and revealing the fact that CUJO is, like all great scare stories, really a saddening tale at the center. And be warned that the movie is depressing and quite shocking, and certainly isn't for the young ones...and I'm saying that having been forever changed by the experience of watching it when I was eight or so. And I have never been the same since. A-

One of the best film adaptations of a King novel with a plethora of extras including to commentaries.

Cujo is an excellent 80's horror movie and great acting. 😀👍🐶

Got the video quickly after we ordered it. We enjoyed the video. Would recommend it.

This is a Stephen Kings Movie. It was just scary enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Always watching for Cujo to come out as attack those in his habitat. Delivered timely. Intact! Cost reasonable. Added to my Stephen Kings Movies and collection.