Cujo (1983)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A mother and her son must survive a terrifying ordeal when they become trapped in a car with a rabid St. Bernard.
The story
The Trenton family—advertising executive Vic, housewife Donna, and young son Tad—take their car to the rural home of abusive mechanic Joe Camber for repairs. There, they meet Cujo, the Camber family's pet St. Bernard, and get along well with him. However, Cujo becomes infected with rabies after being bitten by a bat. As the infection takes hold, Cujo becomes delusional and violent. While Vic is away on a business trip, Donna and Tad return to the house for more repairs. Cujo attacks them, forcing them to take shelter in their Ford Pinto, where they become trapped as the car's alternator fails in the heat.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, is bitten by a rabid bat while chasing a rabbit. The Trenton family meets Cujo at the home of mechanic Joe Camber. As Cujo's rabies progresses, he kills the neighbor Gary and mauls Joe. While Vic is away, Donna and Tad are attacked by Cujo and trapped in their Ford Pinto. The car's alternator fails, leaving them to face heatstroke and dehydration while Cujo repeatedly attacks the vehicle. Vic returns to find his house vandalized and his family missing. Local sheriff George Bannerman is also mauled to death by Cujo. Donna eventually fights Cujo with a baseball bat, which breaks and impales the dog in the stomach. She then takes the sheriff's gun and fatally shoots Cujo in the face before Vic arrives to reunite with his family.
- First release year
- 1983
- Runtime (minutes)
- 93
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Lewis Teague
- Writers
- Don Carlos Dunaway · screenplay; Barbara Turner · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Dee Wallace; Daniel Hugh-Kelly; Danny Pintauro; Ed Lauter; Christopher Stone
- Genres
- horror; thriller; monster; natural horror
- Themes
- mother-son relationship; survival; rabies
- Tone and mood
- suspenseful; scary; gory
- Premise and plot tags
- animal attack; survival; horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- Stephen King's 1981 novel Cujo
- Content notes
- gore
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its suspense and others panning it as dull or flimsy. It was a modest box office success, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing horror film of 1983 domestically.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 60% · review count: 45; Metacritic · score: 57 · scale: 100 · review count: 8
- Production trivia
- The original director was Peter Medak, who left the project two days into filming.; Cujo was played by four St. Bernards, several mechanical dogs, and a black Labrador–Great Dane mix in a St. Bernard costume.; Frank Welker provided the vocal effects of Cujo.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…