Why is Cujo so often mentioned in films?

[muskrat]

I said it before: Imagine if they buried CUJO in the Pet Semetary?

Don't go down that rud, Louis.

 

[Gerald]

The character Cujo is an iconic figure used to symbolize what he symbolizes in the movie, which is unstoppable natural terror. Stephen King has had the ability to create icons and iconic quotes in some of his stories ("Here's Johnny!"; twin girls standing in a hallway, saying, "Come play with us, Danny. For ever...and ever...and ever...") and Cujo is probably the most famous such iconic figure of King's.

Perhaps Cujo works with all kinds of matters of subject and genres due to the fact that he is a dog, just a diseased one, after all, as DJ reminds us; he had been a good dog. If he is supernaturally possessed, is an actual demon, or exists via some unknown mysterious source his threat would seem more alien to humanity's own essential nature. What feels more at home than a dog? This might be why Cujo is so horrifying, the betrayal of a person by his own home.

I had thought of the fact that he's a dog and dogs play a big part in many people's lives. But not every time a movie has a crazed fan Annie Wilkes is mentioned, when it's about the electric chair The Green Mile is mentioned, every time someone gets bullied Carrie is mentioned, when there are vampires Salem's Lot is mentioned etc.
Yet Cujo gets mentioned often, which leads me to think he's more popular than other King characters, yet there's no indication the book or movie is particular favourite - the movie is voted a 6/10 on IMDb. I thought the movie was good for the mother/son performance, but apart from that it's not all that special.

 

[Gerald]

Have you noticed how many times the phrase 'They're all going to laugh at you.' shows up? That one's from Carrie.

No, that's not a line I've heard used in other movies...

 

[Gerald]

As others have said, he is easily recognizable, both as a horror character and also as a dog.

Think of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. One means "smart-than-human resourceful dog". The other means "actor dog".

"Cujo" means the other side of the "dog" coin.

I think you're right. Dog characters from movies are beloved in general, so Cujo probably stands out for not being the friendly or helpful dog.
Probably the fact that you can't even be sure your pet is safe and can turn on you is something that hits a little harder than other subjects King has written about.

 

[Gerald]

Those quotes probably should be credited to Kubrick. With how much King hated that adaption, I don't think he wrote it.

I don't think any of those quotes were in the book. I think the twin girls weren't in the book at all, if I recall correctly. At least I don't think Danny saw them.

I also don't think King really HATES Kubrick's film, it's just not HIS story anymore, but he felt it worked in its own right as a movie. He even marked it a favourite in Danse Macabre and (I believe at the press conference in Paris) he said 'People have made too much of that' when asked about it. I think he was disappointed it wasn't closer to his novel, but that's not quite 'hate'.
He did what you would do if you felt something wasn't adapted properly, he made his own version.

 

[Gerald]

This is because traditionally, all dogs (which are more than bit parts) in films are loyal and good. If/when they have names which are memorable, it something like Lassie. There simply aren't a lot of dog villains. In fact, there may only be one that became part of the Zeitgeist, i.e. Cujo. The name is simple, easy to remember, and is instantly stands as an avatar for "bad dog" in the mind whether people have read the book or not. In fact, it is a positive feedback loop, with the more it is used in this context, the stronger the association becomes.

You're right. I can't think of many other 'bad dog' characters from movies. There was a movie called 'Man's Best Friend' with a dog called Max, but I don't think it's very well known. Also in 'The Omen' there are menacing dogs, but they don't have names. In 'Suspiria' and 'The Beyond' there were dogs that attacked their owners (they were guide dogs to blind characters to make it even worse), but those are probably only known to horrorfans and not the general public and it's only one moment in the movie.

For the most part when dogs have a significant part in a movie they're hero-characters or pets that assist the main characters.

 

[Gerald]

The movie comes up at 18 (and 13 when adjusted for inflation) at the box office listing of King movies, which gives the idea that while not amongst the best earning, it still did well enough and a lot of people saw it. It beats The Dead Zone, Christine and Firestarter amongst King's early books that were adapted. Even Shawshank Redemption on the second list.

Stephen King Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo

I can't find such a list of book sales unfortunately, so I don't know how well it sold.

 

[César Hernández-Meraz]

I don't think any of those quotes were in the book. I think the twin girls weren't in the book at all, if I recall correctly. At least I don't think Danny saw them.

I also don't think King really HATES Kubrick's film, it's just not HIS story anymore, but he felt it worked in its own right as a movie. He even marked it a favourite in Danse Macabre and (I believe at the press conference in Paris) he said 'People have made too much of that' when asked about it. I think he was disappointed it wasn't closer to his novel, but that's not quite 'hate'.
He did what you would do if you felt something wasn't adapted properly, he made his own version.

I am not too informed about this, but what my limited knowledge makes me think is that "The Shining" is a very personal story for Mr. King. As such, it is important to him that Jack is a decent and loving man who has these difficult times, with influcence of alcohol and then of the Overlook pulling him into bad directions, but who ultimately lets his love win.

Jack Nicholson's character looks like someone who is already crazy and full of hate before ever steeping into the hotel.

You're right. I can't think of many other 'bad dog' characters from movies. There was a movie called 'Man's Best Friend' with a dog called Max, but I don't think it's very well known. Also in 'The Omen' there are menacing dogs, but they don't have names. In 'Suspiria' and 'The Beyond' there were dogs that attacked their owners (they were guide dogs to blind characters to make it even worse), but those are probably only known to horrorfans and not the general public and it's only one moment in the movie.

For the most part when dogs have a significant part in a movie they're hero-characters or pets that assist the main characters.

It looks like, apart from "Man's Best Friend", all these others have bad dogs, but not as the central part of the plot.

So only "Cujo" and "Man's Best Friend" would fit as a story centered in a bad dog. But how many people who remember "Man's Best Friend" would remember the dog is called "Max"? I bet many more who remember "Cujo" would be able the recall the name of the dog.

 

[GNTLGNT]

I said it before: Imagine if they buried CUJO in the Pet Semetary?

Don't go down that rud, Louis.

...then we could enjoy a literal "death match" between Cujo and Church...

 

[Gerald]

There are definitely more movies about 'bad dogs' than Cujo. Here's a list for example (site is in my own language, but you can read the titles): Honden in horrorfilms | Muziek en Film: Diversen

The thing is that most are not well known. King was able to make his dog memorable, which apparently is difficult. Also the choice of dog helped probably: St. Bernards were bred to rescue people, which makes it extra horrible when such a good, helpful dog becomes 'bad'.
And they are very big - which makes the threat worse than a smaller dog.

Also, it's one of those King stories which is plausible, it's less fantastic than many of his other stories. A dead child coming back from an Indian burial ground is still rather fantastic, it requires suspension of disbelief. A dog bitten by a rabid bat however - that can happen for real.

 

[@PM]

Unfortunately I don't have a list of all the films he's mentioned in, but I noticed it often.

Here you go.

There are definitely more movies about 'bad dogs' than Cujo. Here's a list for example (site is in my own language, but you can read the titles): Honden in horrorfilms | Muziek en Film: Diversen

I must say I don't know any of the other movies mentioned in that list. The language is no problem by the way

Anyway, some stories/movies get somehow immortalized in their respective fields. Christine as a homicidal car, Groundhog Day whenever someone (feels he) experiences the same day over and over again, you need a DeLorean to travel in time and so on. Granted, my examples all score higher on IMDB, but it's all part of collective memory. Why Cujo tops the SK-list... well there are more aggressive dogs in movies than cars that have a will of their own.

 

[The Nameless]

It's not just films either, if anyone has played the video game Life is Strange they might notice more than one reference to Stephen King, one of them is cujo. It's based around a college setting and one of the dorm rooms - 217 has redrum written on the plaque and the main character says "room 217, no way I'm going in there". One of the characters is called Kate beverley marsh, and in a nightmare like sequence a character with the surname bowers says "me and Rachel are floating down here in the sewers, come and join us".

The games developers said they used many references to pay homage to their favourite writers, books, TV shows, movies and music.

 

[Gerald]

Here you go.



I must say I don't know any of the other movies mentioned in that list. The language is no problem by the way

Anyway, some stories/movies get somehow immortalized in their respective fields. Christine as a homicidal car, Groundhog Day whenever someone (feels he) experiences the same day over and over again, you need a DeLorean to travel in time and so on. Granted, my examples all score higher on IMDB, but it's all part of collective memory. Why Cujo tops the SK-list... well there are more aggressive dogs in movies than cars that have a will of their own.

Thanks for that list. It's not even complete I think. I actually hadn't noticed so many Cujo references in recent years, but shortly after the Scream Queens episode I was watching episode 4 from Covert Affairs which is from 2011 and Cujo got mentioned again! I don't see it on the list...

Yeah, I think there have been many aggresive dogs in films, but few have a complete character and name like Cujo. The mention of Cujo sort of summarizes the 'agressive, dangerous dog' in a way that everyone instantly recognizes from the film/book. Amazingly Cujo is kind of unique - you'd think there'd be more recognizable agressive dogs in book/movie history, but none really seem to have stuck.

 

[Gerald]

It's not just films either, if anyone has played the video game Life is Strange they might notice more than one reference to Stephen King, one of them is cujo. It's based around a college setting and one of the dorm rooms - 217 has redrum written on the plaque and the main character says "room 217, no way I'm going in there". One of the characters is called Kate beverley marsh, and in a nightmare like sequence a character with the surname bowers says "me and Rachel are floating down here in the sewers, come and join us".

The games developers said they used many references to pay homage to their favourite writers, books, TV shows, movies and music.

I LOVE that game! The story got a bit muddled in the last episode I think, but on the whole it was one of my very favourites of last year.
I forgot Cujo was mentioned, but I'm sure you're right.

The makers also seem to be fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, using the names of an actress and a character from that: Caulfield and Chase (or maybe it's just I noticed those names especially since I'm a big fan of it. Although the character of Victoria Chase was similar to the way Cordelia Chase was at the beginning of Buffy, so most likely it's a direct reference).

It had only five episodes over a year and one episode was released ON my birthday. What are the chances!

 

[The Nameless]

I LOVE that game! The story got a bit muddled in the last episode I think, but on the whole it was one of my very favourites of last year.
I forgot Cujo was mentioned, but I'm sure you're right.

The makers also seem to be fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, using the names of an actress and a character from that: Caulfield and Chase (or maybe it's just I noticed those names especially since I'm a big fan of it. Although the character of Victoria Chase was similar to the way Cordelia Chase was at the beginning of Buffy, so most likely it's a direct reference).

It had only five episodes over a year and one episode was released ON my birthday. What are the chances!

Yeah, cujo's mention was one of many missable scenes. When max sees the rv in the parking lot by the diner, if you walk around it you see pompadeux (spelling?) relaxing by it. Max says something along the lines of "he looks cute lying there, but if get too close...cujo!"

I didn't really care for episode 5, I felt it got too clever for its own good, tried to be too twisty. It went back to the 1st scene too much and made you fail too many times before giving you the right option. The first 4 were good though, and as Stephen says - if you read a book and like it up until the ending which you didn't like, you've still read a good book, the end is just a small part of the whole story.

Did you also feel the train track scene had a touch of 'stand by me' to it?

One of the best things about life is strange was the music. I can play some of it on a guitar, the main theme is so nice that I can just sit there for half an hour playing it as a loop.

 

[Gerald]

Yeah, cujo's mention was one of many missable scenes. When max sees the rv in the parking lot by the diner, if you walk around it you see pompadeux (spelling?) relaxing by it. Max says something along the lines of "he looks cute lying there, but if get too close...cujo!"

I didn't really care for episode 5, I felt it got too clever for its own good, tried to be too twisty. It went back to the 1st scene too much and made you fail too many times before giving you the right option. The first 4 were good though, and as Stephen says - if you read a book and like it up until the ending which you didn't like, you've still read a good book, the end is just a small part of the whole story.

Did you also feel the train track scene had a touch of 'stand by me' to it?

One of the best things about life is strange was the music. I can play some of it on a guitar, the main theme is so nice that I can just sit there for half an hour playing it as a loop.

I seem to recall the mention of Cujo now, yes.

I liked visually how surreal it got in the last episode - I don't think I ever played a game sequence so surreal or weird. It just gave me the feeling they didn't really know how to tie up the story.

I don't know if I fully agree with Steve on that. The ending is just a part of the whole story, yes, but the ending is the feeling with which you leave the story - if you don't like it you leave the story unsatisfied even if you liked what came before the ending.

I wasn't thinking so much of Stand by me/The body. But probably because they were girls. I loved how different Max and Chloë were: complete opposites basically. One quiet and friendly, the other a complete rebel.

On the whole I felt it was so much better in every respect than Telltale's similar games (not that those are bad). It played better, the high quality of characterisation and voice acting made it much more involving, I liked the graphics more (I think the Game of Thrones graphics from Telltale are horrendous, although Walking Dead's are good). And Telltale often has problematic loading and sound issues.

 

[Gerald]

Coming back more on topic: I wonder why Cujo the movie isn't liked more. It has a 6/10 on IMDb which is really low, I don't think it's as poor as that.
You can't deny the film is effective: the scenes in the car under attack by Cujo are frightening. The performances by Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro (as Tad) are really good. It has some nice camerawork (by Jan de Bont, who is from my country and shot films here for Paul Verhoeven) with one shock in particular timed very well. They did a good job of training the dogs and making Cujo look rabid and very dangerous.

They changed Tad's fate from the book (probably if they filmed it now they might leave the orginal ending in, since Pet Sematary and The Mist also don't shy away from very bleak endings as films), but apart from that I think it was rather faithful.

Still it's not as beloved as other King films. It's dated now, yes, but as an adaptation of the book it doesn't do a bad job, and I can see why Stephen loves it himself.

What would you have to change about it to make the public like it more, say, if you did a remake?

 

[Connor B]

I'm afraid of even opening Cujo, because I'm madly in love with my Belgian Tervuren, Travis. I wouldn't want to break my own heart.

 

[Gerald]

I'm afraid of even opening Cujo, because I'm madly in love with my Belgian Tervuren, Travis. I wouldn't want to break my own heart.

As long as you keep him out of the way of rabid bats there should be no problem!

 

[not_nadine]

I'm afraid of even opening Cujo, because I'm madly in love with my Belgian Tervuren, Travis. I wouldn't want to break my own heart.

Poor Cujo. He was a good boy.

It will break your heart.