Day 575: Jul 29, 2023

It’s a glorious day when I get to take the next step in my multi-year Stephen King journey.

Today I reach the ninth book in the grand plan: Cujo!

I believe this is also one of the very few SK books that I’ve not read before. I saw the movie as a kid, but it didn’t leave much of an impression and I recall little about it.

Now, turning to page 1. Good boy!

A good man named John Smith uncovered his name by a kind of magic, but before he could be captured – perhaps it was just as well – Frank Dodd killed himself.

Right off the bat, a direct reference to The Dead Zone. I like it! Let’s me know what universe I’m in.

He pulled into the Camber dooryard, the back wheel clunking louder than ever. Tad, then three, was sitting on Donna Trenton’s lap, laughing up at her; a ride in Daddy’s ‘no-top’ always put him in a fine mood, and Donna was feeling pretty fine herself.

Ah, the good ole days before those pesky child seats and annoying seatbelts were a thing. Safety schmafety.

Cujo knew he was too old to chase rabbits.

He wasn’t old; no, not even for a dog. But at five, he was well past his puppyhood, when even a butterfly had been enough to set off an arduous chase through the woods and meadows behind the house and barn.

Another great dog pov segment. Best one since Kojak’s in The Stand!

His snapping jaws closed on one brown-black wing. Bones thinner than those in a baby’s hand crunched. The bat slashed and bit at him, slicing open the skin of the dog’s sensitive muzzle in a long, curving wound that was shaped like a question mark… the damage had been done; a bite from a rabid animal is most serious around the head, for rabies is a disease of the central nervous system… And Cujo had never had a single rabies shot in his life.

And there it is!

He was a Saint Bernard in his prime, five years old, nearly two hundred pounds in weight, and now, on the morning of June 16, 1980, he was pre-rabid.

200 lbs? Wow.

A party of four at the next table, three in UMP tennis shirts and one wearing a faded T-shirt with the legend DARTH VADER IS GAY written across the front, began to applaud.

What an odd shirt to wear. But then again, it’s more popular of a message than I was even aware!

…the Cereal Professor concept was approved and saturated Saturday morning TV, plus such weekly syndicated programs as Star Blazers, U.S. of Archie, Hogan’s Heroes, and Gilligan’s Island.

I regularly watched all those shows, except U.S. of Archie Never heard of that one. Of course I know Archie from the comics but never heard of the TV show.

When he came out he felt a little better. He dressed again, pulling jeans and a faded chambray shirt from the flightbag.

When I first started listening to The Losers’ Club podcasts there was a running joke about “chambray shirts”.

Boy, does King ever use that phrase in ALL of his early novels!

Day 576: Jul 30, 2023

A 200 lb+ dog is scratched by a bat.

A hot young wife is boinked by a local tennis coach.

A scrappy ad exec is about to lose his business over kids vomiting a raspberry treat.

I continue to read the tale of a “good boy” gone bad: Cujo!

Well, Roger had answered, straight-faced, we could be working on the Bon Vivant Vichysoisse account.

I always end up doing a lot of googling when reading these old King books.

George Carlin, in his nightclub routine: “The Reagan guys are doing their campaign shit on TV, right? Russians are getting ahead of us in the arms race. The Russians are turning out missiles by the thousands, right? So Jimmy gets on TV to do one of his spots, and he says, ‘My fellow Americans, the day the Russians get ahead of us in the arms race will be the day the youth of America shits red.’ ”

So surreal to see King write a fictional Carlin routine!

Inside my wife! he thought, agonized, hands clenching. Inside my wife!

The topic of infidelity is strong in this book and so far, King’s graphic depiction of the husband’s reaction to learning about his wife cheating on him is spot on.

went through all of those same thoughts when something similar happened to me in my past. Imagining every explicit detail of the acts of unfaithfulness, the outrage, the hurt… Spot on.

But tonight he only lay between them with his nose on his paws… He simply lay there, feeling the aches that filled his bones and buzzed back and forth in his head… When he slept, he had dreams of uncommon, unpleasant vividity. In one of these he had savaged THE BOY, had ripped his throat open and then pulled his guts out of his body in steaming bundles. He had awakened from this dream twitching and whining.

Love this account of Cujo’s descent into madness!

One of the reasons I’m letting you go on this jaunt is that you’re ten now, and ten’s old enough to tell the difference between a turd and a tearose.

“turd and a tearose”

Where does King come up with these colloquialisms?

Day 577: Jul 31, 2023

A jilted husband finds out.

A wife wins a lotto ticket and get a reprieve from her jerk of a hubby.

A formerly “good boy” gets his first human kill.

I’m 40% through Cujo and now continue on.

He stopped in the doorway. His eyes widened until they actually seemed to be bulging from his head. There was a pile of dog droppings in the doorway to the kitchen … and he knew from the size of the pile whose dog had been here.

“Cujo,” he whispered. “Oh my God, Cujo’s gone rabid!”

He thought he heard a sound behind him and he whirled around, hair freezing up from the back of his neck.

What a way to start my morning!

The closet door was swinging open. And as it swung open he saw something inside, only for a second and then he was flying for the door which gave on the hall as fast as he could. He saw it only for a second, long enough to tell it wasn’t the man in the shiny black raincoat, Frank Dodd, the man who had killed the ladies.

The constant Dead Zone references (Dodd, Sheriff Bannerman) keep pulling me out of THIS story. I did a search: Dodd was mentioned 20 times in this book.

I’m not sure which was more frightening: The rabid Saint Bernard or this Pinto that’s constantly on the verge of a breakdown.

And the dog seemed to know. His terrible, thoughtless eyes never left Donna Trenton’s wide blue ones. He paced forward slowly, almost languidly. Now he was standing on the barnboards at the mouth of the garage. Now he was on the crushed gravel twenty-five feet away. He never stopped growling. It was a low, purring sound, soothing in its menace. Foam dropped from Cujo’s snout.

I entered into this story with some skepticism that a dog plot could be scary. I was wrong.

Day 578: Aug 1, 2023

The body count starts to increase.

The Pinto finally bites it.

A dog, a woman, a boy, and a car.

I’ve reached the halfway point and it feels like I ought to be toward the end of the story – but no, I think I’ll be stuck here for a long while.

At last he lay down in the driveway, as if deciding there was no chance for them to escape. She hated it more then than she had when it had tried to force its way in through Tad’s window.

“Mommy … Mommy … Mommy!”

I dunno, but if I were in that car, I might’ve tossed that screaming kid out. Being trapped by a rabid dog wasn’t the true horror. Being trapped WITH that hysterical kid was!

Day 579: Aug 2, 2023

Trapped with growing claustrophobia, a mother and her young boy bunker inside the worst car one could possibly be trapped in such a situation.

“Mommy, maybe the car will start now.”

“Honey, I’m scared to try it because the battery is so low.”

“But we’re just sitting here,” he said, sounding petulant and tired and cross. “What does it matter if the battery’s low or not if we’re just sitting here? Try it!”

King never could realistically get the voice of a 4-year-old correct, could he?

George Meara, the mailman, lifted one leg clad in blue-gray Post Office issue and farted. Just lately he farted a great deal.

What a way to introduce the man that Donna imagined was going to save herself and her boy!

📫 💨

The scene where the jilted lover breaks into Donna’s house, tosses everything around and then tosses his…

Well, I just HOPE this has something to do with the overall plot, because wtf?

Day 580: Aug 3, 2023

I’m 70% of the way through the book and the action has come to a complete halt – much like it was supposed to do, I suppose.

Being trapped in a car with no AC, no food, and worst of all, no entertainment is the true horror here.

Listening to Roger, the 41-year-old ad man, bemoan his career prospects at that age… Well, that’s just gotten me paranoid about my own at the ripe old age of 51!

SPOILER ALERT!

So Donna attempts to make a dash for it out of the car and ends up getting bit by Cujo.

Now SHE’S got the damn rabies?

I’m not having fun with this book anymore – not that I thought it was all that enjoyable to begin with.

Day 581: Aug 4, 2023

Finishing off the book today. Everybody in the world who could’ve helped Donna and Tad are out of town.

Donna’s options are rabidly, I mean, rapidly diminishing.

Tad is useless. I would’ve just cut my losses and thrown him out of the Pinto as a diversion while I made my escape.

This book is depressing.

Now the little kid has a near-death seizure?

Job had it easy in the Bible compared to these two.

“There are all sorts of possibilities. She gets the car up there, and someone she knows slightly happens to be there, and the guy or gal offers Mrs. Trenton and your son a ride back into town. Or maybe Camber runs them home himself. Or his wife. Is he married?”

Listening to the police hypothesize what happened to Donna and Tad and the Pinto for 70 pages is really tedious. I did a lot of skimming here.

He turned then, pulling his gun, and caught just a blurred glimpse of a dog—an incredibly big dog—launching itself into the air at him. It struck him chest-high, driving him against the Pinto’s hatchback.

If this were Sheriff Bannerman’s last moments, I’m sure Johnny Smith would have warned him of his demise back in The Dead Zone.

The world was all dazzling sun. It was hard to see. Bannerman scrambled, clawed at the gravel, and finally made it to his knees. He looked down at himself and saw a thick gray rope of intestine hanging out of his tattered shirt.

Guess Johnny let his buddy down after all. Stupid psychic. Can’t even see when somebody will be eaten by a rabid dog.

“Hold on, man. I’m calling from Summers. I’ve got to tell you. There was a telegram from Sharp in Cleveland. We’re keeping the account.”

With disaster after disaster after disaster, this little bit of positive news was a welcome respite.

But I fear it’s lifting us up just a little bit in order to deliver a huge plummeting fall at the end.

The Saint Bernard shied away, growling. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly in the white cotton bra.

That’s an odd thing to focus on as Donna makes her final stand against the dog.

F*** that ending and the mind that came up with it.

Day 582: Aug 5, 2023

Now listening to The Losers’ Club as they deep dive into a book that they describe as “like Jaws but with a dog”.

Cujo

https://podcastaddict.com

The Losers run out of gas outside Castle Rock as they discuss Stephen King’s Cujo.

So Stephen King was completely sauced while riding this book, such so that he says he doesn’t even remember writing it.

All I can say is, he must have been a really mean drunk in person based on what he writes while under the influence.

I came to this episode to hear about the book. Didn’t expect right off the bat to hear a major spoiler about the movie and how it is so very different from the book. Oh well.

Did learn an interesting bit about the origin of the name “Cujo”.

From Wikipedia: “Cujo’s name was based on the alias of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for orchestrating Patty Hearst’s kidnapping and indoctrination into the Symbionese Liberation Army.”

And in the book, the replacement dog they get at the very end they named “Willie”.

Cujo – Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org

Cujo is a 1981 horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard.

I can’t believe I missed the most terrifying passage in the book!

He yanked his jeans back up, raked the zipper closed (almost catching the head of his penis in the zipper’s small gold teeth—that would have been a laugh, all right), and ran for the door, buckling his belt again.

Any male out there knows the true horror of this. In fact, King really could take this concept and make it a 1500 page horror novel.

Day 583: Aug 6, 2023

Next up on the Cujo listening tour is Chat Sematary.

Cujo (1981)

https://podcastaddict.com

Katie Schaefer returns to chat about Cujo. The novel isn’t all that long, but it felt like it was at times.

They didn’t know Frank Dodd was from The Dead Zone (initially thought he was from The Dark Half). They incorrectly said that Stephen King was on cocaine while writing this book.

These hosts truly did not do their homework before diving into this novel.

Next, I listened to Stephen King Cast and his thorough analysis of Cujo.

Spoiler: He was not a fan. He called it a “bleary novel” with no sympathetic characters outside of the Saint Bernard himself.

Cujo Review

https://stephenkingcast.podbean.com

It’s Jaws meets Old Yeller in this week’s edition of the Stephen Kingcast! This week, I review the tale of man’s best friend gone bad: Cujo.

It was somewhat amusing that the podcast host kept referring to the kid Tad as “Danny” at one point.

Day 584: Aug 7, 2023

Stephen King Cast returned years later to the scene of the crime and offered a review specifically about the ending of Cujo. Did he soften his stance on this book he described as “bleak” with no “redeemable, positive characters”?

The Ending of Cujo

https://stephenkingcast.podbean.com

Cujo. . .good ending? Bad ending? Do I like it? Do I not? Find out this week!

While his opinion of the book hadn’t changed (it was too long, characters were unlikeable), he did give the ending of Cujo a favorable review. He argued that it was fully consistent with the rest of the novel and left an impression well after the book is done.

I agree!

Day 584: Aug 7, 2023

Now settling in to watch the first half of the movie adaption of Cujo! It’s only 1.5 hours long which is a HUGE positive!

I last saw this as a kid when it was on HBO in heavy rotation in the mid 80’s, so I remember very little about it.

With the novel still fresh in my mind, I hit “play”.

Cujo (1983)

https://www.imdb.com

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

The opening title sequence is one of the better ones I’ve seen so far from the 70’s & 80’s adaptations.

This is also one of the few movies where I haven’t heard of any of the actors in the film.

I had to look them up to learn that Dee Wallace was the mom from E.T. and Danny Pintauro was the little boy from Who’s The Boss. Otherwise, these are all mystery actors to me.

Hearing Cujo yelp in pain after being bitten by a bat – well, I was just about ready to turn off the movie and say nope, I love dogs too much.

Look, I’m no expert in the affairs of the heart, but Donna cheated on THIS guy? You mean to tell me she found somebody hotter than her husband here?

For someone having an affair, she’s wearing an outfit that even my great-grandmother would find prudish. It’s practically a burqa!

Everybody made comparisons between Cujo and Jaws. It was cute to see Jaws get a little nod in this film.

How could they have George Meara, the farting mailman, walk over someone an NOT let out a toot?

So I took it upon myself to improve that scene. Yes, I’m immature, but it worked.

Whoa – in the movie, Vic catches Donna having an affair as he drives past the two of them in his car.

That’s quite different from the book where there’s this long, drawn subplot involving an anonymous letter dropped in the mail.

The actress playing Charity Camber could pass for Michael Shannon’s sister!

Kids were a lot less athletic back in the early 80’s.

That dog playing Cujo is quite the actor. Just look at the mean look he gives off when he gets up!

I have to observe that Cujo in the movie doesn’t seem anywhere near as big as he’s depicted in the book.

In the book, he’s described as easily weighing over 200 lbs. In the move, he’s about a buck-twenty.

As Joe Camber is frantically flipping through the telephone book to get the number for the police, I had to think, “Why didn’t he just call 9-1-1?” Certainly, it was around in the mid-80s to my recollection.

So I googled it:

“By the mid 1980’s, over half of the United States population was using this universal emergency number.”

That’s it for me today. I’m at exactly the halfway point in this movie.

So far, it’s been a decent adaptation. Very, very faithful to the book. It cut out a lot of the advertising gab between Roger & Vic, thankfully.

But, I’m just not feeling it here. It’s competently made. Nothing too cheesy to poke fun of. But just like Firestarter, it feels like this film just wasn’t necessary.

I’ll see if that feeling holds when Donna & Tad get trapped in the Pinto.

Day 585: Aug 8, 2023

Finishing off the film today. Cujo’s body count is up to 2 at the halfway point. Will there be more?

Cujo (1983)

https://www.imdb.com

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

These Cujo POV shots must’ve been a lot of fun for the cameraman to do.

For a little kid actor, this one ain’t bad.

I know there’s a book out there on the making of Cujo, the film. I initially had no interest in it whatsoever, but after seeing this scene, I just gotta know if this is puppetry (if so, that’s Oscar-worthy). If it a dog actor, then it’s even more impressive that the dog stayed still under all that goop, made those facial twitches, etc.

I have a very slobbery, medium-sized dog.

But this is just about the grossest thing I’ve seen in any Stephen King film so far.

All. That. Licking.

George Meara, the farting postal worker, makes another appearance.

Oh wow. This film lulls you into a sense bordering on boredom.

And then BAM! The scene where Cujo finally gets a piece of Donna is several levels more intense than what the book could convey.

Advantage goes to the movie for that scene. Well done!

This kid should’ve been drafted to play Gollum.

Oh jeez, please tell me they didn’t have this guy leaving some of his DNA behind on Donna’s bed like he did in the book.

Whew. I approve of this change from the book.

Bad parenting. 😂

Awwww… What a romantic ending!

That wraps up the movie. My impression? Meh.

For about 2 minutes it was a fantastic film. But the other 1 hour and 28 minutes? Meh.

This was rated R, but honestly, it looked & felt like it was made for TV. I don’t know how this could’ve been done any better – the source material was rather limiting.

It wasn’t the worst of the King films I’ve seen so far. But it was far from the best.

Day 586: Aug 9, 2023

I now head into the various takes and analyses of the film adaptation of Cujo, starting with The Losers’ Club.

It’s refreshing to finally be at a novel that didn’t spawn a bunch of sequels, remakes, TV series, making-of documentaries, etc.

Book. Movie. Plain and simple.

Cujo

https://podcastaddict.com

The Losers run out of gas outside Castle Rock as they discuss Stephen King’s Cujo.

Interesting factoid about the movie:

The actress playing Donna (the cheating housewife) was in real life married to the actor playing Steve Kemp (the guy she was cheating with).

I wanted to share an article that was shared with me yesterday with some behind-the-scenes info on the making of this film.

The photo of the man in the Cujo costume was really disturbing!

Stephen King’s ‘Cujo’: Never-before-seen Photos From the Set! (Exclusive)

https://bloody-disgusting.com

One of the most terrifying horror movies ever made is Cujo, Lewis Teague’s 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. With the film’s 35th anniversary on the horizon (next year), author Lee Gambin’s enormous tell-all “Nope, Nothing Wrong Here: The Making of Cujo“ is available for pre-orders

According to IMDB trivia:

“Five St. Bernards were used, one mechanical head and a man in a dog costume.”

Kudos to the filmmakers for making this entire team of Cujos unnoticeable in this film!

Day 587: Aug 10, 2023

If there’s anyone who could find humor in a film like Cujo, it’s Filmsack!

Cujo

https://soundcloud.com

We finally do Cujo!

“it’s not a Ford. It’s a Fahd!”

😂😂😂

“This is the most Stephen King ending a book can have. Which is: Your success is still failure.”

He’s not wrong.

“A dog falls into a cave full of bats, he gets rabies. A man falls into a cave full of bats, he becomes Batman.”

That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?

These guys from Filmsack are driving me nuts. They just spent ten minutes talking about how Stephen King wrote the stories that inspired Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption under his pseudonym Richard Bachman.

I want to jump through my phone and many years back in time to yell at them.

Day 588: Aug 11, 2023

Continuing with The Losers’ Club and their “Ka-mmentary” of this film adaptation of Cujo.

Cujo (1983) Ka-mmentery Track

https://www.patreon.com

Head to the Aladdin Theater with the Losers as they record a Ka-mmentary track on Stephen King’s most furry misadventure: Lewis Teague’s Cujo.

Drinking games for the movie: Take a sip…

Every time Cujo attacks the car
Every time police get another lead
Every time a phone rings
Every time Cujo physically deteriorates from rabies
Every time it cuts to the Dad (Vic)

Day 589: Aug 12, 2023

My Cujo journey continues with The Kingcast interviewing the star of Cujo, the amazing Dee Wallace!

The Kingcast Interview: Dee Wallace

https://podcastaddict.com

Cujo star Dee Wallace talks about her time trapped in a Pinto while facing off against a rabid St. Bernard. Did you know she hospitalized herself while filming the climactic scene in the movie? Did you also know she didn’t read King’s book until after she finished?

Learned that Dee Wallace (the mom from the Cujo film) is a “clairaudient channel and healer”.

What is clairaudience, you ask? Well, I had to look it up myself.

Clairaudience – Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org

In the field of parapsychology, Clairaudience [from late 17th century French clair (clear) & audience (hearing)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires information by paranormal auditory means.

Dee shared a heartbreaking story of how her husband died in his 50s while she was in New Zealand filming “The Frighteners”.

And then she shared a very touching gesture by Peter Jackson and it raised my opinion of him (which was already high to begin with) through the roof!

‘The Frighteners’ at 25: Dee Wallace gets emotional recounting Peter Jackson’s incredible act of kindness

https://www.yahoo.com

Peter Jackson has a reputation as being one of the nicest folks in the film industry, and E.T. star Dee Wallace won’t argue with that.

What Dee had to endure in that car for the sake of the film really brings home how physically taxing their work can be and the toll it can take on your physical and mental health.

PAY THE ACTORS AND WRITERS WHAT THEY’RE WORTH!

Day 590: Aug 13, 2023

It’s The Kingcast again with another deep dive into the depths of a Pinto with actor Devon Sawa.

Cujo with Devon Sawa

https://podcastaddict.com

Devon Sawa (Final Destination, Idle Hands) joins the boys to discuss Cujo. The gang talks about what they consider an underrated movie in the Stephen King film catalogue and break down some of the differences between the film and the book.

On this episode, I was blown away to learn that there was an *attempt* to remake Cujo. The article below was from 2015 and thankfully, it died on the vine.

‘Cujo’ Is Being Remade As ‘C.U.J.O.: Canine Unit Joint Operations’

https://uproxx.com

Yes, ’Cujo’ is getting a… somewhat imaginative remake.

On this episode, I was blown away to learn that there was an *attempt* to remake Cujo. The article below was from 2015 and thankfully, it died on the vine.

Cujo (1983)

https://podcastaddict.com

Murjani Rawls returns to talk about the movie adaptation of Cujo. It isn’t great, but it isn’t the worst thing we’ve seen, either.

While they agreed with me in having a more tempered view of Cujo the movie (it was good, not great), they had a take that I didn’t expect:

It needed more fleshing out of the Camber family.

Just about everyone thought the book was too long with unnecessary subplots and POVs. The movie, to its credit, excised a lot of that out – but here they are, thinking it should have been put back in!

Day 591: Aug 14, 2023

It’s The Kingcast‘s third episode on the subject, this time with author Mark Z. Danielewski.

Cujo with Mark Z. Danielewski

https://podcastaddict.com

Author Mark Z. Danielewski joins the boys to take a hard look at Stephen King’s Cujo and the 1983 film adaptation. Is Cujo and allegory for alcoholism? What is up with the monster in Tad’s closet?

Oh – this is the guy who wrote the most popular book everybody’s not read: “House of Leaves”!

At least, this book has sat on MY bookshelf collecting dust as it intimidates me daily from reading it.

House of Leaves

https://www.goodreads.com

A young family moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

“Shame on the movie for allowing the kid to live.”

That’s a take I didn’t expect to hear!

Day 592: Aug 15, 2023

The Stephen King Cast has a word or two to say about Cujo.

Cujo Movie Review

https://stephenkingcast.podbean.com

In this week’s review of the Stephen Kingcast, we launch into a review of the adaptation of Cujo! Is it as brutally depressing as the novel? Find out!

This reviewer had given the book a poor review, yet he rated it better than the movie. He argued that had it focused MORE on Cujo and the captivity of Donna and Tad, it would’ve been a better film.

Next is an article from the “Streamin’ King” series in Decider about Cujo, the movie.

Streamin’ King: The Bloody Barnyard Centerpiece Of ‘Cujo’ Retains Its Power To Terrify

https://decider.com

You could easily gnaw half your fingernails off without even realizing it during the film’s harrowing last 45 minutes.

“Cujo’s decline into indiscriminate murderousness is slobbery and swift.”

This article repeated what has been said in several podcasts:

“You lose Cujo’s heartbreaking point-of-view (‘He had tried to do all the things his MAN and his WOMAN, and most of all his BOY, had asked or expected of him’)”

Has there been a movie that has successfully entered into the mind of a dog (aside from cartoons?)

“Fortunately King bought back the rights to Cujo and a number of other properties (including Children of the Corn), effective September 2018. “

Did he really buy back Children of the Corn? How, pray tell, did that awful CotC movie get released last year???

Hah!

Nation Admits Being So Coked-Out In ’80s They Have No Memory Of Reading ‘Cujo’

https://www.theonion.com

BANGOR, ME—Admitting that their decade-long overindulgence in recreational stimulants rendered their memories “pretty much a blur,” the American populace admitted Monday to being so coked-out during the 1980s that they had no recollection whatsoever of reading Stephen King’s best-selling horror nove…

Finally for today are the two pages from “Creepshows : The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide” dedicated to the Cujo movie.

According to this article, the little boy actor, Danny Pintauro, was actually “scared to death” on the film set and the screaming wasn’t acting.

That would disturb me if it weren’t for the fact that Dee Wallace (who played the mom) said the exact opposite in her interview with The Kingcast. She said that Pintauro was acting on the level of an adult.

Day 593: Aug 16, 2023

Just a few more episodes to go covering Cujo the movie before I get to move on to the next book.

Today, I spend some time with The Stephen King Podcast and their discussion about Cujo.

Many other podcasts referenced the book “Nope, Nothing Wrong Here: The Making of Cujo”.

In this episode, they interviewed the author of this book!

Nope, Nothing Wrong Here: The Making of Cujo

https://www.goodreads.com

Lee Gambin’s book analyses the entire film scene by scene—and along with the academic input there is exhaustive coverage of the production. This is the ultimate in ‘making of’ books, where no stone has been left unturned.

Not much interesting uncovered in this interview (and the recording quality was quite poor) but the recounting of how the movie producers attempted to dress a Labrador in a Cujo costume and get it to jump through the window (because Saint Bernards couldn’t be made to do that) was rather amusing.

Day 594: Aug 17, 2023

The Kingslingers take aim at the movie about the big dog.

Other Levels of the Tower: CUJO

https://www.patreon.com

This month we’re taking a look at the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s Cujo! We love dogs!

Day 595: Aug 18, 2023

I’ve reached the final podcast episode that I had queued up about the movie adaptation of Cujo. And once again, it’s The Kingcast with their fourth spin around the block in a dying Pinto. This time they have writer/director Joe Cornish in the back seat, screaming along with little Tad.

One of the things most notable about the movie Cujo is how it dropped a lot of the dog POV aspects that the book did very well.

Last week I had asked if there were any movies that did dog POV very well. In this episode, I learned about the 1980 French horror film Baxter, which was described as being about “a fascist bull terrier”.

Baxter (1989)

https://www.imdb.com

A white bull terrier named Baxter is given to an elderly woman by her daughter. As time passes, the dog develops aggressive and murderous behavior in order to be adopted by another family.

And that wraps it up for Cujo. Another milestone accomplished! Here are some final thoughts and stats:

Number of items consumed: 18
Hours spent: 24
Days passed: 21
Movies watched: 1

Current ETA for completing this entire journey: Oct 2027

In summary, I found:

🟢 The book to be merely ok.

🔴 The 1983 to be overrated by the podcasts in general. Yes it had some things to be proud of but I feel no urge to rewatch it or to recommend it to anyone else

🟢 So thankful there weren’t any sequels, mini-series, or remakes. One book, one movie. How refreshing!

🔴 Lessoned learned for young mothers: If you cheat on your hardworking husbands, you’ll be attacked by rabid dogs. You’ve been warned.

Step rankings in my journey (based on entire experience – not just the book):

1. The Stand
2. Doctor Sleep
3. The Shining
4. Night Shift
5. ‘Salem’s Lot
6. Carrie
7. Cujo
8. Firestarter
9. The Dead Zone

Day 713: Dec 14, 2023

***circling back***

Revisiting our favorite pooch with Kingsize. Right off the bat, I find it interesting that they pronounce it as “que-jo” and not “koo-jo”.

Cujo Pt 1

https://podcastaddict.com

Stephen King wanted this book to feel like ” a brick thrown through a window” It certainly has that devastating impact on the boys. In an emotionally charged two parter they explore the themes of addiction , the legacy of neglect , the cost of not following the signs and ask “who excatly is the real villain of this masterpiece” ?

Day 714: Dec 15, 2023

***circling back***

Just King Things continue their rabid tear through King’s works. (See what I did there?)

Cujo

https://podcastaddict.com

We talk about Stephen King’s 1981 dog-based horror thriller Cujo.

Learned something in this podcast that I didn’t know before: Stephen King is 6 ft 4 in. He’s a rather tall dude!

That fact came up in a discussion about the character Steve Kemp, the tennis instructor/ furniture restoration dude in Cujo. They proposed, based on the physical description of that character and his initials, that King inserted himself into the story.

Day 840: Apr 20, 2024

***circling back***

This is the final podcast episode that I’m circling back to before I move on to the next book in my journey!

And it looks to be a fun one!

Stephen Graham Jones joins the Kingcast to record a commentary track to the film Cujo.

Cujo Commentary with Stephen Graham Jones

https://www.patreon.com

What you have before you is a commentary track with Pop-Pop Wampler and myself for the movie Cujo. Since it’s a killer animal film we had to invite our favorite genre author who also happens to have a neverending supply of wild animal encounter stories to join in on the fun. That’s right, Mr. Stephen Graham Jones tags along and the resulting commentary is a ton of fun.