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Cujo (1983)
18 Plays23 days ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris try not to get mauled by Cujo as another dog-based horror movie, Good Boy, hits theaters.
Based on a novel that Stephen King has no memory of writing because of his alcohol addiction, Cujo follows the Trenton family, Vic (David Hugh Kelly), Donna (Dee Wallace), and Tad (Danny Pintauro), and a rabies-infected St. Bernard named Cujo. Heading out to a remote mechanic's house to get repairs on her Ford Pinto, Donna and Tad become trapped in the car by Cujo, who has become a bloodthirsty monster from rabies, which came from a bite from a bat. Zach and Chris discuss how surprisingly long it takes to get to the meat of the story, Vic's cereal ad campaign problems, the deal with Donna's fling Steve (Christopher Stone), how Beethoven was made to counteract the bad reputation of St. Bernards, and more.
You can watch Cujo on PlutoTV or AMC+. Next week, we're on the brink of the apocalypse with Arnold, discussing 1999's End of Days, which is being released on 4K.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, podcast week of September 29th, 2025. I'm your host, Zach. I'm your co-host, Chris.
Dog Horror Genre and Cujo
00:00:26
Speaker
And this week we're trying not to get mauled by Cujo because there is a new dog-based horror movie in theaters right now if you're here learning this. Good Boy.
00:00:37
Speaker
But Cujo is probably like the the big the big one as far as like ah that kind of subgenre. The dog horror subgenre. The killer dog.
00:00:47
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Because there's like the pack. um There's like Man's Best Friend, which is actually on the site right now. You can watch Man's Best Friend on everything. Action.com if you want to watch that. um But yeah, Cujo's the big one. And also, I would say definitely to upper upper tier Stephen King adaptations. Like it's in the top top echelon of Stephen King movies.
00:01:12
Speaker
Because so this was like very critically received. It was a big hit. Yeah. I think this was his follow-up after The Shining ah in terms of like cultural phenomenon movies.
00:01:25
Speaker
or Or this is around the same time as like The Dark Tower. Well, 83 was a huge Stephen King movie year because it was Cujo, The Dead Zone, and Christine
Stephen King's Experience with Cujo
00:01:38
Speaker
were all in 1983. Whoa.
00:01:40
Speaker
oh
00:01:42
Speaker
and yeah the sha was used This basically was the like Marvel movies of the time. The latest Stephen King adaptation. Yeah. yeah don't I don't think he had quite ah gotten into the Dark Tower yet where he was literally connecting everything in like and um in one universe. but there's ah There's connections, like especially in the book, I think there's like a lot of connections to other things.
00:02:08
Speaker
ah but A book that Stephen King does not remember writing because he was so into like his alcohol addiction at the time. he just does not remember writing Gujo. You know you how crazy it is to just black out on a book?
00:02:24
Speaker
Mm-hmm. that like you wrote it you have to go on a crazy bender and then just be like i did all this i wrote like 200 and something maybe 300 pages and it's like critically like very well received like everyone's like it wins like um best best fantasy novel best like not like a bunch of awards did it win like a saturn award that's for movies okay It won some like um like british like the British Fantasy Awards. No, no. Saturn Awards are are like for sci-fi novels.
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. That's not just for movies. yeah i don't I don't think Kujo won a Saturn Awards movie or book.
00:03:13
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, so, the yeah, he doesn't remember writing it, but he he thought i he thought it was, like, he does, like, what do you remember after he read it again? Or, like, when he, like, he said he likes it after the fact, like, he doesn't remember writing writing it, but he read it again he likes it.
00:03:30
Speaker
And he really he really loves the adaptation of this adaptation. Like, Stephen King thinks this is, like, one of his best adaptations.
00:03:38
Speaker
They're, like, really nailed, like the like, the tone of the book. Not like the Shining that he hates. It's so crazy to think because i think like the Shining, he just like was very close to his heart where Kujo, i think you could omit certain parts, but I think they still got the core
Narrative and Themes of Cujo
00:04:00
Speaker
like message. and and like I mean, the core premise is like extremely simple. so it's it's not oh yeah It's not that hard to like you know get it right. It's just a giant sapri artist attacking a a like a mom and a kid in a car.
00:04:12
Speaker
I know, but that's like the the giant ah premise, because essentially that's what you think Kujo is going to be about until you watch like the first two acts and realize Kujo sort of like the next escalating thing.
00:04:30
Speaker
But in a deeper screenwriting or just like writing story, it's like the metaphor for... um I guess, like, domestication.
00:04:44
Speaker
That, like, you can't domesticate certain things. They'll go wild. I mean, yes yeah you got it but the message is like, hey, you have an animal, it can still go wild. Hey, you have a marriage, it can still go wrong.
00:04:57
Speaker
like yeah It's all, like... the weird symbolism, but it doesn't pay off well if you keep thinking that deep into it. And, um, critics at the time said it was, like, not a good movie.
00:05:12
Speaker
Um, there's some crazy, like, uh, takes because I guess they expected such a higher caliber dog horror movie. Like, Roger Ebert said this is not a good movie.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah. I'm like, what? You know, like, there's a There's an expectation where um this was like a ah great book and then they adapted it and people were like, I guess doesn't translate so well because it didn't spend so much time fleshing out every minute detail.
Cultural Impact of Cujo
00:05:44
Speaker
ah And then it still was a good concept that even now, in like 50 years, almost like
00:05:56
Speaker
I'm to say, like, what, 40-something years since its creation? Yeah, slightly slightly over 40. Yeah, so... Like, Cujo now is still a revelant word. Like, you know, like, you still have the imagery, you still think dog. You might you might get the dog wrong sometimes.
00:06:11
Speaker
Like, some people think any any angry dog that was, like, the Cujo, but it's like, no, it's a very specific dog. It's a Saint Bernard. Yeah. And then... um I think we made a joke about St. Bernard's and and the impacts of like movies and how like cultures and stuff like feel the impact from it.
00:06:31
Speaker
like I bet you a lot of people around this time just did not have St. Bernard's as pets anymore. They were just like, Ujo came out, they like, no. Yeah, that was a whole that was the whole thing. because like yeah it basically made St. Bernard's the shark from Jaws. St. Bernard's are like vicious monsters. and then But then there was an animal trainer that was like, no, we got to show people what St. Bernard's actually like. And so he helped make Beethoven.
00:07:00
Speaker
I know it's it's weird because like I grew up in the Beethoven part of the at that fallout and not knowing what Kujo was like, it was weird because it took me like years later see Kujo.
00:07:13
Speaker
And then after watching so many other horror things that have, you know, I wasn't into serial killer or like grounded reality dramas. It was more like Freddy movies or Jason or.
00:07:26
Speaker
god forbid, like a Halloween movie where like it's just some menacing force. um To go back to just basics where this is just a dog bitten by rabies.
00:07:38
Speaker
There's no curse. There's no magic. There is no horrific experiment or something. There's no creature from a dark dimension, you know, like in a typical Stephen King fashion.
Realism in Cujo's Horror
00:07:54
Speaker
i mean, not every Stephen King thing is like he needs to do interdimensional horror. But occasionally he makes ah a banger of a story that is just like things he sees. And he's like, what if this was evil?
00:08:08
Speaker
What if this just went wrong? Yeah, this this is basically inspired by him going to a mechanic and then the mechanic had a The mechanic that fixes Pinto, which is why the car in the movie is a Pinto.
00:08:20
Speaker
And then the mechanic had like a St. Bernard to kind of like jump at him and he was like, scared him. So that was like, the that was like his whole inspiration.
00:08:33
Speaker
But the funny thing is, like, the St. Bernards in the movie were apparently, like like, they had to tie their tails down because they were so, like, happy and wagging their tails constantly. So it looked, like, not scary at all if they didn't do that.
00:08:45
Speaker
And they, like, they had they got them attacked by, like, putting the toys in the car. That's why they were, like, because they're trying to get their toys. That's why they're, like, attacking the car.
00:08:54
Speaker
Oh. so they were like So they were, like, just, like, you know, like, lovable, big, like, teddy bear St. Bernards. Wanted to play. Yeah. Also, is it me or do they keep applying like grease to the dog? like Every scene, each time you see the dog, it just gets like we grosser looking.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, they definitely poured tons of fake blood on cu like the and Kujo. And then um there was some sort of like egg white and sugar ah mix. They made it for the foam, but then the dogs were like lick licking off constantly because they were like, this is good.
00:09:31
Speaker
So that was the other thing. I'm just like, I'm going to eat this sugary stuff.
00:09:40
Speaker
But I think that's a lot of the appeal of this movie is that like it it's something that you can see every day. And it it has a very...
00:09:54
Speaker
um like This movie still holds up in terms of just, like, the effects, because they use real dogs. They use just, like, you know, visuals that are just gross, but homemade.
00:10:08
Speaker
um And then, there's only, like, three settings. It's like, this movie takes place in three locations. Yeah. but's also It's also great, like, you know, like, survival. Like, what what would you do? Like, if you put yourself in your situation, like, how like what would you do if you were trapped in a car and St. Pernambour was, like, attacking you? Yeah.
00:10:25
Speaker
Oh, mind you, what we're talking about, the attacking part, is the last half an hour of the movie. Yeah. So, yeah. um I think we'll get into that, because it's kind of like, it's not like you came in prepared, and it's not like the the dog is super natural, where it it can just, like, fly through doors and just ah appear in the dark. It's very, like,
00:10:52
Speaker
A real world scenario, but just unfortunately all the things around you are making it worse. Like it was just the perfect storm of situational problems. Yeah, it's the middle of summer, so you like you're trapped in this car with no AC and it's like... This car shitty.
00:11:06
Speaker
You have no water, you have no food. No one knows you're out there. cell phone. Yeah, no one knows. Your husband's gone. The neighbor's gone. um
00:11:19
Speaker
You don't know how to start a fire, probably.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think, I mean, don't think you have time to start a fire. Like, no, Kucha's just like lying around. Well, I mean, you could have just taken your clothes. You could have used the cigarette lighter from the car. Yeah. Make like a fireball and then just like wrap the dog in it or like throw like really quickly, like just scare off the dog with flame because it's barking at you through like an open window.
00:11:49
Speaker
I get it. It's like it's a lot of like what ifs, I'm thinking in my head. But I'm like, fire usually works. Yeah, I feel like there could there what could have been like there's or there probably would have been a couple more things in the car to use as like weapons or to figure out a way to use it to get out.
00:12:05
Speaker
Like a tire iron or like some sort of thing in the glove box. or ah He would have taken the seatbelts and made like a whip. yeah But I mean, granted, the dog is rabbious, so it's like not going to be like fearful of like the person it wants to maul and then it just it's driven by like rage yeah it's it's what yeah we we've talked about um ah rage monsters and this is like one of the original Yeah, I think it's it's like in it like the furious state of rabies. Because when you first get rabies, he's just kind of like lying around and tired and like not really doing anything.
00:12:43
Speaker
But then you cross over and it's like the like the the furious part of rabies where you're just like, that you're just like your brain's starting to deteriorate. And then you're just pissed off and like attacking everything. and And then the last one I think is like, you're afraid of water. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
00:13:00
Speaker
Hydrophobia? Yeah, you get hydrophobia. It's like something about the rabies, like, disease hates water.
00:13:10
Speaker
Then you see a lot of animals. They're, like, dehydrated and mad. And that's what makes them even more, like, crazed. Mm-hmm.
00:13:20
Speaker
But yeah, let's talk about the yeah deep beginning, though, of like because that was definitely what jumped out at me this like rewatching because I haven't seen this in forever.
Setting up the Trenton Family
00:13:28
Speaker
But just like, yeah, how long it takes to get to the actual, like, what everyone associates Kujo with.
00:13:34
Speaker
Like, there's an hour of this movie that is just like ah like a domestic 80s drama.
00:13:44
Speaker
where its like It becomes like a part madman, part like family life. yeah
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah, because you have the Trentons. So you have the husband, Vic, who is an advertising executive. And then Donna, who's played Dee Wallace.
00:14:03
Speaker
And then Tad, who's their son.
00:14:07
Speaker
um who's played by daint pintoro who's who'd go on to be on who's the boss i think like a couple years after this yep um and yeah it's like it's it's they they're they're they live in castle rock or like guess maybe that's just like slightly outside of castle rock because it seems like they're like on like they live on like a a cliffside yeah they live like in the nice county of this castle rock community with no neighbors The topography is a little weird because yeah they live they they live on this like lush ocean side cliff, but then like like Joe Camber and his family live in like looks almost it's like a desert.
00:14:50
Speaker
It's like this like really desolate... Oh yeah, they drove to what is like Oklahoma like in the boonies there. Yeah. and I'm not sure if there's a lot of like like locations in Maine that look like that. Yeah.
00:15:06
Speaker
But yeah, the whole, the whole like, the the biggest concern in, like, the the first, like, hour of the movie is that um a serial campaign that Vic, like, created with his partner is, like, in jeopardy because, think they say because kids were, like, pissing and, like, like out, like, it was, I think it's, just it's like, the Smurfberry thing.
00:15:24
Speaker
but you remember, like, you ever know about that, Chris? No. The Smurf cereal, like, the actual, like, Smurf cereal was, like, causing, like, people to, like, shit blue. Because there's food dye? Because there's food dye in it. So I think in this, they used red dye for them, so people were thinking they're shitting and pissing blood.
00:15:42
Speaker
did not know that was a real life like thing, you know? Yeah, pretty i'm sure I'm pretty sure that most they had to be like part of like the inspiration, because that was like really early in the 80s, I think. of like They they like changed the Smurf cereal formula, because it're just like yeah but the blue dye we used is causing people to think they have like a heart-hearted condition.
00:16:08
Speaker
But yeah, that's that's like the big like the biggest like tension in the beginning. It's just like, oh no, our serial campaign going to be cancelled.
00:16:18
Speaker
And also that Dee Wallace is sleeping with their neighbor or like someone else in town. The only thing we know about him is that he plays tennis with Vic, the husband.
00:16:29
Speaker
Well, the like Steve likes to do odd jobs and then play tennis. He just repairs stuff for them and then... I guess he likes doing... Well, the wife, of course. but yeah Playing the trombone.
00:16:50
Speaker
So that's... the yeah that's like like There's affair going on There's... Tad is afraid of monsters in his closet. There's a whole thing with that.
00:17:04
Speaker
but it but And then they're still dealing with... I guess... Did they just move to Castle Rock? Like, they've probably been there for like a few months. I think in the book, they moved there in like 1977.
00:17:19
Speaker
And then the book takes place in 1980. Oh. oh i always say that because it seems like they just got the ah idea of sending their kid to daycare or like kindergarten or something.
00:17:31
Speaker
Well, I think it's it's summer. So he's going to summer like this, like we it's like kind of like day camp. Oh, it's summer camp. Okay. Yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
I bring that up because um the the the act of the scene where um Tad is scared of his bedroom closet and then his his like, oh, monsters, I need a song and all that.
00:17:57
Speaker
And it just like doesn't come back. So I don't know if like he. um
00:18:05
Speaker
he went to school and that he sort of got fun of, or like he learned to be brave and now it's like he's applying it. Like, it c sort of doesn't go anywhere with that. He doesn't learn to be brave because he goes like catatonic.
00:18:16
Speaker
ah yeah Well, I think he seizes from the dehydration. Yeah, I mean, it's it yeah it's it's it's a combination of like dehydration and this like absolute terror of like, understandable terror of like this like monster dog is trying to kill you.
00:18:33
Speaker
But ah yeah it's it yeah, he doesn't he has't really learn to like overcome his mo like the monsters or anything. I feel like the arc is... do like deep like cause like It seems like Tad has a better relationship with Chip with his dad.
00:18:47
Speaker
Because dad is the one that comes in like... like um you know, like does the monster, the monster words to like protect him. And then like, he's like, he goes and picks them up in summer camp and they play baseball. They're playing catch and stuff. So like, it seems like he has better relationship with his dad. And then this is like, but now like they're like, D. Wallace is like forced to have, like they're accelerate like the relationship because they're trapped in a car together.
00:19:10
Speaker
Well, i'm I'm confused, because it seems like they had a good relationship, but they just wanted to spend more time since, like, the dad is, like, the best dad. Mm-hmm. Um... And like you said, like, the mom, she just had a lot of free time.
00:19:26
Speaker
she doesn't She wasn't, like, working a job. She wasn't, um, like, juggling something. Mm-hmm. And I'm not saying that, like, what she was doing was nothing, but...
00:19:39
Speaker
Was she just banging the handyman like every day? Like, yeah, because it just seemed like. They didn't really go into it in the movie, and you knew like there was this weird tension when they first, you know, see Steve, he's like, hey, you're going to give me coffee. She's like, oh,
00:19:56
Speaker
okay, like, man, if you want to hide your relationship secret, don't don't come by all the time. Or, like... Yeah, Steve you he just, like, wanders into their house whenever he wants. He's like, hey, I'm here! like And if you look at how, like, the destinations are, that's, like, a half an hour drive between, like, downtown where Steve lived and then the countryside.
00:20:19
Speaker
yeah it's, like, across town because at one point, like, Vic sees ah Donna coming back from Steve's house and he does, like, the U-turns, like, where the hell is she coming from? like
00:20:29
Speaker
But it's like, yeah, it's it's like a long, it's like a super long, it seems like a, at least like 10, 15 minute, 20 minute drive to their house.
00:20:42
Speaker
But, uh, I just feel like the, the, like, there's a valuable part of like, the storytelling of of showing us like the drama.
00:20:53
Speaker
but it's like we're watching a soap opera already, where it's just like, okay, well, we can't. oh And then it's just like, I think it's like the ceiling like halfway through the season of the soap opera.
00:21:04
Speaker
like Yeah, yeah. Because I said that because um there's a scene where after Vic and Steve are like, oh, like, I can't wait to show you my tennis game. Ha ha ha. Then they play tennis, like jumps to them playing tennis.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah. And then it jumps to that with Steve waking up in bed with with Donna wife. Yeah. And I was like, I missed something with his like weird, ah you know, trombone, trombone.
00:21:30
Speaker
And then post-sex trombone and his like just extreme bachelor pad house. just like Yeah, just like junk everywhere.
00:21:42
Speaker
So is it that like Donna just sort of leaves the kid at home and she goes and like bangs Steve or does she drop like Tad to daycare or summer camp and then bang Steve?
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah, it must it must be. Yeah, it drops Tad off at camp and then she's like, well, I got a couple hours.
00:22:04
Speaker
I'll go see Steve, then I'll go to the grocery store to pick up Tad, then home.
00:22:14
Speaker
ah and it's but it's it's I feel like most that is just it's kind of it's kind of setting up the reason why no one is around to be able to like it to like to come help anything.
00:22:26
Speaker
Because like the cause the the commercial, the advertising thing causes Vic to have to go on a business trip like for 10 days, so he's gone. um And and so then that's why they like drive themselves up to the mechanic shop.
00:22:42
Speaker
And there's ah there's like all other things that like like stack up to make sure that they're like alone out there with no help.
00:22:53
Speaker
like ah like yeah like joke Like Joe Camber, like is like the mechanic, like his wife wins the lottery? Just conveniently. $5,000, I guess, was like $17,000 in today's money.
00:23:08
Speaker
So then, like, so she and her son going to leave for a week and go visit her sister. it also seems like she's like, that's her, like, i'm the I'm leaving for good.
00:23:19
Speaker
Like, I'm packing up, like, the family photos. Oh, you think she just abandoned? i i think Yeah, I think she's just like, well, this like this is my like trick to like leave for good because he's an an abusive asshole.
00:23:31
Speaker
Really? I got the vibe that she just wanted to go see her family for a while and like in order to like go like bring your photo album to stare at it. A long car ride home.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like that photo thing was like, like you wouldn't take that unless you're like not planning coming back because you're taking like yourre but like your precious memories with you. That's true. I could see that.
00:23:55
Speaker
I thought that was just like, yeah, I guess you're just going to bring this book and maybe show family and like check out these photos of my kid. That was like the 80s version of the iPad. It's like, hey, look at my photos on my iPad.
00:24:07
Speaker
Well, that and like, you know, back then to share photos, you physically had to bring a photo album to places. mr Which is sometimes good. Most of the time, not.
00:24:18
Speaker
Not everyone had an eye photography. I'll tell you that. Yeah. I mean, I've seen my old photos and I like i take and like, woo but I'm definitely better at taking photos now because you do it so often. and Everyone should have like a... be i Also, um not everyone took photography in like high school.
00:24:38
Speaker
So a lot of those photos probably have like fingers in the way whatever back then.
00:24:47
Speaker
But yeah, the set up's like, yeah, the like the what the wife and son are gone. um like then Kujo then kudo kills like after 45 minutes he found like Kujo finally does like his first kill where he kills like their neighbor Gary who yeah of all the people like he was just drunk like he didn't do anything wrong he's just dirty he's country dirty um but he He and Joe were going to go to Boston and go to strip clubs. and cause like He's like, well, I got a bunch of money now.
00:25:21
Speaker
They don't have the money yet. I think the wife says they'll get the money in two weeks, but he's like, well, i got we got money coming. I'll go spend a bunch of money in Boston. Yeah, but I think that was more like just guys talking.
00:25:32
Speaker
yeah I'm actually doing it because I don't know. like if It's one of those things where your biggest plan is to go to Boston for a strip club and Let me tell you, I've been to the Boston Trip Club. They're not great.
00:25:45
Speaker
And then maybe watch like watching a a baseball game, get drunk. Yeah, that was that's just a weekend. That's not like like crazy. bull You don't need to win the lotto to do that. Also, they're like in Maine, right? Isn't Castle Rock in Maine?
00:25:59
Speaker
So Boston's just like an hour and a half drive.
00:26:06
Speaker
Probably quicker because like I mean, i don't know, quicker or longer, because not lot of people were on the highway during that time. But then interstates went through towns because they didn't build, like, super highways yet.
00:26:21
Speaker
Either way, that was it to them. Like, that you know i mean? Like, it was very obtainable goals for, yeah like, main people. We're going to the big city, Boston.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it's funny, like, me and you go to Boston a lot for paxies, and it's just, like, sports is just what the town does. So that's not, like, we let's go there just for sports. And then, yeah, it's a different time.
00:26:49
Speaker
you know, I just like to think, it's like, oh, your wife's giving me a hard time? Let's go spend more money on, like, on this. And you're like, ugh. Let's go spend the money she won. Yeah.
00:27:00
Speaker
that we won't actually physically have for a couple weeks. Well, do you think she actually won the lottery, or was more of and another distraction? Well, I think she shows him the ticket.
00:27:11
Speaker
like She has a ticket that says, like, you're like, I won the lottery. Oh.
00:27:17
Speaker
But then, but then she because she cause she also buys she but she buys him, like, a ah new, like, hydraulic lift for, like, his, like, house garage. Which is, like, I think that's but it's probably the best...
00:27:28
Speaker
um like way that they keep someone from like not showing up is like the mailman was going to deliver that. Because Dee Wallace is like, we have to wait for the mailman to show up and then we'll be saved. But then the they put like a no delivery like the they they delayed mail to our house for like a week.
00:27:46
Speaker
So they're like, hey, you don't have to deliver it up there. And he's like, oh, right. Here, but then I don't have to go up there today. That makes sense.
00:27:59
Speaker
So, yeah, um I mean, yeah, yeah. So Kujo, we're going back. Kujo got bit by a bat in a hole. Yes, he was chasing a rabbit and then he got bit in the nose by a bat. like which anyway And they filmed it by actually shoving a dog in a hole and then just having bats fly around, which was like, I think, real. Like it was real bats and real dogs. So, I mean, it's like safe distance. You know, the dog didn't look it was in danger.
00:28:25
Speaker
But it was just crazy to think that they were like, alright, let's get this train, St. Bernard, like stick its head in this hole. Make it hang out there for a few minutes. they could have been they also They had a mechanical head that they used, too. and They also had like a guy in a St. Bernard costume.
00:28:41
Speaker
Yeah, they had stunt guy. Yeah. yeah I think they also they also had like a Rottweiler that was dressed as like a St. Bernard. Just to make... Because the Rottweiler look more like ferocious than a St. Bernard at certain times. They just made a St. Bernard costume put on a Rottweiler.
00:28:59
Speaker
Yeah, apparently it was like probably just the St. Bernard wanted to be playful, but the Labrador or Rottweiler was probably more like, alright. I mean, it's good. You can't really tell a lot.
00:29:11
Speaker
can't really be like... only Only a few scenes you're like, that's a man in a dog costume. Yeah.
00:29:18
Speaker
No, I mean, yeah. It looks like... Great, great dog actors. like ah great Great practical effects. Also, voiced by Frank Welker.
00:29:29
Speaker
Yes, all the barks and stuff. which i Frank Welker, I feel like, has done like literally... like Anytime you hear a dog or a cat or any sort of animal, since like... what, like the 80s to now? Maybe even before the 80s? Like, is this him just, like, doing noises?
00:29:47
Speaker
It's like half his... It's like half his philography is just, like, animal voices.
00:29:53
Speaker
I'm... I still regret not going to a con with Frank Welkler, like, attending, because he attends one near me once in a while. So... Definitely need to go him in person and see if he does, like, impressions. Just be like, oh, my favorite role of yours is Cujo.
00:30:10
Speaker
very specific noise where it's like when you went woof I love that yeah it's it's crazy that like i mean yeah I guess if you want like very specific noises like that's what you hear like a voice editor but it's it's crazy that you have like that um Back then, you needed someone who can specialize in noiseless like that, recreations.
00:30:30
Speaker
And there's not like a library of dog barks, or like you like you can't record like the dog barking on set. could you well like You need like very specific barks at times, I guess. It's like, oh, just have Frank do it.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was probably easier just to ask him than to get a computer, like go to a computer lab, because not ever every studio had that, I guess, or have recording company. they they they bring one of the secret artists like a voiceover studio it's like alright bark come on bark well I think nowadays there's so much like uh assets of like recordings that I think in order now to get it you pretty much have to like don't like sound mix them. Like if you want it, some exotic sound, you pretty much have to like four animals and blend it together. So, cause like no one man knows how to make that sound.
00:31:23
Speaker
I think there's still a lot of ah voice actors doing like just random, random noises. Well, they do effects. Yes. But yeah only if they use an existing idea. But if you wanted to make like a whole new animal sound,
00:31:39
Speaker
i' not sure who's coming up with like, okay, well, I made that unique sound. You like me, I made that sound. Well, they, yeah, they they can, they combine a lot noises together to like make like, certain like, know like Jurassic Park does a lot of that. Like, they're like, oh, this is like a dolphin and a dog and um ah cow. And they, we combined it we like, warped it all together into like the, Right. source and But I'm thinking like,
00:32:00
Speaker
but i'm thinking like back then you just hired Frank Walker and you're like, yeah try your best, Frank. What if it was a dinosaur? He's just like, oh God, like you think of all the roles. Yeah. It's like, you just use a Slimer voice plus like, um, another monster voice.
00:32:24
Speaker
But yeah, no, he did a great job. Like it's one of those surprise, like Frank Walker's in there. Uh, but, The thing that, like, whatever rabies he got, it's like a slow rabies.
00:32:38
Speaker
It took, like, what seems like a week like, a month for this rabies the kick to kick into full action. Well, I think I was reading, yeah, it usually takes, like, between two and seven days to go into, like, the like the furious state.
00:32:51
Speaker
Really? Because this movie feels like a lot of things happen. Like, a lot of time passes. Yeah. Right? Between the first act of them like needing a car work done, it seemed like three or four days went by from just that alone.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah. Because they get cause they they originally go out to like the like the the Camber's house um because they need the Porsche fix. It's wild that Vic tries a Porsche, but then Dee Wells doesn't drive like a shitty Pinto.
00:33:22
Speaker
that Maybe that's like part of her like resentment of like, I gotta drive this Pinto and you just drive a Porsche? Yeah. gonna bang Steve.
00:33:33
Speaker
Well, that's what I'm like. Is she just banging Steve because he's the only guy in town? um The only man of like around the same age? Yeah. Maybe. Everyone's either like kids or older gentlemen who are um just like country, like just like yokels.
00:33:54
Speaker
And I feel like Dee Wallace plays a very like city person who has like you know, modern, like, 80s clothing. Like, she wears, like, a business suit, like, a woman's business suit when she goes to, ah like, Joe's mechanic's house.
00:34:08
Speaker
And she stares at the woman, and there's this weird thing where she's like, oh... Like, she doesn't know what to say. and I don't know. It was like, it was like grapes are wrath moments. Like they walked into this thing, this area, this, this like residence.
00:34:21
Speaker
And they're surprised that like, there's a woman like getting dinner ready. You know, she's like, Oh, what are you doing? Are you eating chicken? You eat chicken. You know, I was like, what is happening? Is that chicken? that
00:34:34
Speaker
Well, I get it. Like, she's just plucking a chicken it's not like too weird but she made it like the way it's framed it's like almost like a texas chainsaw thing where she's like oh my god what's going on over there yeah it's like a reveal because like um what's uh charity is like the wife's name yep it's like it's just it's behind her back and you don't see what she's doing and then it just like it kind of comes around the sides like oh she's just like preparing a chicken okay Yeah.
00:35:03
Speaker
But, like, it's shot very, like, sinister. like It just goes away. It's giving her feel that she has, like, a human hand or something, or like it's like a bloody, like, um bloody carcass. She's just plucking a bat.
00:35:15
Speaker
Yeah. Turns out the Kujo curse is, like, a blood ritual. This is how we cure rabies. We gotta give it more, feed you more rabies.
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah, and then you've made Super Rabies, and hence the Kujo thing. But, like, weren't you kind of, like, thrown off from the beginning of the title intro, where it starts with, like, blood? like A swirling blood, yeah.
00:35:38
Speaker
And it has nothing to do with, like, the thing at all. I guess maybe because rabies is a blood-formed disease? It's the blood, yeah. But... I will say, great great logo.
00:35:50
Speaker
Kujo has a fantastic, like, that text and everything, that's a great logo.
00:35:56
Speaker
Also, this movie has, like, it it's respectful for the viewers because it's not like a movie where they have to explain Rebees. Mm-hmm.
00:36:07
Speaker
You know, in other movies, if it's something, they always have to say, like, ah cause in the and the effects. This movie just assumes, you know, what Rebees is. Mm-hmm.
00:36:19
Speaker
You notice that? like in um I think just Joe is the only one who goes, oh, you have rabies, and then he gets killed. But otherwise, there no one else goes, rabies. Oh, it's like, oh my god, he's turned rabid. like Yeah, yeah.
00:36:33
Speaker
And that's it. It's a one-line drop, and that explains it. But if this is the first time you've ever seen rabies, like you don't know what's going on. You honestly are just like, okay, it's a bat scratch, and oh, that could happen?
00:36:45
Speaker
like Why does that happen? Oh, I guess. And then, like, ah I mean, granted, that household wasn't
The Horror Unfolds
00:36:54
Speaker
the best. They weren't like taking care of all the injuries. But if your dog comes back injured with like a scratch on its nose, wouldn't you be concerned?
00:37:02
Speaker
Like, what's going on with your dog? Or just like, ah hey hey hey, Kujo, like what where'd you get that? like You okay? Should bandage your nose? Because it looked like a bad cut. Yeah, it's a but it's free it's free pretty pretty big bite for like a tiny little bat. like equal like It doesn't look that bad when he first gets up but then when he comes back, he's got this big like ah bloody gash on his nose.
00:37:24
Speaker
And then, everyone in that... like That apparently happens the same day where the... Vic and his family but they show up.
00:37:35
Speaker
So... I guess that whole other mechanic family just looked at the dog and went, yeah, that's fine. You know? Like, they... It's either they brushed it off and they're like, whatever.
00:37:46
Speaker
you know, my dog got injured. Well, I mean, it takes a little bit for Abus to start really showing up. so I know, but there was like no concern that the dog was injured from their end.
00:37:57
Speaker
Even the boy was just like, I love Cujo, he's great. Don't mind the blood. Like, don't mind that fresh wound on its nose. he was just He was just digging around. He likes he like to chase bunnies around and eat them.
00:38:11
Speaker
i mean, did... what Do you remember what gave rabies to Old Yeller? Was it a fox? Oh, man. i don't remember. Something bit Old Yeller, and then that made the dog go rabied.
00:38:25
Speaker
but that I think that was the first... I think I definitely saw like Old Yeller first before I saw any other thing about rabies.
00:38:40
Speaker
Oh, it's ah it's a wolf in Old Yeller. I think the wolf yeah the wolf wants to attack everyone and then Old Yeller saves them, but then he gets rabied. Bats is like a classic. There's a lot of bat rabies stuff.
00:38:54
Speaker
I think foxes, like you said, I've seen a lot of foxes with foam coming out their mouths. But it's also a very specific type of bat. Raccoons, yes. Raccoons, squirrels, and and like certain rodents can get rabies.
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah. um But the bat one, I think, is, like, a very specific type of bat. And normally the bats that are here in America are, like, non, like, blood-seeking. Like, they eat bugs and fruit.
00:39:27
Speaker
but that That just makes it more, like, you know, horror. Because, it's like, it's a bat. Yeah, that's true. I mean, again, it's it's just a bat. doesn't so though one no There's no bat expert in town that points out that they have like very specific like rare bats or you know this cave is like home to like some accursed ancient bat race. you know like It's a very like just generic bat.
00:39:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there'ss definitely there's definitely other Stephen King stories, or if he like had gone a little bit more further, it would have been like some sort of... like bizarre ah way more bizarre it's like super rabies or like something like some other disease that like looks like rabies but it's even worse or it's like a demon like yeah yeah bat the bats are like an ancient like um that cave is like an ancient burial ground that has evil powers in it yep it it's just a regular hole in this town and uh just some rabies bats um
00:40:29
Speaker
If anything, the more, like, crazy, like... Oh, we mentioned earlier about the cereal, but the Sharp cereal has more of a widespread panic and, like, global impact than this town with one bra rabbit dog.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah. Um, because I want to go back to the Sharp cereal for a second. And it's like, you would figure cereal would also be called Cujo or something.
00:40:55
Speaker
And then like maybe the cereal gives the dog the rabies. Maybe the dog gets into a box of the sharp cereal and it like messes with it more. Like, you know what mean? Like, oh, the dog maybe can be a little ill, but then he eats the cereal and now it's like worse.
00:41:12
Speaker
Because they then they hit they because they the cameras have cereal, i think it's just like cornflakes. It's not like any of like Vic's like Choco Bears, whatever the hell he makes. like Right, right. advertising You what mean? Like it it could have been a subtle jab at like artificial foods. Because around this time, yeah, like I think people are getting more aware of like what's in food. And then it's like how like dyes work and the like manufacture process.
00:41:39
Speaker
i just I took a look into what you said about that Smurf cereal. And that's because like they were just pumping the crap out of that with like so many chemicals because it was just unregulated.
00:41:52
Speaker
Yeah, whatever whatever blue d whatever blue dye they were using. It was non-biodegradable. So essentially your body just had to like push it out know so um wouldn't you think that maybe the dog got into it and then something about the dye that's not meant for dogs like then makes it go crazy then it foams and it's red like it you know like explains like everything else that have been like a cool like oh crap like vick's marketing campaign worked too good and now dogs are like going crazy or my god oh my god wait one more
00:42:27
Speaker
They did a recall of the cereal. They did mention that, and they just dumped it it in Castle Rock.
00:42:34
Speaker
And then the dog got into that hole. That hole was just um ah a den full of sharp cereal. I was going to say, you have an apocalyptic ending where it's like, yeah, Kuju eats the cereal, that makes him go crazy.
00:42:48
Speaker
But then you cut away, it's oh oh no if Kujo went crazy, what about all the kids that eat the cereal? is' just like It's like a zombie movie now or something. Well, then like Tad, like all his like spasms and all that is like, it's related to the cereal.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, they they get they get home, they're they're safe, then it's like, they come in to the kitchen, it's like, Tad, what are you eating? It's just like, I found the cereal. It's like, oh my god, no. That one bowl, extra bowl, did put him on the edge.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:22
Speaker
so's He's just foaming at the mouth. The same color as red as like Kujo, and then it's like, that's how it ends. We're saying this as like cooler, modern, scary version, but like, at least that's closure.
00:43:35
Speaker
I'm skipping a little head. This movie just ends. yeah like It's such a rough cut that that's what my brain still craves a little bit more that I think the novel does a good job of, which we'll get into when we talk about the end soon.
00:43:49
Speaker
But it just like, at least what we're explaining, there's like themes and closure to that theme. Yeah, we we we have no idea what happens to anyone at like after this. We're assuming Dee Wallace has to go get Raimi shots.
00:44:05
Speaker
and I think all of them need Raimi shots. They're going to the hospital, but like We don't know. I'll get into it after because I did read up a little bit what happened because Stephen King made a sequel to Kujo and it's a crazier spin.
00:44:19
Speaker
But yeah, like but yeah like Because this movie was, I think by the third act, they just, like, Stephen King forgot about Steve, so he brings Steve back for a random one-off scene where Steve breaks into, not as many break into, he just walks into, like, Donna's house looking for her for, like, an afternoon booty call.
00:44:41
Speaker
And instead of being, like, a reasonable person, he just, like, destroys the house? Yes, yeah. Well, it's only there to get the cops involved, right? and So that they can send the sheriff out to the house so he can get like murdered by Cucho.
00:44:56
Speaker
But it's such a convoluted... like I know it's a plot point just to need it, but it's such a... If anything, like Steve and Vic should have met and then Vic punches out Steve or something and then it's like maybe he gets like a talking down by the sheriff or...
00:45:17
Speaker
the sheriff sees it and, like, understands. He's like, hey, like, I get it. this ah the The town playboy got your wife. ah it's Yeah. Your wife got Steve'd.
00:45:29
Speaker
but But there's also, like, a weird, like, a aside, like, um, like, uh, the one that the detective, like, who became, like, a Deep Throw in X-Files later on, Jerry Hardin, like, he, like, he's just, like, has, like, a line of, like, oh, yeah, we caught Steve. Yeah.
00:45:46
Speaker
Oh yeah, no, it gets resolved instantly off screen. But like, catch him like walking home or something, and it's like, hey, did you this? He's like, yeah, you got me. But no one cares, that's what he mentions like, oh we haven't heard from the sheriff though.
00:46:00
Speaker
He went out to like the Canberra house, and that's that's how i can fix like, Vic's like, hasn't called yet? I gotta drive out there. That's probably where they are.
00:46:11
Speaker
you want talk about how quick the sheriff gets like taken out?
00:46:16
Speaker
Like, yeah, he just gets out of the car and Kujo's instantly there. Yep. He's like, rawr. It's almost like he's being attacked by a lion just because the St. Bernard is so like vicious.
00:46:27
Speaker
who's um But it's like not as graphic as you think it's going to be. Yeah, none of the kills are that. There's not like crazy gore. It's like POV. You see Kujo just like head of just like Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:41
Speaker
head of just like rubb remember yeah And then he's like, oh, you understand. Like, um, it's funny, like, I feel like, like, when, um, when Joe stumbles on, like, Gary's body, it looks like he has, like, spaghetti or something up on his, like, neck.
00:46:56
Speaker
It's like, that's, like, the goryest part is, is like, but is it's, like, a weird, um, it's, like, i think they used, like, caro corn syrup dyed red, but there's also, like, weird chunks in it. Mmm.
00:47:07
Speaker
So it's just, like, what did they pour on him? it It looks like, yeah, like, what was, like, Gary's diet? Yeah. like, is Was he eating sharp cereal? Maybe. i think there was like ah like ah some sort of like strawberry one or a red one something.
00:47:24
Speaker
You see, I think that could have been the angle and Stephen King was like, nah. let's Let's just keep it like rabies and dog.
00:47:32
Speaker
He didn't have cereal around to like inspire him. like he He was writing and looks at the counter like, cereal. Evil cereal.
00:47:43
Speaker
um But like... The last act, I mean, the last part where it's really just Donna now trying to survive in the car against Kujo and get her child to inside the house.
00:47:56
Speaker
um Like I said, like it's been like, I think they were there for like two days? Maybe a day? least a day, right? it's Yeah, because they spent at least one night in the car because it gets dark, and then...
00:48:13
Speaker
So yeah, at least at least two days outside in the car. And it's like it's like summer, so it's like sweltering out, so like they're like like getting overheated. They have like no like a thermos full of water, I guess. don't know what's in the thermos, but it's like their only liquid they can drink.
00:48:28
Speaker
No food.
00:48:31
Speaker
And every every every time they try to leave the car, like who's just instantly there? Or he's like lying under the car. or on top of the car. Yeah, he really stalks them.
00:48:43
Speaker
Mm-hmm. ah For a dog with rabies, it's he's like dedicated to this, like, I need to get those people in my car. I don't want to wander around anymore. Except when the phone rings. he wants to kill He wants to kill that phone.
00:48:54
Speaker
He breaks into the house the first time, right? He breaks the window, but I don't think he ever like like actually like jumps into the house to get the phone. Really? Because later on, if you look inside the house, it looks like it's messed up already.
00:49:08
Speaker
That might be how the house was. Oh. I missed that.
00:49:14
Speaker
It's definitely, like, Gary's house is definitely a mess. Oh, yeah. Before Cujo was a person there. Gary was using his front yard as, like, junkyard. junkyard, yeah. Well, junkyard, at least, is a theme. He this was just throwing, like, recycles on his lawn. It's like, what are you doing, man?
00:49:31
Speaker
Mm-hmm. This garbage pail is full of cans and bottles.
00:49:41
Speaker
Uh, but... Yeah, so, last act, um, like, Donna makes a desperate, like, run around to see if she can bait the dog into a direction, or kill the dog. I think killing the dog was, like, an accident, or, like, injuring the dog was just an accident, right? It was, like, she didn't really have a plan.
00:50:00
Speaker
well she Well, she has no choice anymore. Like, she has to make her bash for it. Yeah, because Tad is, like, like dead. like Or, like he like, he's, like, almost dead because he's, like, tired so much.
00:50:13
Speaker
but This movie has a lot of people child shaking. ah how much How many scenes do you think you'd see a person can shake a lot? like It's a lot. This movie um no medical things. No like, okay, check breathing, maybe a pulse, just wake up!
00:50:31
Speaker
Wake up! Shake, shake, shake. Oh my god. Yeah.
00:50:37
Speaker
was yeah like he was like When he's like like um like unconscious in the backseat, she like grabs his arm starts shaking it like, get up! Get up! If you don't have like a brain injury then, you have one now.
00:50:52
Speaker
But yeah, that's why that's why they should she he's like, well had like if I don't get out there and do something, like he's dead. might already be dead. so Yeah, yeah. I mean, I get that now. the more i just said that out loud. but It is just conveyed in this like Alright, just gonna run out there, and then best of luck.
00:51:11
Speaker
Well, they said the baseball bat earlier, like, the baseball bat's lying next to, like, near the car. She tried to get to it earlier. True, yeah, the kid had that, so at least that is consistent.
00:51:22
Speaker
Which, she managed to, like, break it off and like, stab Kujo with it, like, like a sharp end of the baseball bat. It's like, oh, he's finally, okay, they got him, he's dead. And they finally get into the house, um...
00:51:37
Speaker
and She's like just like splashing water on Tad. justs like here Here's water. You need water, right? was absorbing your skin. like I think she does like put some in his mouth eventually, but it's just like a lot of just like put just like dr drenching him in water. It's like first aid.
00:51:55
Speaker
And then extremely bad form CPR, like til like tilting his head like like his neck back to try do CPR on him.
Cujo's Conclusion and Reflection
00:52:04
Speaker
Does a tilt up in an open airway.
00:52:07
Speaker
yeah This one you want a very narrow airway and you want to basically choke him. Pretty much, yeah.
00:52:16
Speaker
But yeah, so somehow somehow that works. like her All of her horrible first aid techniques somehow work and he comes back. But then also Kujo comes back like ah like a horror villain. like He's Jason Voorhees for one last kill.
00:52:31
Speaker
but she But she has the sheriff's guns that they're able to stop him once and for all.
00:52:38
Speaker
and And then, and like we mentioned, the movie just literally ends. It's like, Vic shows up, like, picks up Ted, freeze frame. Credits, that's it. Get out of here.
00:52:50
Speaker
if it was going freeze frame, it should i end with, like like, someone screaming or something, you know? like ah like ah Or even, like, or someone screaming, like, Kujo! Yeah.
00:53:03
Speaker
like like that's like Like, that's when, like, it instead like, having her shoot at Cujo, like, Vic shows up, they, like, they are carrying him out of the house, and then it's like, oh, no, he's still alive! Cujo!
00:53:14
Speaker
And you don't know what happened, or hear, like, a gunshot freeze frame? Well, it's like a freeze frame of, like, of, it could either Cujo get to Vic while Vic gets to the gun. Mm-hmm.
00:53:27
Speaker
That'd be ambiguous. Yeah. Yeah. ah But no, I in the book, in the book, if you want to some spoilers for the next Stephen King book, Vic, Vic, like it takes place 40 years in the future, like from the seventy s So it's supposed to be modern times.
00:53:46
Speaker
um Donna and Vic divorced because Tad died. and then yeah yeah it look ti d yeah And then, like, Donna dies from old age after they reconnect.
00:53:58
Speaker
And then it's just Vic and Ghost. Like, he goes into, like, the desert to, like, reflect upon his life about all the events that happened 40 years prior. And then he just meets Ghost.
00:54:11
Speaker
It doesn't really have anything to do with Kuju anymore. But it's just sort of like the adventures of Vic. And and this is ah this is Rattlesnakes, is the name of the... It's a short story from... You Like It Darker, which I think is like one of one is Stephen King's most recent like short story collections.
00:54:28
Speaker
I mean, I get, like, kind of extending it, but... Man. Like... It's such a dark... I get it. Like, it's a dark story. It's just sort of like, okay... This is ah A ending to Kujo. Like, it keeps going. you're like, oh god, like...
00:54:46
Speaker
I mean... It sucks for Tad. ah But also, I think, like, in the book, don't they get, like, someone gets a dog? Like, someone else is like, oh, we have a new dog now.
00:54:58
Speaker
Well, I think charity Charity and Brett, like, the Cambers, they come back. um and Like, it's back to their house, and then, like, Brett gets that like he gets a new, like, vaccinated puppy.
00:55:11
Speaker
So now it can't happen again. ah
00:55:19
Speaker
Which, yeah, in in the movie, like, yeah, Charity and Brett Camber, like, never come back. They're just like, well, we left we're never coming back.
00:55:27
Speaker
See, that makes more sense, because i I didn't read the book, and I was like, I heard that, like, someone else gets more dogs, and it's like, oh, yeah, like, you don't give your dogs vaccines. I don't know if if um
00:55:41
Speaker
if you gotta to have to give dogs, like, like every few years and you have a rabies vaccine, or, like, you just do it early. Yeah, I don't know.
00:55:52
Speaker
But that's why Cujo, because Cujo wasn't vaccinated, it so... o Get vaccinated, everybody. Well, he's like, vaccinate your dogs. Yeah. ah But... And I think, and then also, and like,
00:56:06
Speaker
other other Stephen King, especially like the ones that take place around Castle Rock, the ones that got written after this one, like people like characters mention, oh, there was a... They always mention, especially like the Castle Rock ones, like all these other things that happen around Castle Rock. it's like People mention, oh, there's that St. Bernard that killed like four people.
00:56:27
Speaker
so they kuju its cool Kujo gets referenced like in other like books afterwards. Like, Beautiful Things and Dark Half and Pet Sematary. I just like how it has, like, in those other things, it's like supernatural events.
00:56:42
Speaker
This is just, like, the rapey dog in the neighborhood. Yeah, it's like, it's like needful things. It's like literally, like, Satan shows up to open it, like, a, like, an antique store.
00:56:54
Speaker
But also there was this dog to kill a bunch of, a couple people.
00:57:01
Speaker
I don't know there's any, like, I don't think there's any, like, Dark Tower, like, uh, like, Kujo references. Like, Kujo's actually, like, uh, an entity, like, it's like, oh, that was actually, like, an entity from this other, like, universe or something. you know what would be funny if, like, later on, it's like, okay, they're the ones that invented, like, rabies or something.
00:57:22
Speaker
that's, like, some dark entity gave that to, like, mammals to give rabies blood disease, brain disease.
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah, was it was an interdimensional disease, actually. or like it was a potion that went out of control and it's like jumped from host to host through like saliva and blood.
00:57:46
Speaker
I could see that. I could see it become like a thing if they could write it.
00:57:53
Speaker
Like instead of being a biological mutation, have it be a ancient curse. Yeah.
00:58:02
Speaker
I feel like there was like a weird kind of like the shining thing in the movie. like they it's It definite wasn't the shining moment. Oh yeah, when Vic has a shining moment. Yeah, like like she shoots up and and like has a nightmare. It's like, my son!
00:58:17
Speaker
Cujo! Well, know about the dog. He actually was paranoid really about his wife. He did have a vision of i guess of like the distressed mother and daughter. i mean, the...
00:58:31
Speaker
ah mother and son in the car. So he just didn't know where they were going. yeah He's had like a shining vision.
00:58:49
Speaker
But yeah, Cujo. It's a great ah Stephen King annotation. like i would for For me, I would say the upper tier of Stephen King annotations.
00:59:02
Speaker
I agree. i forgot that Stephen King can just take like a basic concept horror and then just make it very ah heart like terrifying just because it's stuff you see.
00:59:17
Speaker
and you can you And you can put yourself in that situation. like like You can easily find yourself in that situation, possibly. You don't want to, but it's like yeah it's like a still a possibility. It's not like 100% you're not going to fight the it clown vampires or yeah whatever it's like a rabbit a big rabbit dog like that could that could happen I was gonna say maybe like I was gonna name another thing um is it like Gerald's game Well, that's like, you're you were trying to have like, go bed yeah, you have to figure out how to get out of that. that's but
00:59:53
Speaker
That's more similar to Kujo, because that's like a survival, kind of like, what would you do in that situation thing. but but Wasn't the Geralt's game, like, there was a Kree's killer that was like, broke in, and then sort of like, walked around down and left?
01:00:07
Speaker
No, i think I think she was just having like visions of like, I think it was like her like father was abusive or something. and they tell It's like, because she was like going like, you know, it's also the thing of like, no no no water, no food. She's kind of like hallucinating.
01:00:21
Speaker
Oh, I thought she sees somebody who later on is like a real person. I don't think so. When's the last time you saw Gerald's game? I saw it when it came out and I haven't watched it again after that.
01:00:35
Speaker
I'm going to double check because I feel like I can argue about that because I feel like there's a thing because they had an actor who had like a very like gigantic head and there was like the the like fantasy version and then like the real version. He's like prisoner that they caught him.
01:00:49
Speaker
Oh, I guess yeah there's like the Moonlight Man or something.
01:00:57
Speaker
But yeah, that's I'm like, OK, like that was the like, oh, it wasn't like all a fantasy. There was actually like an evil presence. Yeah. In the room. Where basically.
01:01:10
Speaker
This was just super like. um Like a slice of life period piece horror, you know, like you could see this be a real big problem in the 70s.
01:01:21
Speaker
And then the cultural impact think of it is more fascinating to me. And the fact that, like, Beethoven was a response to Cujo.
01:01:33
Speaker
ah But yeah, I definitely say it's good it's a good horror movie. It's a great way to start, like, the horror season, like, spooky season with a very, like, just scary and sad realities of, like, rabies and, like, pet ownership and then marriage, I guess. Like, the horrors of marriage.
01:01:51
Speaker
Yeah. The horrors of suburban marriage. Mm-hmm. Watch out for those tennis players. Pros whatever. I've been saying pros. It was just literally these friends that bonded over like tennis and then one of them was flunking the other guy's wife.
01:02:14
Speaker
um apparently Apparently there's a remake on the way that Netflix might be remaking this so but there hasn't been anything since March 2025. We'll have see. We'll see if Netflix like brings this back.
01:02:28
Speaker
I mean, I think but i mean most of their Stephen King annotations have been pretty good so far, so maybe they'll do it justice.
01:02:38
Speaker
I don't know what you but i know you'd add to like um make it different than the first one, because it's not really... but Once you get to like them and then the cars, it's like straightforward. just like Yeah, the Cujo next car. Yeah.
01:02:55
Speaker
You have to figure out, like but like, there had to be something with, like, cell phones. Like, they're so far out, that there's no cell service. That's, like, the new, like, modern thing.
01:03:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think maybe, like, the dog takes out the cell tower somehow. Just bites through ah a cell tower, or, like, maybe they always forget their cell phone somewhere, or the phone has to die.
01:03:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:03:24
Speaker
Or even then, it's like maybe like no one believes her. She like keeps boasting about it and they're like, whatever. like to cry whoops Live streams, yeah. I'm getting attacked by a giant dog! They're like, fake news!
01:03:36
Speaker
AI dog!
01:03:43
Speaker
wonder if it would still be a Pinto. What's what's the new what's the new shitty car? Um, like a PT Cruiser.
01:03:54
Speaker
like If Kujo had like hit the back of the pit door hard enough, he probably would have blown it up.
01:04:03
Speaker
he's He's ramming the side door pretty hard. He probably could have generated enough force to blow it like a pop the gas tank.
01:04:14
Speaker
but Anyway, yeah, that's Kujo. um We're sticking to horror all month, and next next week we're going dive into... End of Days, the... i think the only Arnold horror movie, or horror-adjacent movie?
01:04:31
Speaker
Uh, Predator. ah pre Predator, yeah. ah Terminator, you can kind of say, is like a slasher movie, but... Like, this this one has, like, the actual, like, you know like, devils. Demonic. Yeah.
01:04:43
Speaker
Because, uh, End of is getting it's getting a new 4K release next week, so we'll dive into Arnold and, um... like the apocalypse and everything else going on with that.
01:04:56
Speaker
And head over to all of our usual stuff there. We got news reviews, trailers. um You can listen to our ah death sentence ah commentary. Watch the Van Damme classic. that jeff watch but Death War. Yeah, we we always do that. We were like doing that before we so do that too.
01:05:12
Speaker
Death Sentence is the Kevin Bacon, like ah like, Death Wish movie. Death Wish knockoff. but yeah I actually do like Death Sentence. That one's good. yes it was it That was James Wan, I think, right?
01:05:23
Speaker
think so. Yeah, like after after Saw. We had Death Warrant, where Van Damme is locked in a prison. ah this Of his own free will. So you you can watch along with us.
01:05:34
Speaker
And, ah yeah, all all all of our stuff up was is... oh and also our GameBox.com. You can check out what games he played for September. um and we reviews of those so yeah so for this I'm Zach and we will see you next week for more everything action head to www.everythingaction.com you can also find us on facebook at facebook.com slash everything dot action and follow on x at evaction we're also on instagram and threads at everything dot action
01:06:09
Speaker
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