Cujo

[AlwaysComingHome]

Just watched Cujo for the first time.

I never fancied this when it first came out because there was a glut of Stephen King adaptations and this one always looked like a bit of a Jaws knock-off, but I bought it on Blu-ray because I’m having a Stephen King season and Eureka generally do a good restoration job, plus the set is loaded with extras.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by it. It has a great female lead in Dee Wallace (Elliot’s mum in ET) who, for once, isn’t rescued by a man, but at the same time isn’t just a male substitute.

The kid is rather good too, and the sequences set in the car are genuinely harrowing.

I’m only really familiar with King’s early work but he does seem as interested in dysfunctional family dynamics (Carrie and The Shining for example) as much as horror for horror’s sake.

Horror has been dominated by Halloween rip-offs for so long it’s unusual to film that doesn’t focus on teenagers. I think there has been a revival of adult-focussed horror recently with films like A Quiet Place but they are still a minority.

He predicted Trump in The Dead Zone (1979] - great book, and the film isn't bad. Also liked his alter ego - Richard Bachman - The Long Walk was prescient in terms of the depth that reality TV would sink to (as was The Running Man) and Rage was scarily accurate on school shooters. The latter was withdrawn from further printing on his request when it was apparently linked to real life events.

Always been a King fan, although some of his later books (published after his accident - see the TV series Kingdom Hospital for a harrowing portrayal of this) went off the boil.

I also will never forget Dolores Claiborne, a brilliant portrayal of childhood sexual abuse and DV.

Film-wise, loved The Green Mile and Shawshank. One of the reasons I started watching The Walking Dead was because Frank Darabont, who directed both, directed the first series of TWD which was excellent. He was then booted off the 2nd series, and while there were some highlights afterwards, it never hit the same heights.

As I read Sleeping Beauties I eagerly awaited the transwoman who wasn't the slightest bit sleepy but sadly King wasn't brave enough to venture into that particular uncanny valley.

Film-wise, loved The Green Mile and Shawshank. One of the reasons I started watching The Walking Dead was because Frank Darabont, who directed both, directed the first series of TWD which was excellent

Darabont also directed The Mist which has actors who appeared in TWD, including Melissa McBride who is of course the fabulous Carol Peletier.

If you haven't seen The Mist do give it ago. There's a fabulous ensemble cast. The scary bits aren't really the monsters but the way a crowd can be so easily whipped up and controlled.

The ending is jaw dropping. Darabont must have had to fight the studio hard to be allowed to go that way.

Grimbles
There was a mini series version of The Shining which I thought was better than the film.
Kubrick's film is good, but it misses out a lot of book material. IMO the film is just based on the book and not a film of the book IYSWIM?
The book came first. I actually liked Kubrick's film, it was visually brilliant. But I can see why King disliked it. It wasn't just the Wendy character; the story was sparked by his time as an alcoholic would-be writer spending a winter as caretaker of a closed-down hotel.So changes to any of it felt personal.

He doesn’t give them jobs though, they are always wives.

Not sure about always TheLime! Top of my head - Polly in needful Things runs her own shop. Bobby in the Tommyknockers is a writer. Dolores Claiborne is a domestic help/career. Sadie in 11.22.63 is a teacher. The main character in Sleeping Beauties is the female Sheriff. Holly in the mercedes trilogy is a private detective (assistant).

But yes often when it’s a male lead his wife doesn’t work. Especially in his earlier books.

unwahsedanddazed
As I read Sleeping Beauties I eagerly awaited the transwoman who wasn't the slightest bit sleepy but sadly King wasn't brave enough to venture into that particular uncanny valley.
I noticed that as well. I like to think that he considered the idea, but rejected it.

Think about it - in terms of that particular story, at what stage of transition would a person actually become the opposite sex, so they would succumb to, or escape, the sleep? When they decide they might be the opposite sex? When they start dressing as the opposite sex? When they start taking hormones? When they have full GRS?
Going down that particular rabbithole may well have made King chuck the whole idea, lest it drive him to start drinking again!

Lass

've just finished The Outsider which features a very interesting female private detective as one of its main characters.

Holly is in the Mr Mercedes trilogy too if you want more of her!

Holly in the mercedes trilogy is a private detective (assistant).
In the first Mr Mercedes book, there's also Freddy, the lesbian computer shop tech assisant. She's well drawn, and King makes it clear that she struggles against daily homophobia. I was really disappointed that she didn't eventually end up joining Holly in the private detective agency - they would have made a good pair.

Kubrick’s The Shining is a brilliant Kubrick film and a lousy Stephen King adaptation so what you get from it depends on whether you want Kubrick or King.

Listening to the very enthusiastic commentary on Cujo I’m learning a lot. In earlier drafts of the script it is suggested that the dog is possessed by the serial killer from The Dead Zone and that the sherif is the sherif from that film. I’m glad they dropped the supernatural elements because it works perfectly.

Also, Dee Wallace seems to have had some input to changes to the story and bringing director Lewis Teague back inboard. Peter Medak’s version would have been quite different. Wallace toned down the sex a bit and suggested changes to the fate of the boy: I think it might have been too much had they followed the novel.

Interestingly the guy she has an affair with was her real-life husband. They also appeared together in The Howling.

I’m surprised her career wasn’t massive. She had The Howling, ET and Cujo in rapid succession. I agree with Stephen King that she deserved an Oscar for this film. It’s an amazing performance.

the story was sparked by his time as an alcoholic would-be writer spending a winter as caretaker of a closed-down hotel.

Do you mean by King’s own time doing this Grumpy? As far as I recall it was just inspired by him and Tabitha staying in an empty hotel in Colorado and were the only two guests. I don’t think he was the caretaker! He was a teacher before he became a writer.

The sheriff is the same sheriff as in the dead zone in the books (haven’t seen the films) and there is a reference to pervasive evil in castle rock and frank Dodd in the book but not that Cujo is possessed really.

I was a teen when the original 80s mini series Salems Lot came out . There is one scene I still shudder at to remember.

One of my favourite SK adaptations is Rose Red. Strong women in that too . Got it all , Ghosts, psychics,visions etc .

Holly is in the Mr Mercedes trilogy too if you want more of her!

Thanks SgtFred

I was a teen when the original 80s mini series Salems Lot came out . There is one scene I still shudder at to remember.

Vampire at the window?

I remember reading Carrie and just loving his style - the ability to 'build a world' is something that adds fantastic depth, and yes, the internal worlds of the female characters are often quite convincing.

One of the female characters in Carrie has sex with her boyfriend, and she is almost workmanlike about it, doesn't have a climax herself, and King tells us she would store up the memory to masturbate to later. I remember having tentative conversations with female friends about having done similar things - it seemed such an intimate detail for a man to notice and comment on without negative judgement towards the female character.

HSAT, the weird kid sex bit at the end of It is still weird, even if it is supposed to tie in to other aspects of universes King creates, and that has kind of coloured my view of things. Still appreciate his ability, though.

The sheriff is the same sheriff as in the dead zone in the books (haven’t seen the films) and there is a reference to pervasive evil in castle rock and frank Dodd in the book but not that Cujo is possessed really.

The early draft script has the rabid bat squatting on Dodd’s grave and suggests it transfers Dodd’s spirit to the dog.

I’m glad they dropped that for the film. A rabid St Bernard is a real-world threat. It’s scary enough as it is. Adding the spirit of a serial killer takes it out of the real world. It’s like finding out that Jaws once had an affair with Chief Brody’s mother and his fear of sharks is caused by the repressed memory of walking in on them having sex.

Rose Red isn't an adaptation, though, it was written as the mini series. I was quite disappointed as I loved it and thought there was a book out there I had missed and I would have loved to read! He did do a tie in book, I think, of a related tale, but it wasn't the story he put onscreen.

Jaws once had an affair with Chief Brody’s mother and his fear of sharks is caused by the repressed memory of walking in on them having sex.

I am now repulsed, laughing, and fascinated by the idea... how very Stephen King of you

@AlwaysComingHome .. Spot on .

@FloraBunting that's true, re not being an adaptation .

Still extremely spooky and I agree with you, a book would have probably been spookier still as its a different format , reading and watching . Books you can see what people are thinking etc .

WhentheRabbits, I know! I would have loved relishing all the extra detail that screen can't quite capture. I still remember bits of it like all the ghosts coming out of the walls, and the differing ways the women and the men were killed by the spirits. So many layers of fright.

Rose Madder had a great beginning, I was genuinely invested in Rose. But then it got weird even by SK's standards. There were aspects of it that I loved but the whole painting thing was just like wtf

I assumed he got substantial help from Tabitha but a quick google doesn't give much evidence other than this:
mentalfloss.com/article/53235/how-stephen-kings-wife-saved-carrie-and-launched-his-career

I wonder if, like David Eddings, we'll eventually find out that his wife is a co-author of some or all of his work?

how very Stephen King of you

Words are my power.