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.