Cujo (1983)

"Nice Doggy.....?"

Lewis Teague's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's CUJO gets an impressive two disc Blu-ray release courtesy of Eureka.

Cujo the St Bernard is out chasing bunnies when he gets his nose stuck in an old tree stump. Unfortunately it leads into a cave of rabid bats. Soon poor old Cujo's had his nose bitten and he's developing a severe case of the runny eyes, the drools, and the being covered in what looks like muds.

This is bad news for Cujo's car repairman redneck owner (Ed Lauter) and his friend, and it spells trouble of the trapped in the car with her six year old son kind for Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace), who finds herself under siege in her broken down old banger while a great big drooly powerhouse tank of a mad dog waits outside to get her, when he's not ramming the car doors.

The early 1980s was the era of Stephen King adaptations. Most of them weren't very good, but CUJO actually is, thanks to good performances and a skilled team behind the scenes who went all out to make the best film they could. 

Eureka's 1080p presentation looks a bit better than the Lionsgate 25th anniversary region free Blu-ray 2007 release. Ported over is the 47 minute making of, but you don't get the Lewis Teague commentary that came with that disc.

You do however get a new commentary track from Lee Gambin, who wrote the book on the making of and does a fine job of packing as many facts about the production in as he can. It certainly made me want to take a look at his book Nope Nothing Wrong Here: The Making of CUJO.

New to the Eureka disc are over three hours (!) of new interviews with Dee Wallace, composer Charles Bernstein, stuntman Gary Morgan, stuntwoman Jean Colter, casting director Marcia Ross, dog trainer Teresa Miller, visual effects artist Kathie Lawrence, and special effects designer Robert Clark.

On disc two you get 100 minutes of Lee Gambin interviewing Dee Wallace at the Cinemaniacs and Monster Fest 2015 convention. It's slightly fuzzy and shot from one angle only but it's good to have. Also on the second disc is nearly half an hour of Kim Newman talking about Stephen King adaptations in general and CUJO in particular and it's up to his usual excellent standard. 

There's also a 60 page booklet with new writing on the film by Lee Gambin (does the man have anything left to say?), Scott Harrison and Craig Ina Mann, and the entire package is boxed within a hardbound slipcase with a Graham Humphreys cover. A superb release. 

Lewis Teague's CUJO is released in a special two disc set (4000 units only) on Monday 29th April 2019