30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cujo finally gets his reward!!!!!, October 6, 2007
I have waited a looooooong time to see this film get the special treatment it deserved. For years, the only way I had to view this classic horror treat was on an old DVD release with cropped edges, horrible picture, and NO special features at all.....not to mention the ugliest DVD artwork ever for a Stephen King release.
Lionsgate has now given us Cujo as it has never been seen on home video. I was blown away by how clear the picture is, and how vibrant the colors are. The old transfer just seemed washed out and faded. I watched this on my PS3, which upscales it to hi-def, and I never dreamed this film could ever look this good. I'm also glad that there was no effort to try to create a surround sound track for this film, since most of it takes place inside a car. You have the choice of watching it in the original mono, or a 2 channel stereo mix. While this is not a film I would choose to show off my surround system, it is very effective for what is happening on screen. Not only do we get treated to a remastered copy of the film, but Cujo also has some really good special features. The 3-part documentary runs about 45 min. total, and is very informative about the way the film was made. Both Dee Wallace and Danny Pintauro take part in the documentary. The director, Lewis Teague, also provides a good commentary track. I only have two minor complaints: 1st, there is no trailer for Cujo and 2nd, with it being the 25th anniversary edition, I would rather have seen the artwork from the original movie poster as the cover. I'm not complaining too much about the artwork since it is a huge improvement over the previous version, I just think the poster with the white picket fence and the word "Cujo" in blood was a great poster.
Bottom line: If you own the original DVD version of Cujo, put it in the doghouse. You will be glad you upgraded to this fantastic version of what I think is one of the best adaptations of Stephen King's work on film.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What is up with this cover art?, August 7, 2001
Actually a fairly good Stephen King translation, I remember being genuinely frightened a few times when this played theatrically. But my fondest memory of the movie was its poster: a beautiful sun-bleached drawing of a very east-coast summer house, surrounded by a picket fence splattered with blood in the form of Cujo's name. Warner home video used this artwork when intially releasing the video over a decade ago, and now? This picture of a clownish lip-sticked overly-reddened St. Bernard and his teeth is clearly not even a shot from the movie! I have always questioned/doubted the wisdom of revisionist cover-art for video releases, but this one takes the cake as the most artless piece of junk I've ever seen.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Claustraphobe's Nightmare!, August 21, 2000
If I had read the book first I would have probably known what I was in for when I sat down to watch this movie. I have a deeply rooted fear of confined spaces and possibly an even bigger fear of being eaten. So basically, this movie scared me to no end! Now I have to admit much of the story (and acting) moved along fairly slowly, until the mother and son were stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a station wagon, with a large, rabid Saint Bernard attempting to get inside! It was this portion of the movie that got my skin crawling! When Cujo starts attacking the car and you just get this feeling that nobody is getting out of there alive, that's good Horror entertainment! Strangely enough I never felt that Cujo should die or that he was a "monster". I just kept thinking that all of us are victims of circumstance, and not one of us has control over the events in our lives. That concept alone is terrifying! The acting of the mother and son were perfect and I'd really like to know how they got the dog who played Cujo to act so mean! To me, a claustraphobe, this was one nightmare of a movie. If I had been younger I would have probably developed a serious fear of dogs to boot. But dogs are great, as long as you make sure they've had their shots! You don't want your dog going Cujo on you, now do you! One of the scariest movies I've ever seen!
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