| ◄ | Halloween (1978) KILL COUNT | Cujo (1983) KILL COUNT | Halloween II (1981) KILL COUNT | ► |
Cujo (1983) KILL COUNT is the ninety-second video of The Kill Count.
Overview[]
Donna Trenton is a frustrated housewife whose life is in turmoil after her husband Vic learns about her having an affair. Brett Camber is a young boy and a son of a mechanic, Joe, whose only companion is a St. Bernard named "Cujo." While chasing a rabbit into a cave, Cujo is bitten by a bat with rabies and his behavior begins to change. While the dog begins to succumb to the disease, Brett and his mother leave for Connecticut to have sex with his mother's sister. When Donna and her young son, Tad, drive out to the home where Cujo and the Cambers live, in order to fix Donna's car, the gentle Cujo, now crazed by the disease, attacks & kills the Cambers' neighbor, Gary Parvier. Joe Camber, after heading down to Gary's, looks for Gary but doesn't find him. He does find blood on the porch and goes inside - and discovers Gary's body on the floor, his throat torn open. Joe goes to call the police but Cujo suddenly enters the house, and Joe immediately recognizes that their once-beloved family pet is now rabid - and a dangerous menace. Camber unwittingly backs himself into a corner and Cujo suddenly attacks & kills him too.
Vic goes out of town on a business trip, as Donna and Tad return to the Camber's house for more car repairs. Cujo attacks them, and they are forced to take shelter in their Ford Pinto. Donna tries to drive home, but the car's alternator dies and the two are trapped inside. The hot sun makes conditions nearly unbearable, and Donna realizes that she must do something before they both die from heatstroke or dehydration. However, attempts at escape are foiled by Cujo repeatedly attacking the car, breaking a window in the process, and even biting Donna. Vic returns home to rekindle his marriage, only to find Donna and Tad missing and his house vandalized by Kemp. He suspects the possessive Kemp of kidnapping, but the police realize his wife and son might be at the Camber's house.
After a call from Vic, who had repeatedly called the home but got no answer, the local Sheriff comes to the house, and is ambushed by Cujo before he can draw his weapon. The gun is knocked from the Sheriff's hand by Cujo and the fight carries on inside the barn. Eventually the Sheriff, too, is knocked from a catwalk and killed by the massive dog. Donna decides that she must risk going outside to save Tad, but the dog jumps out from underneath the car and bites her in the leg, forcing her back into the car. Eventually, a badly wounded Donna makes an attempt to dash for the house but is attacked by Cujo, the only safety being the car.
She fights him off with a baseball bat until it breaks, leaving only a jagged handle. Cujo jumps at her and is impaled in the stomach by the broken bat. Donna takes the sheriff's gun and retrieves Tad. After Donna revives Tad inside the kitchen, Cujo, now recovered, breaks through the kitchen window and tries to attack Donna. However, Donna shoots Cujo dead, before Vic arrives and reunites with his family.
Deaths[]
Counted Deaths[]
- Gary - Throat torn out by Cujo - 44 mins in
- Joe Camber - Killed by Cujo off-screen - 47 mins in
- Sheriff George Bannerman - All bit up by Cujo - 1 hr 20 mins in
- Cujo The Dog - Beaten & impaled with a baseball bat, shot by Donna Trenton (offscreen) - 1 hr 29 mins in
Trivia[]
- This is the first 1983 movie covered on the Kill Count.
- Stephen King was so high on drugs at the time, he states he doesn’t remember writing the book Cujo.
- This is one of the few instances where an animal was included in the kill count due to Cujo being the main antagonist (another is the Jaws Kill Count where Bruce, a shark, was counted).