Stephen King does not regret making Cujo, despite a terrifying experience that made the St. Bernard breed infamous after the film.
Stephen King, author of the book that made the St. Bernards infamous, never regretted writing Cujo. In an interview with The Paris Review, King spoke about a St. Bernard that instilled fear in the author:
Those dogs look horrible anyway, particularly in summer. They’ve got the dewlaps, and they’ve got the runny eyes. They don’t look like they’re well. He started growling at me, way down in his throat: arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh.
Ironically, St. Bernards are very sweet dogs. Wagging their tails out of delight, the production had to tie their tails down with fishing wire to preserve the menace they were going for (via Mental Floss). The author never regretted writing about the rabid dog, despite the experience he had, and isn’t that what gives you the material needed to write?
Stephen King’s Cujo Inspiration Was a Rabid Dog Jumpscare
The author, speaking to The Paris Review, revealed more details about the incident that shook Stephen King to his core while living in Bridgton, Maine:
The mechanic had a farmhouse and an auto shop across the road. So I took my motorcycle up there, and when I got it into the yard, it quit entirely. And the biggest Saint Bernard I ever saw in my life came out of that garage, and it came toward me… I remember how scared I was because there was no place to hide.
King barely outweighed the dog, and when trying to pet the dog, it lunged at him as the dog does in the film, resulting in the mechanic whacking the dog with a steel wrench. The mechanic justified saying, “Bowser usually doesn’t do this; he must not have liked your face.”
King took this to heart, and what came out was the masterpiece Cujo, with the author talking about the moment inspiration struck about using a rabid dog:
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If the man wasn’t there with the wrench and the dog decided to attack . . . But that was not a story, it was just a piece of something.
… instead of the dog just being a mean dog, what if the dog was really crazy?
Then I thought, maybe it’s rabid.
The final product changed America’s view on St. Bernards, with the 1983 film adaptation that was received with mixed reviews. Interestingly enough, Stephen King is having a great 2025, with a Cujo remake in the works.
Netflix’s Upcoming Cujo Remake: Everything We Know
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roy Lee (It and It Chapter Two) will produce the Netflix remake of the horror story about a mother and son who fight off a rabid dog while trapped in their car. The production house secured the rights in March 2025, with Netflix already having worked with the author on Gerald’s Game, 1922, and other films.
Darren Aronofsky is being eyed to helm the rabid remake, Variety reports. The director has had his fair share of horror and horror-adjacent projects over the years, capturing unsettling psychological aspects of the human soul. This would mark the director’s first streaming original film, with the film still in early development stages.
The hunger for Stephen King adaptations is at an all-time high, with Carrie by Mike Flanagan on the horizon and IT: Welcome to Derry haunting our screens every week.
Why Cujo Remains an Animal Horror Masterpiece Despite Its Flaws
Cujo takes a simple yet terrifying premise of a regular family dog being bitten and turns it into a horrific spiral of tragedy. The realism of the film, stripped of anything supernatural, makes the film much more terrifying after Cujo, the dog, gets bitten. Here are key details about the film.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Cujo |
| Release Year | 1983 |
| Genre | Horror |
| Based on | Stephen King’s 1981 novel “Cujo” |
| Director | Lewis Teague |
| Screenwriters | Don Carlos Dunaway and Barbara Turner (pen name Lauren Currier) |
| Main Cast | Dee Wallace (Donna Trenton), Daniel Hugh Kelly (Vic Trenton), Danny Pintauro (Tad Trenton) |
| Plot Summary | A rabid St. Bernard dog named Cujo traps a mother and her son inside their car as they struggle to survive. |
| Dog Actor Detail | Cujo was played by four St. Bernards, mechanical dogs, and a black Labrador |
| Release Date | August 12, 1983 |
Audiences watched the psychological breakdown of a lovable animal into a “monster,” unnerving fragile pet owners. The practical effects were well-done for the time, and despite being another “animal horror” film, fans revisit the movie for the timeless story it presents.
Cujo is currently streaming on MGM+ and Paramount+ in the U.S.
The Cujo remake does not have a release date.
