[Mother of Fears] Fighting Real-Life Monsters in Cujo (1983)

Welcome to Mother of Fears – a monthly column that will explore the various roles that mothers play within the horror genre. Mothers are a staple feature in horror movies, and yet, their stories, motivations, representations, and relationships with their children are so varied and complex that we never feel like we’re watching the same story twice. Every month I will take a look at a different mother from the world of horror, explore their story, and look at how they fit into the broader representation of women in horror.

It’s been said that Stephen King can make anything scary. And that was certainly true in his novel Cujo (1981), where he turned man’s best friend into an unstoppable killing machine. Like most King novels, Cujo was quickly turned into a film in 1983, bringing the terror of a rabid St. Bernard to our screens. However, the real central characters of this story are Donna and her young son, Tad.

Donna and Vic Trenton are introduced to us as the perfect family when we first meet them. Tad is scared of the apparent monster lurking in his closet, but his parents are great at working together to help him calm down, with both of them trying to convince him that there are no such things as monsters in the real world. 

However, it’s not until the next morning that we realise things are a little strained between the pair. Donna is having an affair with Steve, who likes to call at the house with no notice to drop off various DIY projects he is working on for the family. The strained relationship is obvious from Donna’s character, but Vic seems either unaware or willingly ignorant of the situation. While he comments that their marriage has run out of conversation, he suggests that having another baby may be the best solution to their problems. 

Although this is obviously a terrible idea for fixing a marriage, it probably seems like a logical solution to Vic because parenting Tad is the only thing they are able to do well together. When the focus is on their son and his needs, the rest of it seems to melt away. While in bed together, Donna comments on how good a father Vic is, but when he tries to engage her in anything romantic she’s quick to shut him down. 

Even though Donna decides to break off her affair with Steve to protect her marriage and her family, Steve doesn’t take the news too well. Vic sees them fighting in the street one day as he’s driving past, and he walks in on the aftermath of Steve trying to force himself on Donna when she’s home alone. All this leads to Vic finding out about the affair right as he’s about to leave town on important business for 10 days. 

Even though he promised to take Donna’s car to get fixed at the remote Camber farm, the emotional overload due to work and the infidelity means he forgets, leaving Donna to take care of it herself. And while this may seem like no big deal, it leaves Donna and Tad fighting for their lives.

Cujo catches rabies after being bitten by a bat, and we see his slow deterioration into a rabid monster while the drama of Donna and Vic’s marriage is explained to us. That means by the time Donna drives Tad the six miles out of town to ask Joe Camber to fix her car, Cujo has already killed two people and is ready to attack anything in the vicinity. Due to the delay in the car getting repaired, the engine unceremoniously dies the minute Donna stops at the Camber farm, leaving both her and Tad isolated and trapped.

Despite the affair harming her marriage, Donna is never portrayed as anything other than a good mother. She loves Tad, and she loves the way Vic looks after him as well, which is why she decides risking it all on Steve really isn’t worth it. When we see her and Tad alone together, it’s clear how much he loves his mother, and he feels safe when he’s with her. She kisses his sore head better, doesn’t miss her pick up time at school despite Steve’s best efforts, and regularly sings silly songs with Tad as they drive. 

So when they very quickly find themselves trapped in this terrifying situation, everything Donna does is to try and keep her son safe. This is especially key with Tad, who has been trying so hard to believe that monsters don’t exist, and now finds himself face to face with a real one. As well as trying to remain calm so she can think of a way out of the situation, Donna also has to keep Tad feeling safe and reassure him that she will keep him out of harm’s way. Both of which are very difficult tasks when there is a huge St. Bernard throwing himself at the car at regular intervals.

Donna’s gut instinct is to stay inside the car and wait for someone to rescue them. She doesn't know the Camber family has either left town or has already been eaten by Cujo. She also doesn’t know their post service has been cancelled, so the postman won’t be showing up anytime soon. She hopes that someone will swoop in and save them from this situation. But she soon realises that while she may survive a little longer in the extreme heat, Tad is feeling the effects a lot worse. They soon run out of water and are unable to open the windows for too long lest Cujo tries to get into the car. This is when Donna realises that she’ll need to leave the car and save her son herself. 

Donna is rightfully terrified of facing Cujo head-on so that they can escape, but she’s already proven herself to be a brave and capable woman. She was strong enough to call off the affair with Steve the minute she realised the full effect it could have on her family. She was also able to tell Vic the truth about the affair, and stress that it was completely over before he left on his business trip. She may not have always made the best choices in her life, but she is willing to fight for her family when she needs to, and this situation with Cujo is a very extreme fight that she knows she needs to win. 

Her first escape attempt goes terribly, with Cujo full-on attacking her and even making it into the car with her at one point, putting Tad in danger. While she manages to fight Cujo off, he takes a few good chunks out of her in the process, most probably infecting her with rabies. Because we don’t get any of Donna’s internal monologue in the movie, we miss out on a lot of the characterisation she is given in the novel. In the book, she constantly worries about trying to escape because it could lead to her death, and if she were to die, Tad would have no chance of escape. She puts off fighting Cujo, not through fear of her own life, but because she doesn’t want to leave Tad to fight this particular monster alone. 

Vic has been trying to call the house during his business trip and having received no answer for a couple of days he decides to return home to check on his family. After a false kidnapping alarm when Steve wrecks the house in a jealous rage, Vic tells the police Donna was heading up to the Camber farm with her car. This leads to Sheriff Bannerman going up there to check things out.

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Cujo makes quick work of Bannerman, and seeing him die makes Donna realise that if she doesn’t act quickly, there will be no hope for her or Tad. Even if help does arrive, the likelihood of them being aware of Cujo before he attacks is extremely low. Donna is the only one aware of the full situation, and therefore she is the one best armed to take Cujo down. 

Cujo is persistent in his desire to kill Donna up until this point. He sleeps beside the car to ensure he’s only metres away at any time. He’s constantly waiting for her to open the door so he can attack. At one point he climbs onto the car’s bonnet so he can stare at her through the window. There are some interesting parallels between the persistence of both Cujo and Steve when it comes to pursuing Donna. Neither one will leave her alone, pushing her to her limit whenever they get the chance. Both are also a threat to her family, meaning she could lose her son. Her rage builds to a point where she realises she needs to tackle the problem head-on or let the people she loves the most be taken away from her. 

With Bannerman still taking his last breaths in the barn, Donna breaks free of the car. She snatches the baseball bat she had spotted earlier, beating and eventually stabbing Cujo with the splintered handle. Cujo appears dead, and so grabbing Bannerman’s gun, Donna smashes the rear windshield open and takes Tad to the safety of the farmhouse. 

Donna is suffering from various wounds, she’s dehydrated and has been exposed to extreme sunshine for days on end, and she’s just used the last of her energy scrapping with Cujo, but her first thoughts are only of Tad. After trying to cool him down with water and administering CPR, Tad is revived and it seems like the whole nightmare is finally over. 

Of course, Cujo has one last scare in him and comes crashing through the kitchen window in a fit of rage. Donna is beyond done at this point, and although she didn’t check if he is dead in the yard, she’s going to make sure he’s gone for good this time. Still cradling Tad in her arms, she fires the gun at Cujo, finally putting him out of his misery.

The movie gets a happier ending than the book, which sees Donna killing Cujo only to discover that Tad has already died and has possibly been dead for a long time. While King’s stories don’t always have a happy ending, I think the movie needed Tad to survive. The whole point of Donna’s arc is how much she puts Tad first, even in life-threatening situations. Every decision Donna makes once they find themselves trapped in that car is for Tad’s benefit. While she may have been acting selfishly in the past with her affair, she’s more than willing to prove that those days are behind her, and her focus has always been on Tad’s happiness. Having him die seems too cruel and makes her last showdown with Cujo pointless. 

Shortly after Cujo dies, Vic turns up at the Camber farm. I’m glad that he arrives after all the action has taken place because it feels right that Donna got to be the one to take down Cujo rather than being rescued by someone else. She may have a hard time telling Tad that monsters aren’t real after this, but he will definitely know that his mother is more than capable of protecting him if there ever is a monster in his closet.

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