In a rare twist of fate, it was Hollywood — not the author — who gave us a happy ending in Cujo, the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s nerve-shredding novel. Dee Wallace, the fierce heart of the film, recently revealed what King really thought about its most controversial change: letting the child live.
Appearing on Still Here Hollywood podcast, Wallace recalled,
"Stephen King wrote us after Cujo and said, 'Thank God you didn’t kill the kid at the end. I’ve never gotten more hate mail for anything else I’ve done."'
In King’s original novel, little Tad dies — dehydration and heatstroke sealing his fate inside that sweltering car. But on screen, Donna (Wallace) pulls off the impossible: she kills the rabid St. Bernard and saves her son. That revision, Wallace suggests, came not from fear of fan backlash, but from basic humanity. She knew moviegoers couldn’t walk out of the theatre with that kind of heartbreak.
King, who’s never been afraid to kill his darlings, admitted this one pushed people too far. Even he seemed stunned by the emotional fallout. The man who’s made us fear everything from clowns to cars quietly admitted this one was too much — even for him. And thanks to Wallace, we all got a rare horror film ending that let us breathe again.
