Cujo – Complete Score – Limited Edition – OOP – Charles Bernstein

The terrors of Stephen King’s crazed canine come vividly alive to Charles Bernstein’s soundtrack, now on CD! Lewis Teague directs, Don Carlos Dunaway & Lauren Currier fashion the script from King’s famous novel, Jan De Bont photographs, Dee Wallace stars with Daniel Hugh-Kelly, Danny Pintauro, Ed Lauter, Christopher Stone in solid support. Already coping with marital challenges, Donna and son Tad face terrifying encounters with Cujo, the rabid dog. Trapped in their disabled vehicle on remote farm, everything climaxes with hair-raising showdown between woman and beast. Charles Bernstein creates solid musical support, sometimes underlining the action with subtle strokes, sometimes leading it with vivid dramatics. Interestingly, somewhat troubled film production truncates much of the score, moves cues into different scenes, repeats sequences (particularly looped percussion for Gary/Camber deaths), deletes others, alters mixes to remove certain instruments, other alterations. In spite of post-production tampering, Bernstein score remains detailed, multi-layered orchestral gem. Balancing with fierce action sequences and pulsating suspense are beautiful ideas for family life, the heart and soul of King’s tale. Intrada release, presented from 1/4″ two-track stereo session mixes courtesy Paramount Pictures, offers musical sequences as they were originally recorded by Robert Fernandez at The Burbank Studios in May 1983.

Following score proper, CD includes handful of unused alternates. Daniel Schweiger writes informative liner notes, flipper cover art designed by Joe Sikoryak leads with original film campaign art. Charles Bernstein, Shirley Walker conduct.