Stephen King's 1981 novel "Cujo" is about a Saint Bernard dog that contract rabies from a bat and goes on a killing spree. The dog, Cujo, belonged to an abusive mechanic, so it was already seemingly predisposed to violence. It mauls several people throughout the course of the story. The novel climaxes with a local mom named Donna Trenton and her young son Tad becoming trapped in a Ford Pinto on a hot day as Cujo stalks them from outside. There comes a moment when Donna has to choose to stay in the car and risk dying of heat stroke ... or exiting the car and facing the killer dog.

In the book, Donna successfully fights off Cujo with a baseball bat, beating the dog and stabbing it to death with a shard when the bat breaks. Tad, sadly, does not survive the ordeal, dying of heatstroke in the Pinto.

"Cujo...