Pacman Cameo in Stephen King's Cujo

Videogame in horror film product placement shocker!

One of my favourite authors has to be Stephen Kind (I grew up reading his novels and watching his films which kinda explains a lot!). I picked up a couple of old second hand copies a few weeks ago, The Shining and Cujo, and enjoyed re-reading them tremendously (if you have only seen the film of The Shining then I recommend you seek out the book as it is a BRILLIANT read).

Anyway with Cujo fresh in my mind and after getting in to the Halloween spirit at the weekend we decided to watch the 1983 film starring Dee Wallace (Elliot's mum from ET) and Danny Pintauro as her four-year-old son Tad Trenton.

The film tells the story of a 200lb St Bernard who contracts rabies after being bitten on the nose by a bat. The once cuddly pooch rapidly degenerates into a foaming monstrosity that terrorize the boy and his mother after they are stranded in their broken down Ford Pinto.

Before

I won't spoil the plot any further but suffice to say this film is truly terrifying. Following the dialogue and plot of the book very closely (unlike the Shining), this story makes modern day slashers and survival horror seem tame in comparison.

After

I couldn't help but smile however when I spotted this lunchbox sported by young Tad as he climbs into his mom's car early on in the film. Described in the book as a Snoopy lunchbox - what we have here is the original metal Pac-man lunchbox which every kid probably had at the time - and that would gladly give one of my appendages for to own now.

Original metal Pac-Man lunchbox and Thermos

Cujo was not the most well known of Stephen King's stories, but much like the others made around this time (Carrie, Christine, The Dead Zone) it made a great film that would probably be ruined by horrible CGI if remade today.

If you want to see the film or read the books mentioned here you can find them on sale now in the Retrobabble's Picks category of the new Retroshop.