Bruce Dern and Courtney Gaines starred together in The Burbs (1989). In Hellblazers, Bruce Dern's character says the line "does Pinocchio have a wooden D*%#" just prior to Gain's entering the scene. In The Burbs his character refers to Gains character as "Pinocchio".
The movie the Sheriff is referring to is Cujo, based on the novel by Stephen King.
Adrienne Barbeau plays Georgia who also is a radio disc jockey much like her character, Stevie Wayne in John Carpenter's (her ex husband) The Fog (1980).
Courtney Gaines who plays Bernard,Adrienne Barbeau who plays Georgia and Bruce Dern who plays Bill all have appeared in Stephen King developed films or TV series. Gaines in Children of the Corn (1984), Barbeau in Creepshow (1982) and Dern in the TV series Mr. Mercedes. Furthermore, there is a Cujo reference which was also a Stephen King based movie.
Filmed at the Diamond V Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita, CA.