Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
I think as a kid the reason I got into Stephen King, is because of watching his 1986 film directorial debut, Maximum Overdrive. I remember as a kid absolutely loving everything about this film, and to this day it still holds a very special place in my heart, and it is one of my all-time favourite films. As far as Stephen King films I would place it as my second favourite, with Pet Sematary being my favourite. Maximum Overdrive is based on King's 1973 short story called Trucks, which was published in his first short story collection, Night Shift. The film tells the story of the earth passing through the trail of a comet, which results in all of the machines of the earth coming to life and killing people. The story focuses on a group of people who are held captive at the Dixie Boy truck stop in North Carolina by a group of trucks led, by a truck with the Green Goblin face on the front of it.
Maximum Overdrive was written and directed by Stephen King, based on his own 1973 short story Trucks. In King's own words "A lot of people have directed films based on Stephen King novels and stories, and I finally decided that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself." The film features a soundtrack done completely by Australian hard-rock band ACDC, which they released as their album Who Made Who. The film was distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group in 1986, and was critical and box office flop, grossing a mere $7.4 million with a budget of $9 million, and receiving generally negative reviews from the critics.
Maximum Overdrive stars Emilio Estevez as Bill Robinson, Laura Harrington plays his love interest Brett Graham, Pat Hingle plays his boss Bubba Hendershot, Ellen McElduff plays his co-worker Wanda June, Patrick Miller plays his coworker Joey, and J.C. Quinn plays his other co-worker Duncan Keller, and Holter Graham play Duncan's son Deke Keller. John Short plays Curtis, and Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson on the Simpsons) plays his newlywed wife Connie, Christopher Munry plasy Camp Loman who is a Bible Salesman who Brett hitches a ride from, and then there are the truck drivers at the Dixie Boy, whose trucks get possessed while they are resting at the truck stop. Stephen King also plays a cameo, one of my favourites of his cameos, he plays the ATM man, and basically his character tries to use an ATM and it says to him "You Are An Asshole", at which point he calls over his wife to say "Honey, this machine just called me an asshole." So at this point I have to say I totally disagree with the critics, Emilio Estevez was nominated for a Razzie award for worst actor, and Stephen King for worst director, but to be honest I loved Emilio Estevez in this film, and this is the film that made me really love Emilio Estevez as an actor. I also absolutely love the obnoxious dynamic of Curtis and Connie, Yeardley Smith is so perfect as the absolutely obnoxious Connie, but I also found their characters very endearing and cute as well. I also loved Laura Harrington as the badass hitchhiker Brett, she has this tough yet gentle sexiness to her, like she will take no shit from anyone, but also has a big heart, and is compassionate, I think her character is well written and well played. Of course I have to mention Pat Hingle as the absolute piece of shit scumbag owner of the Dixie Boy truck stop, Bubba Hendershot. Hingle plays the slimeball owner so perfectly well, and he is a character that you are supposed to love to hate. So as much as the critics enjoy to bash this film, I loved the cast, I think that they were all great, and the characters are all memorable.
I have seen this film dozens of times since the 1980s, and everytime I watch it, I fall more in love with it. Last night it dawned on me that Maximum Overdrive is in some ways similar to George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. Instead of dead bodies coming back to life, it is trucks and electronics that come to life, and instead of a farmhouse they are held up in a truck stop, but in both cases a small group of survivors are hiding in a building from things that are a live, that shouldn't be alive. Maximum Overdrive is a campy science-fiction horror film, that pays homage to classic low budget films like Night Of The Living Dead, Killdozer!, and other such b-horror/sci-fi films. The film has some great comedic moments, like King's character that I mentioned earlier, and there are a lot of other dark humour and puns scattered throughout the film, but though it is campy, and fun, there are still serious and emotional moments in the film as well. I feel like Stephen King does a great job at balancing these elements. Then with the great soundtrack by ACDC, there is so much to love about this campy low budget b-sci-fi/horror film. It has definitely gone on to be one of my all-time favourite films. It is honestly too bad that King has disowned this film, and he has never tried his hand at directing again, I feel like for a first attempt at directing the film shows that he has a significant amount of natural skill at it, and the film has gone on to garner a strong cult following.
If you haven't yet seen Maximum Overdrive, I highly recommend giving it a view. In my personal opinion, this is a must-see film, there are so many things that this film does so right, it is definitely a "good bad movie", and one that I believe belongs in every film collector's library. So if you ever come across a copy of this film, don't pass it up. It can be hard to find as a stand alone film, but often shows up on Stephen King collection DVDs, but definitely a Stephen King film that you should have in your library.
Maximum Overdrive was written and directed by Stephen King, based on his own 1973 short story Trucks. In King's own words "A lot of people have directed films based on Stephen King novels and stories, and I finally decided that if you want something done right, you should do it yourself." The film features a soundtrack done completely by Australian hard-rock band ACDC, which they released as their album Who Made Who. The film was distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group in 1986, and was critical and box office flop, grossing a mere $7.4 million with a budget of $9 million, and receiving generally negative reviews from the critics.
Maximum Overdrive stars Emilio Estevez as Bill Robinson, Laura Harrington plays his love interest Brett Graham, Pat Hingle plays his boss Bubba Hendershot, Ellen McElduff plays his co-worker Wanda June, Patrick Miller plays his coworker Joey, and J.C. Quinn plays his other co-worker Duncan Keller, and Holter Graham play Duncan's son Deke Keller. John Short plays Curtis, and Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson on the Simpsons) plays his newlywed wife Connie, Christopher Munry plasy Camp Loman who is a Bible Salesman who Brett hitches a ride from, and then there are the truck drivers at the Dixie Boy, whose trucks get possessed while they are resting at the truck stop. Stephen King also plays a cameo, one of my favourites of his cameos, he plays the ATM man, and basically his character tries to use an ATM and it says to him "You Are An Asshole", at which point he calls over his wife to say "Honey, this machine just called me an asshole." So at this point I have to say I totally disagree with the critics, Emilio Estevez was nominated for a Razzie award for worst actor, and Stephen King for worst director, but to be honest I loved Emilio Estevez in this film, and this is the film that made me really love Emilio Estevez as an actor. I also absolutely love the obnoxious dynamic of Curtis and Connie, Yeardley Smith is so perfect as the absolutely obnoxious Connie, but I also found their characters very endearing and cute as well. I also loved Laura Harrington as the badass hitchhiker Brett, she has this tough yet gentle sexiness to her, like she will take no shit from anyone, but also has a big heart, and is compassionate, I think her character is well written and well played. Of course I have to mention Pat Hingle as the absolute piece of shit scumbag owner of the Dixie Boy truck stop, Bubba Hendershot. Hingle plays the slimeball owner so perfectly well, and he is a character that you are supposed to love to hate. So as much as the critics enjoy to bash this film, I loved the cast, I think that they were all great, and the characters are all memorable.
I have seen this film dozens of times since the 1980s, and everytime I watch it, I fall more in love with it. Last night it dawned on me that Maximum Overdrive is in some ways similar to George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. Instead of dead bodies coming back to life, it is trucks and electronics that come to life, and instead of a farmhouse they are held up in a truck stop, but in both cases a small group of survivors are hiding in a building from things that are a live, that shouldn't be alive. Maximum Overdrive is a campy science-fiction horror film, that pays homage to classic low budget films like Night Of The Living Dead, Killdozer!, and other such b-horror/sci-fi films. The film has some great comedic moments, like King's character that I mentioned earlier, and there are a lot of other dark humour and puns scattered throughout the film, but though it is campy, and fun, there are still serious and emotional moments in the film as well. I feel like Stephen King does a great job at balancing these elements. Then with the great soundtrack by ACDC, there is so much to love about this campy low budget b-sci-fi/horror film. It has definitely gone on to be one of my all-time favourite films. It is honestly too bad that King has disowned this film, and he has never tried his hand at directing again, I feel like for a first attempt at directing the film shows that he has a significant amount of natural skill at it, and the film has gone on to garner a strong cult following.
If you haven't yet seen Maximum Overdrive, I highly recommend giving it a view. In my personal opinion, this is a must-see film, there are so many things that this film does so right, it is definitely a "good bad movie", and one that I believe belongs in every film collector's library. So if you ever come across a copy of this film, don't pass it up. It can be hard to find as a stand alone film, but often shows up on Stephen King collection DVDs, but definitely a Stephen King film that you should have in your library.
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