Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Anchor Bay DVD (region 1)
d. Stephen King; pr. Martha De Laurentiis; scr. Stephen King; story. Stephen King; ph. Armando Nanuzzi; m. AC/DC; ed. Evan A. Lottman; cast. Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith, John Short, Ellen McElduff (97 mins)
In the mid 1980s Stephen King was the most successful of contemporary horror authors, with a string of best selling novels and film adaptations by such acclaimed directors as Brian DePalma, Stanley Kubrick, Tobe Hooper, George Romero and John Carpenter. Although the body of film work would proliferate in tandem to the novels, many felt that it was increasingly of lesser quality. That did not stop high profile producer Dino De Laurentiis from purchasing the film rights to many King short stories and approaching King himself to adapt and direct one of them, a personal King favorite titled “Trucks”. King relished the task, admitting that he sought to make a film for his fans only, which he expected all others would decry as vulgar and offensive, even awful (which eventually did happen). Apparently he went so far as to insinuate that he intended to merely make a junk movie. Although it intriguing tied into a popular 1970s subgenre of the possessed or sentient vehicle movie (with such as The Car, Deathship and King’s own Christine being amongst the most successful), the resultant film of Maximum Overdrive was a resounding failure. The MPAA ratings board was not amused and insisted that several cuts be made, particularly to one scene involving a child trapped under a steamroller. As King recalls the matter, it had him fuming for it was the first time that he had had to face the censorship of his own work.
Maximum Overdrive takes place in the near future. Earth is subject to immersion in the tail of a mysterious comet for several days. During this time, weird things begin to happen. In particular, mechanical objects begin to act of their own will. At first this is amusing – ATMs insult customers (King himself in a cameo role) – but soon it turns deadly, as a bridge raises of its own accord. Meanwhile, at the Dixie Boy truck stop ex-con Emilio Estevez is being exploited by his stand-over boss (Pat Hingle). Soon they are joined by a hitchhiking drifter (Laura Harrington), another of life’s low class losers with an attitude and who of course bonds with Estevez. Shortly after, they notice something unusual; the trucks seemingly come to life of their own accord and besiege them inside the truck stop. Elsewhere, a young boy rides through his neighborhood, seeing that the machines have become homicidal and that safe suburbia has been reduced to a charnel-ground. Slowly, the young boy tries to make it to the truck stop, unaware that his father has been killed by one of the rampaging vehicles there. Besieged in the truck stop, these survivors try to think of an escape plan. Eventually the trucks begin to run out of fuel. Although this is taken as a sign of hope, an army jeep arrives and a Morse code message is tapped out on its horn – the trucks are demanding the people open the pumps and refuel them. read more