Maximum Overdrive Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Who Made Who?
Stephen King's masterpiece of terror directed by the master himself.
Imagine your worst nightmare: machines take over the world!
Evil's wheels.
The day horror went into overdrive.
When the tail of rogue comet Rhea-M passes through Earth's atmosphere, humanity's worst nightmares come to life as machines gradually develop minds of their own, turning on their creators in bloody rebellion. At the Dixie Boy truck stop just outside Wilmington, North Carolina, both workers and patrons alike are coming to grips with the horror as a series of increasingly bizarre accidents occur, some injurious, some near-fatal, and some fatal. The terror finally comes to a head when the parked trucks - led by one for a toy company which sports a demonically-smiling goblin face - each start up on their own, circling the truck stop and preventing anyone from getting in or out. Trapped by the trucks and an emotionless manager ('Pat Hingle' (qv)), a young ex-con ('Emilio Estevez' (qv)) takes it upon himself to lead the rescue of anyone in the immediate vicinity who's life is in danger, and to ultimately escape the truck stop and head to safety. Unfortunately, things become more complicated when a machine-gun-mounted mobile platform orders each of the humans to pump gasoline for the trucks. Pitted against an army of machines demonized by an unknown phenomenon, the people trapped in the Dixie Boy truck stop must use stealth and a concealed arsenal to escape. In the meantime, they realize that there is more to the tail of Rhea-M than they initially thought.
| Emilio Estevez | Bill Robinson |
| Pat Hingle | Hendershot |
| Laura Harrington | Brett |
| Yeardley Smith | Connie |
| John Short | Curtis |
| Ellen McElduff | Wanda June |
| J.C. Quinn | Duncan |
| Christopher Murney | Camp Loman |
| Holter Graham | Deke |
| Frankie Faison | Handy |
| Pat Miller | Joe |
| Jack Canon | Max |
| Barry Bell | Steve |
| John Brasington | Frank |
| J. Don Ferguson | Andy |
| Stephen King |
4.60 out of 10 (7635 votes)
Visitor Reviews
silly sci-fi
posted on 31 Aug 2009This movie is somewhat entertaining, and the idea behind the whole thing definitely helps carry it,I for one did not like the ac dc music, it was annoying, matter of fact there are a few annoying things about his movie,but it is slightly entertaining and somewhat funny.
Maximum Over drive
posted on 31 Aug 2009If you like Cheesey movies this fits the bill. We bought this movie to go along with our Popcorn and Cheesy "supposed to be scary" movie night at home. We have added this one to "Night of the comet". If you are into that kind of thing, take the time to enjoy these two movies. It Seems that there are only two actors in Maximum OverDrive though that can be considered actors. One is Emlio Estevez and the other is the kid. It's wonderfully campy, while trucks take over the world you begin to wonder who would ever put that weird scary face on the front of a toy delivery truck. The newlyweds are a gas (a young Yardely Smith is wonderfully funny in this film). Enjoy making fun of this movie with a special appearance by Steven King in the beginning and the music of AC/DC to jazz it up a bit.
My Wifes favorite movie!!!!
posted on 31 Aug 2009My wife loves this movie it has been her favorite for years. I bought it a long time ago on VHS and she has nearly worn that tape ragged. So I decided to buy it for her on DVD. She was so excited to see that I got it for her she couldnt get it in the DVD player fast enough.
Great Movie!! No Extras to Brag About!!
posted on 31 Aug 2009I loved this movie as a kid, and still love it now! Such a classic that deserves more extra junk than it's getting on the DVD treatment. I gotta admit, though: the new cover is an improvement over the abortion they used in the theaters and VHS cover, though I do miss the body hanging out of the grill as in an earlier version.
This was adapted and directd by my fave, Steve King. Though I'm not too crazy about the soundtrack (Who Made Who), the movie still holds up well today...despite it's cheese-factor.
Oh, and I loved the scene where the dork gets blasted in the eyes with gasoline, and then later gets his head squashed by the truck; dude should have stayed home that day!
Maximum Overdrive
posted on 31 Aug 2009This is a decent Stephen King story and the music is certainly good with AC/DC rocking the air waves. The first time I saw this I wasn't as impressed but over the years this has actually aged well. The more I viewed it the more I appreciated that it is fun like the George Romero Undead movies. When a Alien controlled Comet's tail turns the sky green all the machines turn against humans. So anything from a electric carving knife to a Semi-Trailer Truck is deadly. The worst of all is a tractor-trailer with a big green goblin face on the front of the grill and toys in the back. Emilio Estevez and the rest the cast do a fine job making this horror come to life. Good quality DVD with decent replayability. If you enjoyed this catch "The Thing" (1982) and "Dawn of the Dead" (2004). - C. Luster
Crazy Trucks
posted on 31 Aug 2009Who'd have thought a movie about killer trucks could be so great? I have loved Maximum Overdrive since I first saw it when I was a kid. All the blood and gore appealed to me, and the AC/DC soundtrack didn't hurt. I seem to watch Maximum Overdrive at least once a week, and it never gets old. A fantastic cast really does a great job with their characters and adds that something special to the movie. Of course anything based on some of Steven Kings work will be good, especially with the man himself directing and writing the short story it was based on as well as the script. Maximum Overdrive is a must buy for any Steven King fan, or the sci fi/horror fan.
2.5 stars out of 4
posted on 31 Aug 2009The Bottom Line:
If you go into Maximum Overdrive with the right frame of mind (basically don't expect anything intelligent) then you'll probably have as good a time as I did watching trucks with no drivers terrorize middle America; it's not good per se, but it's good trash.
Great popcorn movie
posted on 31 Aug 2009Stephen King writes and wait for it, actually directs this adaptation of his short story "TRUCKS" (not to be confused with the later made for Sci-fi remake which was just a plain no brainer). Packed with a heavy hitting soundtrack by the Australian thunder from down under AC/DC (ironic I know), Maximum Overdrive despite it's cheeseball story will delight gorehounds and headbangers a like.
Much like a mechanical version of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, machines big and small begin revolting violently against people. Loaded with more dead bodies than an action movie and seriously dark humerous moments, this is a perfect movie for those saturday nights when nothing is on and you're so bored staring into space hurts. Hands down my favorite scene is the incredibly well shot chase sequence, where a huge and seriously ticked off Mack truck chases down a newly married couple down a deserted highway. Awesome. Though I still love the scene with the lawnmower, classic.
More so, the quiet moments of the film are usually slow but well accented with AC/DC's earlier blue's style motiff filling in the despair and desparation. So if you're looking for ninety minutes of bad B-movie to help you escape the day, look no further than Maximum Overdrive and enjoy Stephen King's hilarious cameo.
This was fun to watch
posted on 31 Aug 2009I probably never would have watched or heard of this movie if it wasn't for my boss. He warned me that the movie is pretty cheesy, but in a good way. Sometimes I'm into cheesy films, but the premise of this film just seemed too goofy, so I was prepared for quite a flop. Much to my surprise I ended up rather enjoying this movie.
Basically a cosmic anomaly interferes with Earth and all the machines start coming to life, including vehicles and so forth, and start attacking people. The story is set in a very small town and despite the fact this problem is happening everywhere, this is about how those specific people tried to survive the horror. It's kind of a ridiculous concept, but it's written by Stephen King and usually he has a pretty creative take on such things. I'm not sure other writers would have been able to make this concept interesting, but King sure does, he really makes you wonder what's going to happen and there's plenty of dark humor to be had... in a sick and twisted way of course. I may not be much of an avid King reader, but I do enjoy the movies that are taken from his library.
This is sort of an a-typical mid-80's film, so those in my age group will probably know what it means. It means the cinematography isn't going to hugely compete with newer films, which will always have newer and better technology. The acting is a little over acted in many scenes, which seems to be another common thread for under produced films in the 1980's. Regardless of budget, I thought they put together a pretty interesting story and made it fun to watch overall. It's got a lot of bad qualities which make it funny, but the way it plays out, its kind of obvious that it's intentional, so can't knock them for that! I mean, it's kind of obvious this is supposed to have a degree of dark humor and fun to it when you see the soundtrack is done by AC/DC.
Overall this was definitely worth the watch for me. It's just a fun movie, regardless of how stupid some of the scenarios are. It's not overly gory and it focuses more on the people struggling to survive and how they plan their escape. So it does have a bit of that campy horror quality to it. It certainly won't be the greatest movie you ever see, but it sure is fun when you watch it.