“Maximum Overdrive” Review
Sentient vehicles, one of which has the face of The Green Goblin, try yo murder humanity in “Maximum Overdrive,” the only film that Stephen King directed himself.
While we know Stephen King primarily through his work as an author and the many film/television adaptations of his stories, King has strayed into the world of filmmaking several times by writing screenplays. With screenwriting credits including “Creepshow,” “Cat’s Eye,” “Pet Sematary” and all four episodes of “The Stand” miniseries, King has proven that he can be just as terrifying making movies. However, in King’s lengthy career, he has only ever directed one film and that is the incredibly titled 1986 action-horror extravaganza “Maximum Overdrive.”
Let’s be perfectly clear about this film. It’s a bad movie. A really bad, cheesy piece of nonsense that is a far cry from the Stephen King that wrote “The Shining,” “It” and “The Dark Tower” series. I don’t even feel bad saying so because Stephen King himself has disowned the film, calling it “a moron movie” and even being nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director. “Maximum Overdrive” has a ridiculous script (also written by King as an adaptation of his 1973 short story “Trucks”), over-the-top acting and a ludicrous premise that never once comes across as frightening. However, the reason why I want to write about this film is because I personally think that Stephen King is wrong. While “Maximum Overdrive” isn’t a good horror film, it’s an excellent B-movie: a low-budget film in a commercially successful genre that is entertainingly ridiculous. When viewed through the same lens as “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” “Piranha” or “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” “Maximum Overdrive” is a marvelous masterpiece of the campy and hyper-violent.
When the Earth passes through the tail of a strange comet, the world’s machines inexplicably come to life and try to kill humanity with vehicles being the most formidable threat. As a bunch of semi-trucks begin murdering the residents of a community in North Carolina, a group of survivors gather at a truck stop, amass a stockpile of weapons and wage war on the machines their species created.
Made in the mid-eighties, the film is a visual representation of King at the height of his addictions to alcohol, cocaine and other substances with King regularly being high on set. So many of the film’s choices are bizarre right down to the basic plot. Not only is there no explanation as to why a comet can cause machines to come to life but it’s actually revealed that aliens were behind it all. Only it’s revealed during the closing credits when the text states that a Russian satellite loaded with nuclear weapons collided with a UFO and ending the technological terror. I’d say this was a lame twist but can it even be called a twist if the reveal happened after the movie was over?
But logic is something you need to beat to death with a hammer if you want to enjoy “Maximum Overdrive.” What really brings the film together are three elements: the characters, the action and the insane spectacle. Several big names starred in this flaming mess including Emilio Estevez as a former convict named Bill who’s working at the truck stop and turns hero, Pat Hingle as the asshole owner of the truck stop with a stockpile of illegal machine guns and explosives and a young Giancarlo Esposito who is immediately killed off by a pinball machine in the truck stop’s game room. The characters are the biggest caricatures of King’s usual archetypes with rednecks, a hypocritical Bible salesman (Christopher Murney), more rednecks, a kid being confronted by evil forces (Holter Graham) and an insane nutcase waitress named Wanda June (Ellen McElduff). Unfortunately, no one in the film is psychic, a writer and/or an alcoholic so we won’t have a full Stephen King character BINGO.
While no one is giving a great performance, everyone is clearly having fun with the material. I think all the actors knew they were in a terrible film so they might as well go as big as possible with Pat Hingle having the most over-the-top cackle, Yeardley Smith practically screaming every line and, before going to the heavenly arcade in the sky, Giancarlo Esposito shouting “yo mama” at a malfunctioning pinball machine. The only actor who really plays it straight is Emilio Estevez who acts like he’s in “Die Hard” which only makes the film funnier. Even Stephen King gets an over-the-top cameo at the beginning of the film when an ATM machine calls him obscenities leading to the iconic line “Honey, come on over here, sugarbuns. This machine just called me an asshole.”
If you are the kind of person who becomes aroused by explosions, then you’re going to love “Maximum Overdrive.” The carnage on display is both incredibly goofy but it can make you wince. If this movie was made today, chances are that several of the explosions would be achieved with CGI and I can’t stand that thought. I love that, despite all the film’s flaws, King and his merry band of insane filmmakers went all out for the explosions and action sequences. Seeing Commissioner Gordon from the Tim Burton “Batman” films fire a bazooka into a semi full of toilet paper is the new pinnacle of action cinema. George Miller wishes he could be this awesome.
The practical effects are a lot of fun to look over and I can’t help but admire all of the make-up and prosthetics that went into showing the bloody fun. At one point, a military car with a machine gun attachment shows up at the truck stop and starts mowing people down with gunfire in a blaze of glory. I miss seeing so many of those small explosive devices, commonly called “squibs,” going off on one person to see just how many bullets can hit a person. True you still see this kind of violence in some of today’s films, like the work of Quentin Tarantino, but there’s something fantastic about seeing just how many squibs can explode on a person. While the totals don’t match iconic scenes like Sonny’s death in “The Godfather,” the final shootout in “The Wild Bunch” or the finale of “Bonnie and Clyde,” the gunshot wounds ought to appease the most bloodthirsty maniac.
“Maximum Overdrive’s” action sequences do have this wonderful cheesy quality to them, but there’s not as many as you might think. There’s actually quite a few character moments, including a romance between Bill and a hitchhiker named Brett (Laura Harrington), that somehow don’t take away from the film. Because all of these characters are so goofy and memorable, you are somehow rooting for them even though you’re also wanting to see more of them die.
But it’s the film’s overall spectacle that keeps me coming back. As much as I love seeing Pat Hingle laugh like an asshole or having a steamroller squash a Little League player, I haven’t even mentioned the best part of this film. The music was provided by AC/DC, Stephen King’s favorite band. Why? I assume the answer involves copious amounts of drugs. In fact, while several of the film’s songs were from preexisting albums, AC/DC did contribute a couple of originals to the soundtrack including “Who Made Who” which would be the name of the soundtrack album.
Further driving the cheesy tone of the film is the fact that the truck that, I guess, is supposed to be the main villain has the face of The Green Goblin, Spider-Man’s most formidable foe, on its grill. And it’s not even an ornament or anything like that. The entire front of the truck was sculpted and painted to look like one of the most iconic comic book villains of all time. As if that wasn’t strange enough, there’s also a scary clown painted on the back of the truck’s trailer that has a strong resemblance to Pennywise from “It” which was published the same year “Maximum Overdrive” was released.
Unfortunately, the chaotic nature of the film did make its way into shooting. Not only was Stephen King suffering from his drug addiction, but he really had no idea what he was doing a good chunk of the time. “Night of the Living Dead “ director George A. Romero, who collaborated with King on “Creepshow,” was seen on set several times leading to rumors that Romero “ghost directed” a significant part of the film. While most reports indicate that King was the one in charge, those rumors do give an indication about King’s inexperience.
The biggest tragedy associated with the film involves cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi who had previously been the director of photography on the historical epic “Waterloo” and the French/Italian comedy classic “La Cage aux Folles” which would be remade by Mike Nichols in 1996 as “The Birdcage.” During a scene where a lawnmower chases after Holter Graham, the remote controlled lawnmower ran over a block of wood that was being used to support a camera, causing splinters to be fired. One of them hit Nannuzzi in his right eye and ended up with him losing the eye altogether. While he continued to work in the industry until his retirement in 1998, Nannuzzi was understandably furious since he and the special effects department had told King that the blades could have been removed with the audience being none the wiser. He sued King and several others connected to the production and settled out of court. The incident just shows how dangerous filmmaking can be, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.
King may have disowned the film and vowed never to direct another feature again but I don’t think that he should have such a harsh opinion on “Maximum Overdrive.” It may not be a good movie but it has been living another life from Stephen King fans as an exciting film that revels in its bizarre atmosphere. I can understand not wanting to revisit a film that you made during a traumatic period of your life but, if King can reexamine and even make sequels to books that he was writing during this period, then I hope he considers giving “Maximum Overdrive” another look. Of course there’s an obvious value in great films, but there’s also something to say about films that don’t work yet fascinate and entertain us with their bizarre proclivities. So, if you’re wanting to balance out the iconic classics you watch every Halloween with a mindless, gorefest with AC/DC music playing throughout, then “Maximum Overdrive” is the cult classic Stephen King film you need.
