When Earth passes through the tail of Rea-M rogue comet, the machines come to life and start to kill mankind. A group of survivors is under siege from fierce trucks at the Dixie Boy truck stop gas station and they have to fight to survive.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In the movie trailer, Stephen King said he decided to direct the film himself after writing several because he wanted to see Stephen King done right. "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." See more »
Goofs
The M60 fires too many rounds when it fires at the people in the Dixie Boy. The Belt of ammunition does not have that many rounds in it. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Man At Cashpoint:
Honey, come on over here, sugarbuns. This machine just called me an asshole.
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Alternate Versions
There are many deleted scenes from the film that are mentioned throughout literature and seen in photo stills from the film. Stephen King has mentioned on several occasions that the film was heavily cut to avoid an X rating from the MPAA. King has also spoken of showing the uncut version to fellow horror director George Romero and was quoted as saying that it made Mr. Romero sick. The removed shots were:
Three Seconds of Bubba Hendershot getting shot up by the military vehicle in the Dixie-Boy Truck Stop shoot out scene.
Three seconds of the steam roller running over Bobby.
Three seconds of the bible salesman's face falling into his lap.
-Few seconds of the Man At Bank ATM (Stephen King) greeting a few passer-byes just before sticking his bank card in the machine slot.
Few Seconds of the motorcyclist throwing his arms over his face, exactly shown in the film-trailer, just before plunging into the water.
Additional seconds of Steve Gayton at Duncan's aid after getting sprayed by diesel-fuel in the eyes.
Six seconds of the electrical cutting knife slicing off Frank's right index finger.
Three seconds of the ill-fated video-player saying "Wooow!" just before getting zapped, as shown in the theatrical-trailer.
Few seconds of the pop can leaving an imprint on the Coach's forehead that expands into a huge bladder on his forehead and spraying blood.
Few seconds of the Coach's forehead-bladder popping.
Additional seconds of the Coach warning Deke to get away just before he dies.
Additional seconds of the steamroller riding through a nearby parking lot and Bobby's father getting squashed by it.
A shot of a half of a chewed up body by the lawnmower in a backyard.
An additional shot of the dead gas station attendant at the gas station.
As Deke comes riding along on his bike, he comes to a stop. We can see a full back view of a car off in the distance on the right side of the road. As the Ice Cream Truck comes, we can still see it.
We see a dead ice cream man in the ice cream truck.
The Videoplayer escapes the Dixie-Boy unseen and hides in the drainage ditch
Another guy hides in the drainage ditch.
Additional seconds of the bible salesman getting attacked by the Videoplayer and his buddy who attempts to cut off his face with a straight razor. But the two run unseen off with his knife because the bible salesman screamed.
A few seconds of the bible salesman's noggin pealing down revealing his blooded skull as he rises up in the drainage ditch.
As Brad runs to a nearby car with the dead woman, we can see a full back view of a school bus on the left side of the dirt road. And when Brad screams as he is about to die from the HappyToyz truck, we can still see the bus.
The last close-up of the Happy-Toyz truck's GreenGoblin face is re-flipped, exactly shown in the theatrical trailer, instead of the "backwords-flipped" view. There was a rumor about a supposed uncut VHS tape having been released by Lorimar in the early '90s but this is false. The uncut version has never been released on any format, in any country. This was a false rumor started on the Internet. Only Stephen King holds the original print of the uncut version and as of 2013, has not released it in any format.
Stephen King has had more books receive film adaptations than any other author. While several of these film adaptations were very good, Stephen King is a fan of very few of them. So to determine whether or not he should never allow another film adaptation, he decided to direct a film based on one of his own stories. Maximum Overdrive is based on a short story titled Trucks, featured in his short story collection, Night Shift. In the trailer, he said that he wanted to see someone do Stephen King right. Several years later, he confessed that it was a "moron film". Should Stephen King be that ashamed of directing this movie? Not necessary. Sure, it's complicated, it's twisted, and none of these supernatural trucks are explained very well. And sure, Stephen King probably has more to hate about this film than having to play the guy who gets called an a-hole by an ATM machine. Yet, with its intriguing characters, oddly interesting activity from the trucks, and electrifying soundtrack, Maximum Overdrive serves as dumb, over-the-top fun if you choose not to take it too seriously.
Score: 47/100
Recommendation: Fans of Stephen King and the movie's soundtrack composer AC/DC
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Stephen King has had more books receive film adaptations than any other author. While several of these film adaptations were very good, Stephen King is a fan of very few of them. So to determine whether or not he should never allow another film adaptation, he decided to direct a film based on one of his own stories. Maximum Overdrive is based on a short story titled Trucks, featured in his short story collection, Night Shift. In the trailer, he said that he wanted to see someone do Stephen King right. Several years later, he confessed that it was a "moron film". Should Stephen King be that ashamed of directing this movie? Not necessary. Sure, it's complicated, it's twisted, and none of these supernatural trucks are explained very well. And sure, Stephen King probably has more to hate about this film than having to play the guy who gets called an a-hole by an ATM machine. Yet, with its intriguing characters, oddly interesting activity from the trucks, and electrifying soundtrack, Maximum Overdrive serves as dumb, over-the-top fun if you choose not to take it too seriously.
Score: 47/100
Recommendation: Fans of Stephen King and the movie's soundtrack composer AC/DC