Maximum Overdrive

19861986
RR
1h 38min

Stephen King, Emilio Estevez, and Laura Harrington in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

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Action Comedy Horror

A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 nominations

Videos1

Official Trailer

Official Trailer

Emilio Estevez and Laura Harrington in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Emilio Estevez, Frankie Faison, Robert Gooden, and Laura Harrington in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Laura Harrington and Christopher Murney in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Yeardley Smith in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Laura Harrington and Christopher Murney in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Director
- Stephen King
Writer
- Stephen King(film by) (written for the screen by) (based on the short story "Trucks" by)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

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The Lawnmower Man

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The Lawnmower Man

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. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

semi truck driving itself vending machine inanimate object comes to life driverless truck animate object 192 more

Trivia
When asked why he hasn't directed a movie since "Maximum Overdrive", Stephen King responded "Just watch Maximum Overdrive."

Goofs
The image of the earth shown at the beginning of the movie is reversed.

Quotes
[first lines]
Man At Cashpoint: Honey, come on over here, sugarbuns. This machine just called me an asshole.

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.

Connections
Featured in Cinemania: Stephen King: O vasilias tou tromou (2009)

Soundtracks
Who Made Who
Written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson
Produced by Harry Vanda, George Young

Top review

3/10

The Trucks Stop Here

According to the opening, planet Earth passes "into the extraordinarily diffuse tail of Rhea-M, a rogue comet" for several days. This causes machines on our world to come alive and get angry. Well, if Earth can pass through a comet (instead of the other way around), and comets can go "rogue," then machines can become animated and lust for blood...

By the film's end, a completely different explanation is offered. This bloody mess was written and directed by successful horror writer Stephen King, who appears in an apt cameo with a mouthy ATM machine, in an opening sequence. Mr. King should have left this story where it belonged, as part of a 1960s "Lost in Space" episode.

*** Maximum Overdrive (7/25/86) Stephen King ~ Emilio Estevez, Holter Graham, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington

helpful•8

2

wes-connors
Jun 20, 2011

Is the uncut version with head explosion available anywhere?

Release date
- July 25, 1986 (United States)
Country of origin
- United States
Language
- English
Also known as
- Overdrive
Filming locations
- North Carolina Film Studios, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Production company
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
Gross US & Canada
- $7,433,663
Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,205,644
- Jul 27, 1986
Gross worldwide
- $7,433,663

See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

Runtime
- 1h 38min
Color
- Color
Sound mix
- Dolby Stereo
Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1

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Stephen King, Emilio Estevez, and Laura Harrington in Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Top Gap

By what name was Maximum Overdrive (1986) officially released in India in English?

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