PopHorror Let's Get Scared
In the summer of 1986, I remember seeing the trailer for Maximum Overdrive one afternoon and thought that it looked promising. Mainly because the creepy-looking Stephen King standing in front of the even creepier-looking Green Goblin head in the background promising to scare the Hell out of us intrigued me. I had no idea what this movie was even about as I had never read the short story “Trucks” that it was based on, but for some reason I was curious about it.
A few weeks later I read an article about the movie in an issue of Fangoria and thought it sounded awesome once I found out what it was all about. I begged my parents to take me to see it but for some reason it never came to the local cinema in our area, so I had to wait for several months to rent it when it was finally released on VHS.
So, did it live up to my expectations, or was I left feeling disappointed and underwhelmed after I finally saw it? Keep reading to find out…
Synopsis
After a mysterious comet passes over the Earth machines everywhere-especially trucks-seem to come to life and start killing any humans that they come across. A group of survivors take cover in a truck stop in rural North Carolina and try their best to stay alive as an army of trucks (and other machines) attempt to wipe them all out.
I dug this movie as much as I hoped I would when I first saw it all those years ago, and after watching it again recently I thought that it still held up well for the type of movie it was.
Written and directed by Stephen King (who has called it a “Moron Movie” and admitted that he had no idea what he was doing when he directed it), Maximum Overdrive is loosely based on one of his short stories, as I mentioned earlier, and is just a fun movie in general. It’s loaded with likable oddball characters, awesome, over the top death scenes (got to love that cheesy stinger that plays when someone is being attacked), and just the right amount of brainless goofiness that is guaranteed to satisfy any taste.
I, for one, love the premise. It’s original and different, and it just works in its own weird way. It’s also strangely scary as well, because let’s face it, we would basically be screwed if trucks and other machines decided that they were going to come to life and take over the world. It actually freaked me out a little when I was younger, and I have never looked at semi-trucks the same way ever again after I saw this movie (electric knives and lawnmowers have always bothered me as well ever since).
In a way it reminds me of a weirder version of The Birds or Night of the Living Dead as it revolves around a group of people trapped somewhere surrounded by things that are trying to get in and kill them (you just have to replace birds and zombies with trucks and other machines), and the idea works for the most part.
One of the best things about the movie is, without a doubt, the death scenes. They are fun and bloody, and there are quite a few of them throughout the movie. We get people being mowed over by big trucks, a man killed by a soda machine, and my personal favorite that involves a kid getting run over by a steam roller in a mighty graphic manner (this is something that you would never see in movies today, folks).
The opening scene that involves a huge bridge is quite awesome, and the massacre that takes place as a result is loads of bloody fun and lets viewers know right off the bat that they are in for one hell of a ride. A lot of characters die in some brutal ways as the movie progresses, and I had a great time watching them bite it in a variety of different ways.
I liked the characters that appear in the movie as well. If you ask me, Emilio Estevez (The Outsiders, Wisdom) makes this movie as the unlikely hero Bill, and the film just wouldn’t have had the same feeling had someone else had been cast in the role.
Likewise, Pat Hingle (Hang ‘Em High, Batman) does a marvelous job as the slimy and totally unlikable Hendershot as he’s one of those characters you love to hate and can’t wait to see get what’s coming to him (and believe me, he gets it eventually). The story goes that King wanted him to get co-directing credit for the movie as he essentially directed it, but this request was unfortunately denied for some unknow reason.
Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons, The Legend of Billie Jean) is also decent, but there are times that her character is so annoying that you just want the trucks to get her too (in real life I think that the character Curtis would have willingly run into the path of one of the trucks so he wouldn’t have to live out the rest of his life with her). Overall, everyone does a fine job here and I can’t really say that anyone phoned in their performance.
The real star of Maximum Overdrive, though, is the Green Goblin truck. I love Spider-Man and his arch enemy is my favorite comic book villain of all time. There is just something incredibly creepy and intimidating about the truck since it has the Goblin’s leering face on it, and it’s the thing nightmares are made of. It is essentially the main antagonist of the movie as it seems to be the leader of the other trucks, and if you ask me, it is utterly terrifying.
There is a rumor that the filmmakers wanted to put Darth Vader’s head on the front of the truck originally, but George Lucas wouldn’t allow it, but I think that the Green Goblin works so much better and is a hell of a lot scarier in a lot of ways. I love the little Green Goblin jack-in-the-box that shows up at one point, and if one of you fine readers out there could find one and would like to send it to me, I would appreciate it since I am the biggest Spider-Man nerd in the world 😊.
All in all, I love Maximum Overdrive. It’s fun, weird, and is just entertaining in general. Fans of the original short story may not like it as King took a lot of liberties with it (such as giving it a happy ending instead of the bleak one that takes place in the original story), but I think it works.
Another version of it was made in 1997 under the title of Trucks that stays closer to the source material, but it is nowhere near as fun if you ask me. If you are looking for a fun way to kill 90 minutes then check out Maximum Overdrive. Just make sure to turn your brain off first and then sit back and enjoy the kooky ride.
The film is available to stream free on Tubi. You can rent and own it on digital platforms and there are varioud DVD and Blu-ray editions, including a Steelbook, that are also available.
