Movie Musings: Maximum Overdrive - The Only Film Stephen King Has Ever Directed

      Released in 1986, Maximum Overdrive is bat-shit insane. There are no two ways about it. As stated, it is Stephen King’s one and only foray into feature film directing and was, in his own words, “coked out of my mind” the entire time. And it certainly shows.

      The concept is simple: when the tail of a rogue comet passes by Earth, a mysterious force brings all machinery to life with seemingly one aim – to kill humans! The film wastes no time with this – after an intro where Stephen King (in an obligatory cameo) gets called an asshole by a cash machine, we are treated to a sequence where a hydraulic bridge lifts by itself causing havoc with the traffic passing over it. All the effects and car wreckage stunts appear practical and in-camera making it all the more wonderfully chaotic whilst it is all happening.

      Many more scene of mechanical mayhem ensue, including a child being flattened by a steamroller and death by a vending machine spitting out cans of pop at high velocity. It sounds gruesome but much of the violence is toned down and comes across on the verge of being slapstick – largely as a result of the scattershot direction, occasionally hilarious line delivery and the entire film being scored by AC/DC. Yes you read that right, King was a fan and reportedly asked them to do the music for the entire movie. And they did. And it's so gloriously weird hearing their signature brand of rock throughout.

      The latter half of the film focuses on a small group of survivors being holed up in a truckstop diner whilst being circled by a group of killer HGVs, the chief antagonist being a toy truck with a giant Green Goblin head on the front. A fresh-faced Emilio Estevez leads the pack, also with Pat Hingle as his loathsome boss and also featuring the squeaky voiced Yeardley Smith (famous for voicing Lisa in the Simpsons) who almost makes you want to pull your ears off with her constant high-pitched whinging.

      Just watch it for the 80’s campiness, at least once just to experience it as nothing this ridculous could ever be made today, at least with any kind of studio budget.

      Reportedly when King was asked why he hasn’t directed a movie since Maximum Overdrive he simply responded with: “Just watch Maximum Overdrive”. Can't argue with that.

29th April 2020