Day 19: Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Starring: Emelio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith, Frankie Faison, Giancarlo Esposito

Category: new classic ( I guess)

Plot Tags: attack of the -blank-, survival, disaster event

Original release: July 1986

Format viewed: DVD rental from Vulcan of course

Directed by: Stephen King

Written by: Stephen King

Distributed by: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

One of the great, confusions of life as a horror film/subject matter person is the general lousy nature of most Stephen King adaptations into film/TV. For whatever reason, his stories hit a rough road when it comes to making the transition and more often than not, they are goofy or unscary and in some cases really annoying. The Green Mile, Stand By Me, The Dark Half and a couple others are the only exceptions I can think of off the top of my head. Misery is another one and Pet Cemetery (not any of the sequels) would be included in that group. 

Sadly, Maximum Overdrive is not one of them, despite being directed by the man himself. Now, that is not to say it isn't fun, but by and large the pacing is all over the map, the progression of relationships etc make no sense and the overall dread of the event is undercut by the thought that many if not all of the mishaps that happen could be easily avoided. The basic story is that earth passes through the tail of a comet and the dust or electromagnetic something or other or some other nonsense is messing with all the machines on the planet, turning them murderous. When this is most effective is when the person doesn't know what is happening and not acting like an idiot. Unfortunately, about 80 to 90 percent of the time, people offed by machines or cars or whatever else are acting so stupid and unaware that their demise isn't shocking so much as just obvious. Case in point, the fantastic Giancarlo Esposito (Nothing to Lose, Breaking Bad) has a bit role as a guy in a truck stop arcade. All of the machines are going goofy and spitting out money and all else. Instead of seeing this as a sign of danger and getting out of there, he loads his pockets with money and packs of cigarettes. Okay, fine. But then one of the games starts showing interesting imagery and for some reason he goes over to play it and is electrocuted. Now you've just stolen some money and other items but can be sidetracked from your exit by pretty colors. Riiiight. This happens a lot, the waitress cut on the arm by an automatic knife/saw thing that TURNED ITSELF ON AND REPOSITIONED ITSELF NEXT TO HER ARM (I for one certainly wouldn't notice a buzzing electric saw moving ever closer to my arm), The draw bridge resetting itself and raising with people on it all the while making all manner of noise in the control room that the two guys there seem completely oblivious to. etc etc etc. 

The other glaringly ridiculous thing is the romantic relationship between Emilio Estevez' character and a hitchhiking girl brought into the truck stop/restaurant he works in. Right in the midst of this mess they seemingly have time to get to know each other, hop into bed and create all manner of closeness between them. This all happens in about a 20 minute span. I get that adventure type movies require (by law I assume) the lead have a girl waiting in the wings but in this case, it was just plain dumb. So as you might've guessed, machines keep attacking people, our group gets trapped in the truck stop by a herd of semi trucks and fight back with the sizable arsenal the truck stop owner seems to have collected. The convenience level is annoying because, yes, many people collect guns but many people also collect porcelain figurines or bottle caps or stamps or whatever else. How this truck stop owner has enough explosives and guns to outfit an entire army is never really explained. 

Okay, so bottom line, there are some fun scenes in the thing and some level of dumb fun to be had. However, the directing is really choppy, nearly nothing is motivated by actual thought and by the end of it you're kind of rooting for the semi trucks, or at least I was.