Maximum Overdrive (1985)

[zombie no.one]

this cropped up in the 'One Hit Wonder Directors' thread and I realised it's probably 20+ years since I saw it, so decided to give it another whirl

the beginning set-piece on the bridge is cool. it starts pretty well. the odd mix of dumb goofball comedy and quite graphic deaths (including kids and animals) is erm, original? and the AC/DC soundtrack rocks.

my interest started wandering though. it gets bogged down in too many random unfocused scenes,and the characters + dialogue are totally generic.

decent. 6/10

thoughts?

[zombie no.one]

credits have just run, never knew it was produced by Milton Subotsky, the Amicus guy? weird...

[bob]

Good lord, this thing is all over the place and makes no sense at all. I found it incredibly boring.

if you want to see it again I posted in on the movies on YouTube thread.

[RCMerchant]

I like it. Nothing to write home about, but as far as stupid movies go- eh!
Oh- the girl in the VW bug is Lisa Simpson (aka Yeardly Smith)!

[Svengoolie 3]

stephen king called this a moron movie.

[FatFreddysCat]

King has famously explained that he was "coked out of his mind" during the making of "Maximum Overdrive" and therefore had no business trying to direct a movie.

Maximum Overdrive was the first "scary" movie we let my kids watch when they were young. They loved it. The next day I came home and found them recreating scenes from it on the living room floor with their Hess trucks and a shoebox "Dixie Boy." 

[zombie no.one]

Oh- the girl in the VW bug is Lisa Simpson (aka Yeardly Smith)!

didn't know that, but funny you should mention it because I did notice one of the characters clearly say "Eat my shorts!". and this is what, 5 pr 6 years prior to Simpsons...

[zombie no.one]

King has famously explained that he was "coked out of his mind" during the making of "Maximum Overdrive" and therefore had no business trying to direct a movie.

Maximum Overdrive was the first "scary" movie we let my kids watch when they were young. They loved it. The next day I came home and found them recreating scenes from it on the living room floor with their Hess trucks and a shoebox "Dixie Boy." 

often wondered if a coke can vending machine has malfunctioned like it did in this film!

[Allhallowsday]

I saw it once on videotape and remember some of it, including ESTEVEZ, but I haven't seen it in over 30 years.  I think it was dumb. 

[zombie no.one]

it is dumb. it's a big dumb 80s b movie and it knows it

got a similar vibe to TREMORS in some ways I thought. altho clearly not as good

[RCMerchant]

The music was fantastic! AC/DC! 
I also love the scene where the waitress is screaming at the trucks-"WE MADE YOU!".

[zombie no.one]

when they play Who Made Who by AC/DC in the movie, it sounded sped up to almost chipmunk levels, not sure why...