X
- 1986
- R
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
- 1 h 38 m
- 1986
- R
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
- 1 h 38 m
Summary A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.
Directed By: Stephen King
Written By: Stephen King
- 1986
- R
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
- 1 h 38 m
- 1986
- R
- De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
- 1 h 38 m
Maximum Overdrive
24
6.1
Where to Watch
Summary A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.
Directed By: Stephen King
Written By: Stephen King
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
24
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
75% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
24
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
75% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Maximum Overdrive is the classic botch. Good idea, nice effects, bad pacing, porous script, no punch...Too bad. As usual, the premise has promise. [26 July 1986, p.C1]
Maximum Overdrive offers a variation on what has become a hopelessly hackneyed theme -- technology as monster. As long as King is tinkering with his crazed machines, the film sustains a certain amount of ominous tension, but as soon as the author turns his attention to his actors, the movie's slender storyline goes limp. It's dreary to the max.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.1
46% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
32% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
21% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.1
46% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
32% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
21% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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this movie is close to perfect. The realism of alien-origin self running nanobot swarm AI black goo morgellons dark technology has been known amongst military intelligence with clearance and/or above Unacknowledged Special Access Program ZD-27 Top Secret Crypto . for example refer to CARET program, Black Knight Satellite, ufo chemtrailing cloaked as airline tankers, morgellons transhumanism, nanobot weaponized toxoplasma gondii rouge cell tower network, foo fighter plasma energy balls EBE, EMV, etc
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Master manipulator Stephen King, making his directoral debut from his own script, fails to create a convincing enough environment to make the kind of nonsense he's offering here believable or fun.
For the most part, [King] has taken a promising notion - our dependence on our machines - and turned it into one long car-crunch movie, wheezing from setups to crackups.
A mess of a movie, a no chills nightmare about what happens to a group of rubes at a Carolina truck stop when the machines go nuts. [29 July 1986, p.3]
MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE doesn't work on any level. As a comedy it's obvious and asinine, as a horror film it's simply not scary, and as an action film it's a bore.
Watching Maximum Overdrive is like sitting alongside a 3-year-old as he skids his Tonka trucks across the living room floor and says "Whee!" except on a somewhat grander scale...It's hard to even imagine a movie so impeccably devoid of everything a movie ought to include. [29 July 1986, p.C2]
The only movie directed by Stephen King. What if our electronic items turn on us? Do we have any chance? Well, this movie articulates the idea pretty neat. A solid 7 out of 10.
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Looked very eighties indeed. Still the actions scenes were great and I liked the simple cinematography. It worked well and didn't become distracting. The non-practical special effects looked very dated and did not stand up to the rest of the movie. The music was rock and that fitted well. The sound effects were convincing enough without being noticeable. What? A story? Comet passes and machines try to kill people. That's it. Totally ludicrous film that has no story but some great car crashes!
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This movie deserves at least a 7 just for the AC/DC soundtrack alone! I must have watched this 10+ times in the middle of the night on TBS growing up, and I enjoyed it every time. This story should be taken a bit more seriously now that we're pushing into the era of self-driving cars. I'll be ready!
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Not as incompetent as I was expecting given all the negative reception. King himself thought it was so bad that he vowed to never step behind the camera again, but from a directorial standpoint this isn't put together any worse than the other B-movies that spawned from the author's work. Which, if we're being honest, is what the majority of his adaptations can be classified as. No, the problem is that the movie is too silly and ridiculous for it's own good. Maximum Overdrive is packed to the brim with redneck idioms, immature humor, and crass dialog.
I often hear "The Room" talked about in a sort of positive light as apparently it has a "so bad, it's good" quality to it that can be derived from the film's ability to make one laugh at just how dumb it all is. I can't attest to whether or not that is true of the infamous Tommy Wiseau disasterpiece, but it certainly seems to be the case here. It's hard not to find at least some amusement in all the stupidity happening onscreen. Unlike The Room however, it feels like you're laughing with this movie, as opposed to at it. Maximum Overdrive seems very aware of it's own idiocy and plays everything for laughs. I've read that even Stephen King called it a "wonderful moron movie." I don't know about wonderful, but there is some juvenile fun to be had here. Provided you like that kind of thing and can put up with the bad acting.
You can certainly feel the author's presence throughout. Not only is the entire soundtrack comprised of AC/DC, his favorite band, but a lot of the personality quirks from his writing are front and center. Like his religious intolerance for example. There's a character in this that exemplifies King's tendency to portray all religious people as hypocrites and bigots. As a result out of all his adaptations this is probably the one that feels the most like one of his written stories. Something that will likely increase it's value in the eyes of his more hardcore fans.
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Awards
Razzie Awards
• 2 Nominations
Fantasporto
• 1 Nomination
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination
