Maximum Overdrive

Name: Maximum Overdrive
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comedy
Released: July 25, 1986
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 24
Cast: Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle

1986

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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Maximum Overdrive

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Movie Details & Credits

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) | Release Date: July 25, 1986 | R

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle

Summary: A group of people try to survive when machines start to come alive and become homicidal.

Director: Stephen King

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

Bill Cosford

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]

Patrick Goldstein

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. Read full review

John Paraeles

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. Read full review

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

A loud, obnoxious, single-idea schlocker...There's carnage galore, but minimal interest. King himself described it as a 'wonderful moron picture', and he was half-right. Read full review

Rick Kogan

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]

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

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. Read full review

Paul Attanasio

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]

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User Reviews

Batmanblu69

Oct 29, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I luv this movie, know it by every actors role and their lines. Everything .... even the kickass AC/DC soundtrack… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Qaon

Aug 31, 2018

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 CARETthis 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… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

HellHoleHorror

Feb 15, 2022

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.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!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

adamhui78

Jun 12, 2017

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!

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

TheQuietGamer

Jul 16, 2018

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.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.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Oct 30, 2019

I didn't know Stephen King directed this film. I was shocked but also I thank God he didn't do it again because this nonsense is one of the worst horror films I've seen in a very long time.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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