Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 2 ratings
When a comet passes close to the earth, machines all over the world come alive and go on homicidal rampages. A group of people at a desolate truck stop are held hostage by a gang of homicidal 18-wheelers. The frightened people set out to defeat the killer machines ... or be killed by them.
Maximum Overdrive is Stephen King's only directorial effort, a gleefully trashy B-movie with a memorable AC/DC soundtrack and a silly but entertaining premise. The plot is paper-thin with stock characters and weak motivations, and the acting ranges from serviceable to hammy. The cinematography is competent enough for the genre. The concept of inanimate machines coming to life has its charms and the film has a distinct cult identity, but it's too derivative of King's own 'Trucks' short story and too sloppily executed to earn high novelty marks. The ending is abrupt and unsatisfying, relying on a deus ex machina text card that deflates any earned tension.