Reviews (85)

Stephen King's Worst Film But It Was The 80's After All
This 1986 Stephen King film (he directed the movie and wrote the screenplay) is possibly his worst film. The cheesy 80's is written all over it and it's not the mature work of Stephen King, who has come up with scarier material than this. Stars Emilio Estevez as the leader of a group of truck stop diner who have to band together to defeat possessed trucks. A comet that passed through the skies left an eerie green cloud over the town and has made it possible for human's inventions, electronic or otherwise, to rebel against humans. Soon, all the trucks come to life and drive themselves, killing off their drivers. This film is really nothing exciting or even scary. Stephen King has created more frightening horror films. Even if he was trying to go for a science fiction type of horror genre, it did'nt work. Maybe because it was the 80's and this is just one bad apple in the bunch.

Yeardley Smith, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson from The Simpsons is part of the cast. It's refreshing to see her in person and in movies outside from the cartoons. She was also in the short lived early 90's series "Herman's Head". This is definately not Emilio Estevez's best work. About a year earlier, he had performed in The Breakfast Club in which he did a much better job. He would do the same later in the 90's with the Mighty Ducks movies. The trucks are funny to look at and the humans being killed by them is not as frightening as it should be. Especially comedic is the truck with the Green Goblin head on it. This movie, which is a sort of camp classic, is more enjoyable if it does'tn take itself seriously. This movie DOES try to be serious horror. The ending implies that the survivors made it possible for the aliens in the green cloud to be defeated and it is supposed to be a sort of serious film about survival. But it's not really a good film for that type of plot. I feel this movie would be better to look at in Mystery Science Theatre 3000 where they showcase old camp, bad movies with ad lib jokes. Then maybe this movie would be better to look at. But if you're into the 80's, Stephen King (no matter what he does) and Emilio Estevez, this is the film for you. Thank God it' not well remembered.

KICK BUTT
This movie rocks! Terrible acting, poor use of fake blood, steam rollers, a soda machine that I would love outside my place of business, the psycho music when a machine is about to kill someone, bible salesman gets his sh@* ruined, random sex scene that has nothing to do with the plot, and senceless destruction of cars, trucks, power tools, and buildings. This movie serves up 31 flavors of whoop a** with a side of good old fashioned beatdown. This movie would have kicked a** even if Men at Work did the sound track but just to add even more flavor to side of beatdown, the producers threw in a sound track by AC/DC.
Besides Dawn of the Dead this movie is one of the best ones out there!!

it has its charm
This 1986 movie isn't the greatest (and the picture quality sucks), but it has its charm. It has the distinction of being the only movie Stephen King directed (he found directing to be such a horrible job that he vowed never to do it again). You've got Emelio Estevez in the lead role. None of the acting is spectacular and the story (written for the screen by King) leaves a little to be desired, but in the end, it is a good film. Or at least one I enjoy.

Low Gear
Not much here except this has been done before in different incarnations (DUEL, KILLDOZER, THE CAR) all of which are better films than this rehash. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE suffers from being a one-note film with bad acting and terrible stunt work/special effects. There is no horror or suspense here except to watch a bunch of vehicles running over people picking them off one by one. Stephen King directs and it is truly a waste of time as cardboard characters don't do much except scream as they get oft. Sometimes horror movies have unintentional humor to get a few laughs. This film doesn't even have that to make it memorable. It takes the subject matter too seriously even if the subject matter is really a funny one when one thinks about it .Only thing good that came out of the film is the AC/DC song "Who Made Who?". It is too bad a film like this will be broadcast over and over again on cable or on network tv and a superior film like KILLDOZER will never be shown, and it can't even be found on tape or DVD.

Who Made Who.....Man VS Machine
Beeing a big AC/DC fan I will actually give you a review that dosent have anything to do with the great sound track!
I give this movie about 3 and a half. This was the very first movie that Steven King did himself, and I think it might have been the last? In the trailer, Steven King says somthing like "if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself, and I will scare you" but i gotta honestly say, he failed at that unfortunalty.... I remember when it first came out it did scare me, but i was about 6 years old at the time and the big boys and grown up's where watching it.... but years later when I found out that AC/DC had done a soundtrack to a movie, i went and rented it.... And was plesently suprised to see it was that movie that scared me all those years ago. But the second time around did nothing to scare me. Overall, the movie i dont think is that bad, its definitly not scary, its not the best acting, its not totally suspensfull, and it has some weird twists and turns... but to quote AC/DC's rhythem guitarist Malcolm Young "It's not all that great of a movie, but its still better then alot of the crap you see these days!" And I fully agree with him!

Sure, yeah, the soundtrack is mostly 95% AC/DC and the album soundtrack to this movie is AC/DC's "who made who" but that isnt what makes me have a liking to the film.... actually, infact, I dont quite think AC/DC's music blends in with the picture to be honest! well, some do... but one that puzzles me is "For those about to rock" beeing played when they sneak over to the showers and then into the sewer pipes.... I dont understand any conenction with the song, music and scene to be quite honest... and a few others i could point out just dont match the moment or mood with the music thats selected, or mixed in at wrong moments... if you know what i mean?

But apart from that, The movie as you shoudlve read by now is about a comet going over the world, and the machines come to life....and then the story goes into a group of people who are strandard in a gas station ...yadda yadda yadda.... my one question about the plot is, why dont the cars come alive? but anyway, the performance from the actors is not spectaculer.... but dont get me wrong, i hate award winning perfromances... so im ok with it, ive seen a hell of alot worse! The movie is allright... but i dont recomend you pay alot for it... i was able to pick mine up pretty cheap.

The bonus features arnt anything to praise. Theres a trailer, and a bio of Steven King which lists all the movies he has had cameo's in and it's intresting to find out where he actually is in this movie!! "Honey, this machine just called me an (...)

I dont consider trailers and wide screen to be any kind of bonus feature. those should and pretty much are, standard features. So this DVD basicly only comes with a bio on Steven King and nobody else... I think Emilio Estefes shoudlve gotten a filmography... and there should be more bonus features :( Maybe the "Who Made Who" video clip? that would make it worth the price alone for what it is at the moment! but unfortuanlty theres nothing... it might come in widescreen and surround sound, but i serisloy think the movie shoudl have had a bit more added to it in the bonus department to make it worth the while to purchase!

(...) ... Read more

Reviews (85)

Stephen King's Worst Film But It Was The 80's After All
This 1986 Stephen King film (he directed the movie and wrote the screenplay) is possibly his worst film. The cheesy 80's is written all over it and it's not the mature work of Stephen King, who has come up with scarier material than this. Stars Emilio Estevez as the leader of a group of truck stop diner who have to band together to defeat possessed trucks. A comet that passed through the skies left an eerie green cloud over the town and has made it possible for human's inventions, electronic or otherwise, to rebel against humans. Soon, all the trucks come to life and drive themselves, killing off their drivers. This film is really nothing exciting or even scary. Stephen King has created more frightening horror films. Even if he was trying to go for a science fiction type of horror genre, it did'nt work. Maybe because it was the 80's and this is just one bad apple in the bunch.

Yeardley Smith, best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson from The Simpsons is part of the cast. It's refreshing to see her in person and in movies outside from the cartoons. She was also in the short lived early 90's series "Herman's Head". This is definately not Emilio Estevez's best work. About a year earlier, he had performed in The Breakfast Club in which he did a much better job. He would do the same later in the 90's with the Mighty Ducks movies. The trucks are funny to look at and the humans being killed by them is not as frightening as it should be. Especially comedic is the truck with the Green Goblin head on it. This movie, which is a sort of camp classic, is more enjoyable if it does'tn take itself seriously. This movie DOES try to be serious horror. The ending implies that the survivors made it possible for the aliens in the green cloud to be defeated and it is supposed to be a sort of serious film about survival. But it's not really a good film for that type of plot. I feel this movie would be better to look at in Mystery Science Theatre 3000 where they showcase old camp, bad movies with ad lib jokes. Then maybe this movie would be better to look at. But if you're into the 80's, Stephen King (no matter what he does) and Emilio Estevez, this is the film for you. Thank God it' not well remembered.

KICK BUTT
This movie rocks! Terrible acting, poor use of fake blood, steam rollers, a soda machine that I would love outside my place of business, the psycho music when a machine is about to kill someone, bible salesman gets his sh@* ruined, random sex scene that has nothing to do with the plot, and senceless destruction of cars, trucks, power tools, and buildings. This movie serves up 31 flavors of whoop a** with a side of good old fashioned beatdown. This movie would have kicked a** even if Men at Work did the sound track but just to add even more flavor to side of beatdown, the producers threw in a sound track by AC/DC.
Besides Dawn of the Dead this movie is one of the best ones out there!!

it has its charm
This 1986 movie isn't the greatest (and the picture quality sucks), but it has its charm. It has the distinction of being the only movie Stephen King directed (he found directing to be such a horrible job that he vowed never to do it again). You've got Emelio Estevez in the lead role. None of the acting is spectacular and the story (written for the screen by King) leaves a little to be desired, but in the end, it is a good film. Or at least one I enjoy.

Low Gear
Not much here except this has been done before in different incarnations (DUEL, KILLDOZER, THE CAR) all of which are better films than this rehash. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE suffers from being a one-note film with bad acting and terrible stunt work/special effects. There is no horror or suspense here except to watch a bunch of vehicles running over people picking them off one by one. Stephen King directs and it is truly a waste of time as cardboard characters don't do much except scream as they get oft. Sometimes horror movies have unintentional humor to get a few laughs. This film doesn't even have that to make it memorable. It takes the subject matter too seriously even if the subject matter is really a funny one when one thinks about it .Only thing good that came out of the film is the AC/DC song "Who Made Who?". It is too bad a film like this will be broadcast over and over again on cable or on network tv and a superior film like KILLDOZER will never be shown, and it can't even be found on tape or DVD.

Who Made Who.....Man VS Machine
Beeing a big AC/DC fan I will actually give you a review that dosent have anything to do with the great sound track!
I give this movie about 3 and a half. This was the very first movie that Steven King did himself, and I think it might have been the last? In the trailer, Steven King says somthing like "if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself, and I will scare you" but i gotta honestly say, he failed at that unfortunalty.... I remember when it first came out it did scare me, but i was about 6 years old at the time and the big boys and grown up's where watching it.... but years later when I found out that AC/DC had done a soundtrack to a movie, i went and rented it.... And was plesently suprised to see it was that movie that scared me all those years ago. But the second time around did nothing to scare me. Overall, the movie i dont think is that bad, its definitly not scary, its not the best acting, its not totally suspensfull, and it has some weird twists and turns... but to quote AC/DC's rhythem guitarist Malcolm Young "It's not all that great of a movie, but its still better then alot of the crap you see these days!" And I fully agree with him!

Sure, yeah, the soundtrack is mostly 95% AC/DC and the album soundtrack to this movie is AC/DC's "who made who" but that isnt what makes me have a liking to the film.... actually, infact, I dont quite think AC/DC's music blends in with the picture to be honest! well, some do... but one that puzzles me is "For those about to rock" beeing played when they sneak over to the showers and then into the sewer pipes.... I dont understand any conenction with the song, music and scene to be quite honest... and a few others i could point out just dont match the moment or mood with the music thats selected, or mixed in at wrong moments... if you know what i mean?

But apart from that, The movie as you shoudlve read by now is about a comet going over the world, and the machines come to life....and then the story goes into a group of people who are strandard in a gas station ...yadda yadda yadda.... my one question about the plot is, why dont the cars come alive? but anyway, the performance from the actors is not spectaculer.... but dont get me wrong, i hate award winning perfromances... so im ok with it, ive seen a hell of alot worse! The movie is allright... but i dont recomend you pay alot for it... i was able to pick mine up pretty cheap.

The bonus features arnt anything to praise. Theres a trailer, and a bio of Steven King which lists all the movies he has had cameo's in and it's intresting to find out where he actually is in this movie!! "Honey, this machine just called me an (...)

I dont consider trailers and wide screen to be any kind of bonus feature. those should and pretty much are, standard features. So this DVD basicly only comes with a bio on Steven King and nobody else... I think Emilio Estefes shoudlve gotten a filmography... and there should be more bonus features :( Maybe the "Who Made Who" video clip? that would make it worth the price alone for what it is at the moment! but unfortuanlty theres nothing... it might come in widescreen and surround sound, but i serisloy think the movie shoudl have had a bit more added to it in the bonus department to make it worth the while to purchase!

(...) ... Read more