Stephen King directed and wrote this movie. Did i get you attention now? Maybe not since Mr.King recently hasn't been picky about how his novels transformed into movies or regarding the quality of his new novels. Movies like "Sometimes they come back.....again & for more" aren't amusing, or the endless "Children of the corn" series. Personally I feel that a writer/director of his magnitude should stay at least one mile away from sequels.

The awesome animated series "The Family Guy" featured a really funny clip showing Stephen King trying to sell his latest novel to the publicist, on a question regarding the topic of the book he replies; "Now for my 300th novel, a couple... is attacked... by a giant lamp monster” I’ve always been a fan of his early work, yeap, back in the 80's. He made some really scary and original stuff. Even though the movies at off the top of my head I can mention;

• Christine
• Fire starter
• Creep show
• Cujo

All these movies are based on his novels, he also wrote "Stand by me" which starred several up and  coming actors like the late River Phoenix. But one of the weirdest movies that had his sign on it was "Maximum Overdrive". Let's take a quick look at the plot before I go.

 On June 19th, 1987, earth is caught in tail of the rogue comet Rhea-M. According to astronomical calculations, it would remain its tail for 8 days, 5 hours, 29 minutes, and 23 seconds. A unprecedented phenomenon appears, the earth's atmosphere is clouded by a strange green glow. Meanwhile we have the main character Bill, played by Emilio Estevez, is trying to get on the right side of the law by getting a job at highway truck stop/diner called "Dixie Boy". The employees and visitors of the diner soon notice that all of the mechanical tools start having a mind of their own, electrical kitchen supplies go bananas, drink dispensers start shooting out cans and lawnmowers start some cutting of their own.

The worst is still to come when all vehicles and trucks become alive and start a deadly rampage against all humans killing everything in their way. Since all mechanical devices/vehicles become alive, there are also some special utility trucks that come in their hands, most importantly a military jeep with a mounted machinegun. Interesting.

A small group of people are held hostage by the trucks only for the sole purpose of using them to fuel other trucks and vehicles. The leader, or at least the badass among the trucks, is a sinister looking 18wheeler with a big clown face fixed on the front. For Marvel fans, the face seems to be "The Green Goblin". This truck was, before it came alive, driving products for the "Happy Toyz" company, this fact however has nothing to do with the plot itself.

Their only way of survival is to take a boat to a nearby island where there aren't any vehicles or electrical objects. The question is if they can get there before the machines get them...

The movie was largely demolished by critics because of its B-movie characteristics and some bad acting. To its defense one can say that almost every movie made by or based on novels of Stephen King have the same characteristics. The actors are usually unknowns or at stars of TV movies, the humor is bad and the plot is strange to say the least. "Maximum overdrive" is, no matter what people or critics say, a very entertaining movie. This fact specially comes clear if you take the movie for what it is.... a movie. Don't break down the small details, don't sit and say "hey, that's not possible" or "that's just stupid", this isn't a intellectual piece of work, it's pure entertainments and it works.

When you've come to terms with this, the only thing you have to do is sit down and enjoy the ride. Keeping in touch with the B-movie characteristics, it delivers some really funny scenes. One of these memorable scenes is when a poor guy is trying to get something out of a food dispenser and gets hit by right in the forehead by a can, or what about the ATM machine that prints the message "You're an asshole" on the screen to Stephen King in one of his famous cameo roles.

The plot holes are big and I can't help but mention a few;

• A 18 wheeler truck "sneaks" up on a guy without him noticing it before it's right behind him. I don't think I’ve heard of any stealth truck.

• At one point in the movie, a speaker at the diner yells out "Humans here, Humans here" to alert all machines. So, machines that come alive AND learn the English language?

• The military jeep commands the humans by using Morse code though it's car horn

There is an explanation, the machines aren't controlled by a weird phenomenon caused by a travelling comet, it's actually triggered by aliens who spray the earth's atmosphere with the green dust in order to clean the planet of humans. This is done to use earth as a base planet. That's why the machines are so smart, and that's why they're able to communicate with humans in a intelligent fashion.

By the way, I’ve noticed that most of the movies I’ve written about have some kind of connection to vehicles or machines, I haven't done this deliberately, it just seems as if though I subconsciously have got a thing for movies that involve mechanical aspects. Strange.