Why Maximum Overdrive Is Stephen King’s Messiest Movie Adaptation

Stephen King’s work has been adapted for the screen countless times to this point. The iconic horror writer has always been generous with the rights to his stories, including the “Dollar Baby” deal with young filmmakers, granting permission to film his stories for just one dollar. Before that, King had one movie that he wanted to step in and handle himself. Inspired by fans writing letters and speaking out about how past adaptations of his work like The Shining strayed from the original material, he took the reins of an adaptation of his short story, “Trucks.” He would change the name, of course, and Maximum Overdrive was born.

King likely hoped this newborn would’ve died in its figurative womb after its theatrical release, but today we can look back and appreciate his attempt and the efforts behind the mess he left onscreen. That’s not always a bad thing, by the way, and it works for Maximum Overdrive.

Stephen King appears in the first trailer for the film, selling it with every ounce of horror showmanship he could muster.

“A lot of people have directed Stephen King novels and stories, and I finally decided if you want something done right, you want to do it yourself,” King says in the original trailer for the 1986 cult favorite. “I just wanted to do Stephen King right.”

Who Made Who?

The main drive for Maximum Overdrive emerges from King’s appreciation for legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis. The noted producer was attached to several iconic films over the years, but his treatment of King’s work, like The Dead Zone, Firestarter, and Cat’s Eye, earned him the author’s adoration. It also earned King the use of Dino’s Italian film crew.

“Stephen actually recommended to Dino some stories from the book Night Shift that he had sold back in the ’70s to Milton Sobotsky,” producer Martha Schumacher revealed to Blake Harris at /Film. “So it was that suggestion and the fondness that Stephen had for Dino — Dino was very charming, and he loved storytellers — that led to Maximum Overdrive.”

While most reports show King and company did their best to maintain a fun set, complete with movie night, several points combined with King’s lack of experience and created problems for the production. King’s arrival on the set was one example, according to gaffer Jock Brandis at a 2021 screening of the film. Brandis said King rode his motorcycle from his home in Maine and showed up disheveled enough to be denied entry by security. He cleaned up and moved forward, but quickly discovered that the cinematographer and members of the crew hired for the film only spoke Italian, which had severe consequences during a later on-set accident.

“Can We Take Out the Blades?”

Armando Nannuzzi had amassed decades of experience in the industry, but Maximum Overdrive would mark the beginning of the end. During a scene involving a remote control lawn mower brought to life to kill on the screen, while blocking for the scene, Nannuzzi expressed concerns over keeping the blades attached to the mower, butting heads with King at the time.

“‘Can we take out the blades?’” King said, according to Camera assistant Silvia Giulietti. “[King said,] ‘No, no, I like to see them.’ Armando say, ‘But we don’t see them in the shot.’ But Stephen King say, ‘No. No. Better that you let it.’”

A piece of wood ended up in the blade and splintered, throwing bits right into the cinematographer’s eyes. Nannuzzi suffered damage that could not be repaired, hindering his abilities in his later career. But, upon his return to the Maximum Overdrive set, he remained all smiles, and there was hope the injury would heal. King and Nannuzzi also butted heads due to King own personal mess at the time: substance abuse.

“I remember there was fighting once between Armando and Stephen King. Not understanding something technical. So Armando was screaming very much and Stephen King was laughing because Armando was speaking Italian,” Giulietti said. “Then shouting kind of gets physical. Primordial, like the animals do. But Stephen King, still, he does not stop laughing. He just keep laughing, more and more and more.”

Mess Can Be Best

According to others on the production, the addictions didn’t show or didn’t hinder production to a catastrophic level. We should also note that “mess” doesn’t always denote trouble. Maximum Overdrive is considered “bad” by most standards, but it has a lot to love. It’s a messy experiment that should’ve ended in disaster time and time again, but it comes through. The special effects are great, with some of the machine attacks making a home in my memory hole.

A moment that sticks with me involves an attack on a Little League team at a baseball field. When the team is set to celebrate and the coach is buying sodas from a machine. After no response, the rogue soda machine blasts cans out, killing the coach before turning on the kids. While you’re still taking in the effects used for the coach’s injuries, a steamroller bursts through the baseball diamond fence and runs over an unfortunate kid riding their bike. The bloody impact famously got cut by the MPAA after test screenings, much to the chagrin of King, but you can get a sense of what happened with the aftermath. It’s a top-notch effect in a movie that at least took chances.

It also helps when your mess features a soundtrack by AC/DC, including several classic songs from their catalog, a few instrumentals, and the theme song, “Who Made Who.” Even with a short scene of surviving Little Leaguer Deke just riding down a devastated street is elevated by the sounds of AC/DC ripping through. Even when it’s a movie soundtrack, they deliver.

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On reflection, King made his feelings clear in an interview with Tony Magistrale for a book about King’s film work. King infamously admitted he was “coked out of my mind all through its production, and… really didn’t know what I was doing.” The Dark Tower author has expanded on the period elsewhere, but most recently, King talked Maximum Overdrive during an interview with Kingcast back in January.

“I went into it, and the thing is, at that time, I was doing a lot of cocaine and I was drinking a lot. You can tell! But, the thing is, man, I thought I knew how to make movies, and I realized if I did that again, I learned so much making Maximum Overdrive, it was like this intensive seminar,” King said. “I had this Italian film crew, the Nannuzzis, because I’d liked the work that they had done on Silver Bullet. And so I asked if I could have them, and they said yes. And they didn’t have any English. It was one, the younger Nannuzzi brother, Daniele Nannuzzi, had some English, and he did the best that he could, and the more he spent time on that set, the better his English got. And the only thing I learned was how to swear in Italian.”

Maximum Overdrive was the best possible outcome for a Stephen King story. The horror legend’s original story in Night Shift has a lot that translates to film, but it keeps its bleak outlook to itself. The film King delivered has black humor and a campy atmosphere, placing blue-collar truckers and diner staff on the front lines of a war with evil machines brought to life by space aliens trailing behind a comet’s tail. That’s a lot better than the surviving humans being forced into slavery to fill gas tanks until they perish. Not to mention the main “bad guy” is a black semi with a giant Green Goblin mask on its grill.

Similar to the messy heroism displayed on screen, the film stuck its landing and is a survivor today. Stephen King earns his spot next to Emilio Estevez and the Dixie Boy truck stop survivors in the boat at the end of the movie. A remake was attempted with a TV adaptation titled Trucks, starring Revenge of the Nerds‘ Timothy Busfield, but it has no flair like Maximum Overdrive.

Do you have a favorite Stephen King film or series? Let us know your favorite and why it makes your list in the comments.