Joe Hill, Stephen King‘s son and a best-selling novelist in his own right, is interested in doing a reimagining of Maximum Overdrive, King’s 1986 directorial debut. The film involved haunted (or possessed, or maybe just sentient and evil?) big-rick trucks that trap a group of hapless people at a truck stop. The original pitted Emilio Estevez, Yeardley Smith, and Pat Hingle against a truck adorned with a giant Green Goblin mask. Made for a little under $10 million, the film earned only about $7.5 million at the box office, but was able to trade on King’s name and become a minor cult classic on home video.
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The movie is primarily remembered for being a misstep in King’s otherwise largely brilliant career, and for the soundtrack, which was released as an album by AC/DC. In 2018, Maximum Overdrive was reissued on Blu-ray through the Vestron Video Collection. That collection, released through Lionsgate Home Entertainment, resurrects movies originally released to home video under the Vestron imprint. They primarily distributed cheap, direct-to-VHS genre films, although once in a while they would get their hands on something that had an actual theatrical release. Vestron folded in 1992, and the brand was revived as a feature-rich Blu-ray imprint in 2017 by Lionsgate. Think the Criterion Collection, but for movies that aren’t generally taken seriously.
During a conversation with Mick Garris at Bloody Disgusting, Hill said that a chance to follow in his father’s footsteps was something that might make him interesting in directing. While he does not have the Hollywood resume of Stephen King, a number of Hill’s books have been, or are in the process of being, adapted to the screen.
You can see a clip from the interview below.
“I would only want to jump into directing if I had a chance to do the reboot of Maximum Overdrive.” Hill said. “If someone offered me the chance to write and direct a relaunch of Maximum Overdrive, I’d jump at that in a second.”
He has at least some idea of what the concept of his remake would be, too.
“The time is right, okay,” Hille explained. “So basically, they’re all the self-driving vehicles. So it’s no longer a comet that sets them off, it’s a virus in the electronics that sets them off. And so you’ve got these giant Tesla semitrucks, ya know, wiping everyone out. I think it could be great.”
Would you be up for a reimagining of Maximum Overdrive, or do you think it’s best left as a campy and half-forgotten cult classic? Sound off below.
