Like in the short story, the main action takes place as a secluded truck stop along the side of a now deserted highway. Fry cook Emilio Estevez's crappy day gets even crappier when an electric carver attacks a co-worker and then some trucks start running people down. Eventually survivors start gathering at the truck stop for safety and are put to work (by a bulldozer and a military machine gun vehicle) pumping gas into a long line of thirsty trucks. Throughout all this there's a few various events shown, like a steamroller running down a kid, a drawbridge going berserk and an ATM machine telling Stephen King he's an asshole.
As a horror movie, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE is a total failure, but as entertainment it's not too bad. The idea of machines coming to life is compelling and the characters are interesting. A little blood, zero gore, zero nudity, 80's clothing, AC/DC music, explosions, cheap gas, an alright pace that kinda runs out of steam towards the end. With a bigger budget, tighter script and a more experienced director MO might have been awesome, but as it is it's still a fun time-waster.
I A-B Repeated this dude yelling "What the fuck's going on in here?!" until tears were streaming down my handsome cheeks.
