There has been word surfacing that De Laurentis Co. is developing a new version of Stephen King’s 1986 directorial debut ‘Maximum Overdrive’.
Maximum Overdrive, based on the Stephen King Short Story “Trucks” published in 1973, tells a story of a group of people trapped at a gas station at the behest of murderous trucks who have come to life after a comet passes over earth. In my opinion, absolutely awesome but in everyone else’s opinion apparently not worth remaking.
Starring Emilio Esteves, Maximum Overdrive was funny, over the top and action packed. It was more of an action movie than a horror, the characters didn’t seem real but that didn’t matter because there were all kinds of crazy machines murdering the hell out of everyone. It was a great edition to the 80s action/thriller hall of fame and the one thing no one can say is that the movie is easily forgettable. I do admit however that the film was pretty erratic; this may be due to Stephen King being out of his mind while filming and has stated that he hopes to direct again now that he is sober. This doesn’t mean that the film should be remade however. I am against this trend of remaking any 80s franchise that seems to have at least a small cult following.
I am all for more Stephen King adaptations but why not choose a short story that hasn’t been made into a movie yet? Maximum Overdrive was a movie that reflected mid to late 80s perfectly, a movie about murderous mechanisms could not reach the depth that modern audiences expect without adding some sort of environmental commentary to make it relevant, instead of the simple “we shouldn’t rely on machines so much” moral that Maximum Overdrive instils. I wonder if they will keep in the “WE MADE YOU” crazy lady and the rocking ACDC soundtrack? As there are no further developments on this project at the moment we may need to keep our engines in neutral until we find out what direction they are driving in.
