A child bicycles slowly down a suburban street flanked by manicured lawns littered with bloodied bodies. He is the sole survivor of his neighborhood. It’s a genuinely terrifying setup — maybe just try to tune out the overwrought AC/DC score shredding in the background when you need to. Stephen King’s 1986 directorial debut Maximum Overdrive tells the story of a cosmic anomaly that leaves all machinery hell-bent on killing mankind. The bulk of the film follows a ragtag team of misfits — led by Emilio Estevez — who hole up in a North Carolina truck stop to wait out the phenomenon while offering some of cinema’s most cringe-worthy Southern accents. A Bible salesman is mauled by a semi in Green Goblin cosplay, ATMs become potty mouths, and a Little League team faces off against a steamroller — all before the second act. The movie is an untethered sequence of hilarious and horrifying disasters that leaves the plot idling somewhere between campy and cautionary, with unknown dangers and Angus Young riffs lurking around every corner. This one is the first half of a double-header of King-penned Midnight Movies — read our pick on Saturday night’s flick, Christine, right here. MATT FOX
Midnight Movie: Maximum Overdrive
