Chaos sets in as machines of all kinds begin attacking humans worldwide. Īs the Earth crosses the tail of a comet, previously inanimate machines suddenly spring to life an ATM insults a customer (King in a cameo) and a bascule bridge rises during heavy traffic, causing all vehicles upon the bridge to fall into the river or collide. King disowned the film, describing it as a "moron movie", and considered the process a learning experience, after which he intended never to direct again. In 1988, Maximum Overdrive was nominated for "Best Film" at the International Fantasy Film Awards. It was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Director for King and Worst Actor for Estevez in 1987, but both lost to Prince for Under the Cherry Moon.
Maximum Overdrive was theatrically released on July 25, 1986, to generally negative reviews from critics. It includes the best-selling singles " Who Made Who", " You Shook Me All Night Long", and " Hells Bells". The film has a mid-1980s hard rock soundtrack composed entirely by the group AC/DC (King's favorite band), whose album Who Made Who was released as the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack. It contained black humor elements and a generally campy tone, which contrasts with King's sombre subject matter in books. The film is King's only directorial effort, though dozens of films have been based on his novels or short stories. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story " Trucks", which was included in the author's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and follows the events after all machines (including cars, trucks, radios, drones, arcades, vending machines, etc.) go sentient when the Earth crosses the tail of a comet, initiating a worldwide killing spree. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 American comedy horror film written and directed by Stephen King. $7.4 million or $3.5 million (North America)