Maximum Overdrive/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The Cameo: Bandmembers of AC/DC appear briefly on a boat in the bridge scene.
    • Stephen King appears briefly as the man using ATM machine in the opening.
  • Eye Scream: Unfortunate real life example happened when a remote-controlled lawnmower accidentally struck a piece of wood and the director of photography lost his eye from the splinters. He sued King for several million dollars (they later settled out of court).
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Emilio Estevez is Bill the protagonist, Yeardley Smith is the newly-wed bride Connie.
  • Old Shame: For Yeardley Smith and Stephen King at least. King freely admits that he was high on cocaine and beer for most of shooting, often appearing drunk and no one wanted to tell him what to do or how to clean up his act, let alone make sure that the film was good. Stephen King likes to say that everyone makes mistakes now and then - "I directed Maximum Overdrive, I know what I'm talking about."
  • Rock Star Composer
  • Shout-Out: The light aircraft flying recon for the trucks is playing "Flight of the Valkyries" on its radio.
  • Troubled Production: In addition to the director being in the throes of cocaine, alcohol and mouthwash addictions, anything that could go wrong on set did. The crew was Italian and no one was fluent in English. The director of photography lost his eye while filming a stunt, and the stunts that did go right had to be fixed or cut to avoid the dreaded X rating, such as with a steamroller murdering a child. While King claims responsibility for the movie being terrible, circumstances did not help.
  • What Could Have Been: Stephen King himself making a movie based on his works? What could go wrong?