Who Made Poo? Crappy movie that's a lot of fun!

My husband normally doesn’t share my fascination with the horror genre so I was surprised this evening when he selected a film from Fearnet On Demand menu called Maximum Overdrive. I happily sat down beside him and began watching this eighties flick starring Emilio Esteves and a whole lot of people you feel like you’ve seen before but you probably haven’t. This is yet another movie based on an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s short stories and this time King himself is doing the adapting and direction. Released in the eighties the movie is scored completely by ACDC and much like Hatchet from the evening before, it’s more of a comedy than a straight up horror film. The beginning is dreadful and at times hilarious and immediately Stephen King creates a sense of doom. It seems like people’s opinions of this film is very polarized: you either love it or you hate it. The plot doesn’t really make sense, the characters are at times annoying but you’ll either love all the campy fun and be willing to suspend your belief or you won’t.

I was willing to play along and was rewarded with a film you can enjoy if you just check your brain at the door. A comet is descending on earth and with it an alien force begins taking over the machines. Toll bridges, soda machines, video games and especially “Trucks” all become deadly weapons and havoc occurs throughout the United States. There is lots of carnage as various different machines take out human beings in dastardly ways and soon we are following a group of survivors that end up at a gas station/diner/convenience story type place. Emilio Estevez stars as Bill, a convict who is a short order cook at the diner and he ends up becoming the leader of this pack of survivors. He hooks up with a hitchhiker who got a ride with a perverted, foul-mouthed bible salesman and amidst the action gets a little action. There is also a couple of newlyweds who manage to get to the diner intact. The lady is played by Yeardly Smith (the voice for Lisa Simpson) and while her voice has made her a ton of bucks, in this film she never shuts up and sounds like nails on a chalkboard. I kept hoping a semi truck would take her out. Then we have a young boy named Deke who escapes after a little league game turns deadly due to a possessed soda machine. So the group has to survive with tons of machinery out to get them.

The acting in this movie ranges from capable to pretty bad which just adds to the campiness of the whole thing. Estevez does the best job and I always forget how striking he was when he was young. His blue eyes and slightly wild-eyed look was perfect for this movie and he gives a little eye candy for the ladies. He got nominated for a Golden Raspberry for his efforts. So if he does the best you can imagine how the rest was. The special effects are certainly decent all though no particular sequence stands out. I think the best thing it has going for it is the crazy scenes of how the machines off the humans. There is really no memorable dialogue but the music from ACDC is filled with testosterone and gives this movie something extra. Most of their big hits prior to their resurgence in 1990 with Razor’s Edge are on this soundtrack.

Overall, if you are looking to blow some time on a campy eighties film this one is one of the better choices. It’s good for laughs, checking out Estevez and seeing some equally laughable and horrifying deaths. Honestly the only death scenes I’ve seen more comically outrageous was in Final Destination. I think it gets razzed by critics more than it deserves as it clearly is not a film to take seriously. Just sit back, grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy this amusing slice of horror.