Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Stephen King has been a part of my life for a long time. I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard fan, by any stretch of the imagination. I haven’t read every book he has written. I haven’t even read half of them. And I definitely haven’t seen all the movies and television shows based on his work. I’ve seen and read a bunch of his work, however, and it has had an impact on the person that I am.

I was born in 1990, which wasn’t anywhere near the start of Stephen King’s career. His first novel, Carrie, had been released sixteen years before I was born. He was sending out short stories to different publications well before that. What I would say, however, is that the 1990s were the peak of Stephen King fever. Enough people had discovered his books and were reading them that he was a staple in almost any home. Numerous movies had been based on his writing, leading to his domination at the box office. Okay, maybe not domination numbers-wise, but domination in terms of saturation. Everyone was making Stephen King movies.

The Shawshank Redemption came out when I was four years old. It was probably the first movie I saw that was based on Stephen King’s writing, though I never would have known that at the time. I was four, and the little I knew of Stephen King was that he wrote those scary books on the shelves. I didn’t know he wrote anything that wasn’t scary. It wasn’t something I could connect the dots with. I should note that I absolutely didn’t see The Shawshank Redemption right when it came out. My parents barely went to the theater and were not going to take a four-year-old me to watch a prison drama. It was probably just something on television like a year later that they turned on to watch and I ended up sitting down and watching it with them. Actually, I might have seen The Dead Zone before that. It was filmed around here, and I know I saw it as a kid. That might have been first. Anyway…

It would be a couple more years before I dove into a Stephen King book. The first one I cracked open was The Shining. It would have been sometime in, maybe, grade 7 or 8. If I was even that old. I had seen the movie before reading the book and, like I’m prone to do, wanted to see how the book compared to what I had seen. It opened a whole new reading world for me. I was in on the Stephen King and I would keep reading his stuff for the rest of my life.

Throughout high school, I worked as a parking lot attendant at a hotel. There was a lot of downtime while I worked there. I would park a car, then there would be like twenty minutes where I had nothing to do. I would bring a book to my little booth and read while I was waiting for more cars to come through. Many times, the books I chose to read were Stephen King novels. I read Different Seasons, It, and The Stand while working there, for sure. I might have read The Dead Zone and Christine during that time, as well. I was diving into his work and enjoying it a lot.

My next job was in the local tourist industry, which thrived in the summer and slowed down through the winter. Working the winter months without much business once again meant a lot of downtime. With that downtime came reading. Dreamcatcher, Under the Dome, 11/22/63, Carrie, and Skeleton Crew were some of the books I read during that time. There were other books that weren’t Stephen King, but they’re not the focus of this post.

I’ve also read Stephen King stuff outside of downtime at work. I don’t only read at work. That ain’t me. I’ve read things like Cujo, ‘Salem’s Lot, Rage, Night Shift, The Long Walk, Pet Sematary, Misery, Cell, and the first two Dark Tower novels. It was a mixture of older and newer writing, most of which I enjoyed. I learned the tropes of his writing. I found out that he wasn’t the best at writing endings. I also discovered a whole lot of movies and television shows based on his writing.

See, I was born into the peak of Stephen King adaptations. I may have said that already. The Shawshank Redemption came out when I was four and I probably saw it when I was five. I know I’ve said that already. But the late 80s and early 90s was a time when there were a hell of a lot of Stephen King adaptations coming out. There were movies. There were television series. And there were the in between, the event miniseries. Everyone was going crazy for King.

I saw the 1990 adaptation of It when I was a child. You know, the one where Tim Curry played an evil clown named Pennywise. The source material was re-adapted a few years ago as a successful pair of movies. Anyway, the original miniseries was part of my childhood. I would bring it into my teenage years and adulthood when I bought it on DVD and watched it a few more times. When I was in high school, I checked out the 1994 miniseries for The Stand, which had Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe. I quite enjoyed that one, though I’ve only seen it the one time. They’ve since remade that, too.

The Langoliers was a two-part miniseries from 1995 I saw once and remember nothing about. The Tommyknockers was a two-parter from 1993 that I’ve never seen. Golden Years was some one season show from 1991 that I never heard of until looking up some of the miniseries for this post. There was the 1997 miniseries remake of The Shining meant to please King, who didn’t like the Kubrick movie. Closing out the decade was Storm of the Century in 1999, a miniseries written by King without a novel to base it on. The 1990s were a huge decade for Stephen King miniseries. The miniseries have recently been making a comeback, too.

Movies based on Stephen King works were also huge, though I’d say the peak of those was in the 1980s, rather than the 1990s. That could mostly be attributed to the popularity, rather than the abundance. The Shining came out in 1980. Christine was from 1983. The Dead Zone was also from 1983. Firestarter hit theaters in 1984. So did Children of the Corn. Rob Reiner had the one-two punch of Stand by Me in 1986 and Misery in 1990. Cujo came out in 1983 and Pet Sematary in 1989. Plus there were two Creepshow movies and a couple other, lesser flicks in that decade. The 1980s were all about the popularity of Stephen King.

One of the most notable movies of that decade, and one I didn’t bring up until now, was Maximum Overdrive. It was Stephen King’s directorial debut and remains the only film he has directed. The reasons why seem obvious. During the making of Maximum Overdrive, Stephen King was regularly using cocaine. His cocaine fueled brain influenced the structure of the movie, from the dialogue to the editing to the performances. Everything was this hyperactive insanity that never quite worked, yet was highly entertaining in a campy way.

The story of Maximum Overdrive was pretty simple. Machines came to life and attacked humans. There were a bunch of people trapped in a truck stop while a bunch of transport trucks circled outside. If they attempted to leave, the unmanned trucks would try to run them down. Bill (Emilio Estevez) was an ex-con hired by Hendershot (Pat Hingle) to cook and clean. Brett (Laura Harrington) was a hitchhiker who had caught a ride with the handsy bible salesman, Camp Loman (Christopher Murney). Curtis (John Short) and Connie (Yeardley Smith) were two newlyweds who found the truck stop while trying to avoid the machines and became trapped by the machines they were trying to avoid. All these people and more came together to fight back against the machines and regain their freedom.

Maximum Overdrive began with insanity in the opening scene. Stephen King came onto screen as some normal guy in some North Carolina (I think) town. He tried to use an ATM, but the text on the ATM screen called him an asshole. Things then cut to a bascule bridge, or opening bridge. Traffic was crossing the bridge when the mechanisms decided to open. It led to a bunch of destruction and death that wasn’t frightening in any way. Perhaps it was the AC/DC track backing the scene. I’d say it was the editing, which was a major issue with the movie.

There could have been a lot done in the editing room of Maximum Overdrive to improve the tone, pacing, and overall quality of the movie. I’m not a professional editor. I’m not going to claim to know everything about it. But I went through three years of film school, which included editing. I’ve done a few small film jobs since then, some of which included editing. I know enough about the process that I can say there were a lot of spots in Maximum Overdrive where the editing was too relaxed. That was mostly within the montages, which went on far too long.

A good example of this relaxed editing was when Deke (Holter Graham) rode his bike through his neighbourhood. It was the scene where the audience was shown the true destruction machines had caused in the world. It was shot after shot after shot of dead bodies and bloody machines. After a while, it felt redundant. It was pretty much a full AC/DC song’s worth of screentime spent showing people who had already been killed by machines. Deke wasn’t stumbling upon them while searching for someone or something. The people weren’t dying on screen. There was no suspense to it. He rode his bike down an empty street seeing the aftermath at each of the houses. Had it been quicker cut with some suspenseful editing, the scene could have played much better than it did.

The other major issue was the unrealized tone of Maximum Overdrive. The story was clearly a horror story. The machines of the world came to life and were out for human blood. A bunch of people were trapped in a truck stop while the machines loomed outside. It was reminiscent of Stephen King’s novella The Mist and the eventual movie adaptation that Frank Darabont would direct. The issue was that King decided to direct Maximum Overdrive as if it wasn’t a horror story. He positioned it as a sort of action movie, instead. The backing rock music of AC/DC, the tough attitudes of the characters, the explosions and car chases… It all felt like an 80s action movie, albeit a not-so-well put together one. They went up against a machine gun on a cart, at one point. The weird tonal shift between the writing and the directing placed the movie into a weird sort of in-between world where it never worked as either.

Stephen King would never direct, following the release of Maximum Overdrive. He knows it wasn’t great. He has stated that he was so coked out of his mind that he didn’t know what he was doing. He has also told people to watch Maximum Overdrive when they ask why he hasn’t directed anything since. Though I agree that it’s not good, that a lot of things could have been done differently, and that Stephen King probably shouldn’t direct again, I will say that the movie is still watchable. I keep going back to it. I’ve seen it a few times now, and I don’t regret watching it. It’s entertaining, at least.

Even though Stephen King only directed one movie, movies and television shows based on what he wrote have continued to be released. Just this past year, a remake of The Stand came out. I haven’t seen that yet, but probably will soon enough. There was also that recent Castle Rock show that, although not based on any specific Stephen King novel or short story, incorporated elements from throughout his bibliography. And there was the Under the Dome series, the 11/22/63 miniseries, In the Tall Grass, Gerald’s Game, and 1922 on Netflix, among a bunch of other stuff. The love for Stephen King’s work hasn’t subsided. Though the peak may have been around the time I was born, there may be another peak happening right now.

One last little bit of Stephen King stuff that I want to touch upon is the dollar baby thing that he has been doing for a long time. There are a handful of stories that Stephen King has made available for students, aspiring filmmakers, and theatre producers if they want to adapt them. They spend a dollar for the rights. King’s people grant the rights to produce an adaptation, though the filmmakers do not retain the rights to the story. They also can’t use King’s name in the title. I don’t know all the details and might have some slight things wrong in regards to the rights. Anyway, it’s King’s way of helping aspiring filmmakers hone their craft. The dollar baby program led to Frank Darabont directing The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, so it gets a thumbs up from me. Good job, Mr. King and Mr. Darabont.

I was born in 1990, during what I consider to be peak Stephen King time. He was regularly releasing books that people were eating up. His writing was frequently being adapted into movies and miniseries. His name was synonymous with entertainment, particularly of the horror persuasion. I was born into a world where Stephen was King and he ended up influencing the things I read and watched, simply by being what I read and watched. The world would be much different without his influence.

Now let’s get to a few notes:

• Maximum Overdrive wasn’t the first Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance for Yeardley Smith. She was also in New Year’s Eve (week 57) and Jingle All the Way (week 160).
• Marla Maples was in A Nanny for Christmas (week 3) and Maximum Overdrive.
• Giancarlo Esposito popped up in Maximum Overdrive for a bit. He was also in Alex Cross (week 12).
• Maximum Overdrive saw Jock Brandis return to Sunday “Bad” Movies after first appearing in Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (week 118).
• Pat Hingle was one of the main actors in Maximum Overdrive. He could also be seen in Batman & Robin (week 138).
• Frankie Faison was in both Maximum Overdrive and The Stupids (week 188).
• Julius LeFlore returned from Hell Comes to Frogtown (week 206) to appear in Maximum Overdrive.
• You might remember Christine Anne Baur from Mannequin: On the Move (week 378). She was in Maximum Overdrive, too.
• Emilio Estevez, the star of Maximum Overdrive, also had a small part in Never on Tuesday (week 387).
• Finally, Maximum Overdrive and Stone Cold (week 423) both featured Gene Hartline.
• Have you seen Maximum Overdrive? What do you think of it? Are you a Stephen King fan? What stuff from him do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
• Twitter and the comments are also good places to let me know what movies I should be checking out for future Sunday “Bad” Movies posts. Drop a suggestion. It might just end up in the schedule.
• Make sure to head over to Instagram for more Sunday “Bad”Movies fun. Hopefully with some more spare time, I’ll get things cooking over there again. Next week is the perfect week for it.
• Speaking of next week, it’s a big week. It’s a franchise week. Oooooh. Ahhhh. I’ll be covering a trilogy of movies from the early 90s about a renegade cop doing whatever he wants for his own idea of law and order. Most of the time, that doesn’t mean any law or order at all. Maniac Cop and its two sequels will be the subject of next week’s post. I hope you’ll join me for another post when that goes up. See you then.

Bending the Rules (2012) and Wrestler Actors

Wrestling and Hollywood go hand in hand. I’m not just talking about the Hollywood Hulk Hogan era of wrestling. I’m talking about all the wrestlers who moved from the square circle onto the silver screen. There have been many wrestlers over the years that tried their hand at non-wrestling acting, starring in movies and television shows to show off their chops. They wanted to be seen as more than just muscle-heads. They wanted to show their other talents.

Professional wrestling has been around as long as, maybe even longer than, motion pictures. People were wrestling in rings for entertainment in Europe since the 1800s, with it soon coming over to North America in the vaudeville age. Nickelodeons and movie theatres arrived in North America around the same time. It wouldn’t take long for those two to become intertwined in a way that would continue for decades to come.

I don’t know wrestlers all the way back to the inception of the athletic entertainment, so the earliest example I can think of comes from the 1950s. Tor Johnson was known as Super Swedish Angel in the wrestling world but became popular in movies due to performances in a bunch of Ed Wood projects. One of these included a late career turn in Plan 9 from Outer Space. He might actually be known more for that now than wrestling.

Now we have to jump forward to the 1980s because I don’t know a lot of the in between wrestling details. Things went from independent circuits to independent circuits and big, televised wrestling promotions. The World Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Entertainment) had been established. A few people were becoming major stars. Many of the stars made the leap into movies. Roddy Piper starred in Hell Comes to Frogtown and They Live. Andre the Giant got a major supporting role in The Princess Bride. Then there was Hulk Hogan, one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time.

People might remember Hulk Hogan’s first major film role as Thunderlips in Rocky III. Thunderlips was a wrestling champion who was in a charity boxing match with Rocky. Hogan pulled from his real life wrestling background for that role. The wrestling background would be utilized once again for No Holds Barred, a movie about a WWF champion threatened by the head of a low rated television network. He would later move on to a string of family movies through the early 90s including Santa with Muscles and Suburban Commando. The guy was a movie star, though the movies weren’t good.

More movie stars would come out of WWF, and later WWE, thanks to the popularity of the Attitude Era in the late 1990s and early 2000s. People like Dwayne Johnson, Steve Austin, Kane, and Triple H were all featured in movies like The Mummy Returns, The Expendables, See No Evil, and Blade Trinity as time went on. The rival wrestling company, WCW, even had a movie called Ready to Rumble, which featured many of their own wrestling stars. It took place within their company, of course. Wrestlers in movies were becoming a big commodity.

With the rise of wrestlers in movies, WWF took it upon themselves to create a production company that would help pump out movies that could feature their stable of wrestlers. Dwayne Johnson was one of the early recipients of, now, WWE produced movies, as they helped get him on the big screen in movies like The Rundown and Walking Tall. John Cena was given the lead roles in The Marine, 12 Rounds, Legendary, and The Reunion. Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Paige, Seth Rollins, and Becky Lynch all got to star in different movies produced by WWE. And they weren’t the only ones.

One of the Attitude Era stars I haven’t mentioned yet is Adam Copeland, better know by his ring name, Edge. It took ten years of WWE Films/WWE Studios for him to become the lead in a movie. That movie was a buddy cop flick called Bending the Rules. Nick Blades (Adam Copeland) was a detective on administrative leave for breaking the rules on the force. The attorney against him on the case, Theo Gold (Jamie Kennedy), wound up needing Nick’s help to find a stolen car. Along the way, the pair stumbled into a series of what looked like gang murders. They worked together to unravel the mystery of who was behind them, while also searching for the stolen car.

Much like many of the other WWE produced movies, this was meant to showcase a WWE wrestler as a potential movie star. It worked for Dwayne Johnson in the early 2000s. It worked, on a smaller scale, for Steve Austin in the mid-2000s. It would work for The Miz when he took over The Marine franchise in 2012. And it worked for John Cena through The Marine and 12 Rounds. Why couldn’t it work for Edge?

I think there were a few reasons it didn’t work, and I wouldn’t place any of them on Adam Copeland’s acting skills. It was a buddy cop comedy/action movie and Edge fit that part well. He was able to perform in the action moments and the comedic moments. He may have even been the best part of the movie. The rest of the cast was solid, too. People like Jamie Kennedy, Jennifer Esposito, Alicia Witt, Kevin Weisman, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jessica Walter, and Philip Baker Hall rounded out the cast with solid performances. They were the least of the problems in Bending the Rules.

Most of the issues came down to the production quality. It was one of the first movies solely produced through WWE Studios and didn’t get the budget that a Universal or 20^th Century Fox gave them with earlier outings. The action wasn’t as spectacular as things like The Marine, The Rundown, or 12 Rounds. It felt much more scaled back, like a direct-to-video production. Pair that with the lack of marketing, which meant fewer eyes on the flick, and it flew mostly under the radar. Until, that is, the movie ended up in the cheap Blu-ray section of stores. I got mine for three dollars at one of the local Dollaramas.

The other thing that must be brought up is how Bending the Rules treated the police force. Nick Blades was not a good detective. Well, he was good in the sense that he solved crimes better than anyone else. His problem was the tactics he used. The guy broke laws and rules to catch the bad guys. He wasn’t a good role model to the public. The rest of the police force was even worse, using excessive force on Theo Gold as a joke because they didn’t like that he was going after police officers who broke the rules. They pulled him over and tazed him at one point just because they could and other police officers would cheer them on, rather than hold them accountable. It was a somewhat accurate representation of the police force, though I don’t know if the filmmakers intended that to be a negative look at them. It more just felt like wacky hijinks.

For the most part, Bending the Rules was an enjoyable outing from WWE. It was different from the typical action movies and family crossovers that the company’s film arm puts out on a regular basis. It took a more comedic route, which somewhat worked. Edge had shown his chops and should have gone onto a bigger film career. It’s a shame that not too many people have seen him shine in the role of Nick Blades.

Following the release of Bending the Rules, WWE Studios decided to go another route with their movies. They would keep making movies that featured the WWE Superstars. There would still be movies like Vendetta, which featured Big Show, or Mohawk, which featured Luke Harper. But the studio would also start pumping out movies that featured multiple WWE Superstars. Movies like Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania, or the many times they crossed over with Hanna-Barbera cartoons featured a bunch of WWE Superstars in voice roles. The Marine sequels from Marine 4 onward would each feature multiple personalities from the WWE Brand. Eventually, there would even be Fighting with My Family, a biopic about the wrestler Paige which featured people like Dwayne Johnson, The Miz, Big Show, Sheamus, and Zelina Vega. Things seemed to become less about getting the superstars into movies as much as just getting WWE into the movies.

The other major current wrestling promotion is All Elite Wrestling, or AEW. There are a bunch of big names there, mostly people formerly from WWE, many of whom have had their time in the spotlight outside wrestling. Jon Moxley was formerly Dean Ambrose and was the star of 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown. Paul Wight, aka Big Show, also moved over to AEW. Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes have been featured in a few reality shows, while Jericho also had some acting roles in things like Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and MacGruber. Sure, the acting careers for each of these people, Cody Rhodes aside, happened during their WWF/WWE days, but it still shows that any wrestlers could want their time in another kind of performance.

Movies and wrestling have been intertwined for decades. Wrestling is performance art, after all. It’s scripted and the wrestlers are actors performing what was written. The difference between wrestling and acting in movies is typically the physicality. The wrestlers perform athletics live for audiences every time they step into the ring. Well, most times. They’re like if the theater kids and the jocks were put together. Sometimes they want to go more theater.

Look at movies right now. Some of the biggest stars started their careers as wrestlers. Dwayne Johnson came out of the Attitude Era of WWE and went on to be the biggest current movie star. Rampage, Skyscraper, Jumanji, and San Andreas are only a few of the movies he headlined. John Cena followed soon after and has found success in movies like Blockers, Trainwreck, and The Suicide Squad. Dave Bautista seems to be the current wrestler turned movie star that people think has the best acting chops. He has shown up in Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049, Hotel Artemis, and Dune. He’s come a long way since WWE and having a bit part in Scorpion King 3. Many of the movies we see coming out now feature wrestlers in acting roles. Hollywood and wrestling coming together. Intertwined. As they’ve always been.

Two other things that go together are these posts and the notes at the end:

• I mentioned a whole bunch of movies in this post. Here are the posts for Plan 9 from Outer Space (week 375), Hell Comes to Frogtown (week 206), The Marine (week 30), The Marine 2 (week 30), The Marine 3: Homefront (week 30), The Marine 4: Moving Target (week 154), The Marine 5: Battleground (week 237), The Marine 6: Close Quarters (week 327), Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (week 190), Southland Tales (week 428), Santa with Muscles (week 211), 12 Rounds (week 460), 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded (week 460), 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (week 460), and The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (week 380).
• Don Yesso popped up in Bending the Rules after appearing in Fant4stic (week 172), American Ultra (week 261), and Dudley Do-Right (week 336).
• Another four-timer was Cynthia LeBlanc, who was in Fant4stic (week 172), Jonah Hex (week 249), 12 Rounds (week 460), and Bending the Rules.
• Connected to Cynthia was Elton LeBlanc, who has been in Fant4stic (week 172), Jonah Hex (week 249), and Bending the Rules.
• Jamie Kennedy starred in Bending the Rules. He was also featured in Bermuda Tentacles (week 96) and Son of the Mask (week 207).
• Wayne Pére made an appearance in Bending the Rules following appearances in Fant4stic (week 172) and American Ultra (week 261).
• Finishing off the three-timers was Geraldine Glenn, who was in American Ultra (week 261), 12 Rounds (week 460), and Bending the Rules.
• Four actors from Freelancers (week 14) were in Bending the Rules. They were Emily D. Haley, Adam Sibley, Michelle Torres, and Mark Turbe.
• Candi Brooks and Adam Copeland appeared in Bending the Rules and Money Plane (week 437).
• Tom Proctor returned to Sunday “Bad” Movies in Bending the Rules after first appearing in Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (week 48).
• Deneen Tyler was in Fant4stic (week 172) and Bending the Rules.
• Bending the Rules was the second Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance for Wendy Miklovic, who was previously seen in God’s Not Dead (week 230).
• Michael Jamorski popped up in both Bending the Rules and American Ultra (week 261).
• One of the key players in Bending the Rules was Kevin Weisman, who was also in Space Buddies (week 270).
• Finally, four actors from 12 Rounds (week 460) appeared in Bending the Rules. They were Thomas C. Daniel, Wayne Ferrara, Avon Maser, and Terry Lee Smith.
• Have you seen Bending the Rules? What did you think? What do you think of professional wrestlers who make the move to non-wrestling acting? Who are your favourite wrestlers turned actors? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments.
• I’m always looking for suggestions on what to watch. If there’s a movie that you think I should check out for a future Sunday “Bad” Movies post, hit me up. Find me on Twitter or leave a comment with what movies I should be watching.
• Head on over to Instagram for more Sunday “Bad” Movies fun.
• Next week, I’ll be checking out a movie I’ve seen a few times. I revisit it every couple years. It’s not because I think it’s a great movie. It’s not. It could be that I grew up reading Stephen King and watching stuff based on his writing. That’s why I keep going back to Maximum Overdrive, next week’s movie. I’ll see you soon for a post about that one. Hopefully on Sunday.