Have you ever wondered what it's like to have a rapid hallucination in a dizzying blur that was induced by cocaine, while reading a short story by Stephen King that did not make any sense? Well, that is basically Maximum Overdrive. Of all the stories he'd written, the man chose to adapt his short story, Trucks, which was famously compiled in the Night Shift compilation, to be his first (and only) feature film. All of the promotion materials basically had King criticizing all of the prior directors who'd adapted his works, then claiming he thought he could do better. Spoiler, he couldn't. 

The film follows Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, The Outsiders, Repo Man) as Bill Robinson, an ex con, working in a crappy diner, slinging hash browns while his very pro-second-amendment boss commits wage and hour fraud. Suddenly, due to the influence of both a comet and aliens, all technology begins to go haywire and attack humans. Each machine has its own sentience, which causes a whole slew of perplexing logical problems, but if you are on as much cocaine as King was admittedly at the time, it numbs that center of your brain and you can just enjoy.  

The film also features Yeardly Smith (The Simpsons), Pat Hingle (Batman), Laura Harrington (What's Eating Gilber Grape, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension), and J.C. Quinn (Abyss, The Prophecy). 

This week's "Hidden Track," is Olde Tigers, with their song Losing Battle. https://oldetigers.bandcamp.com/ If you ever have feedback or recommendations on future episodes, please let us know at [email protected]. You can always find us on our social media: Instagram, Twitter, Slasher App: @slasherspod Facebook: /slasherspod Reddit: u/slasherspod https://www.youtube.com/c/slasherspodcast

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