Stephen King Directed Only One Movie, And It’s About As Crazy As You’d Expect
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
I can’t think of anyone other than Stephen King when it comes to creators who always come in at times when they shouldn’t. I think Nicolas Cage comes close, but it’s an apples to oranges comparison of an actor being hired to bring someone else’s vision to life and a screenwriter deciding he can direct a feature length film like 1986. Lots of Overdrive. While I’m not celebrating Stephen King’s entire catalog for no particular reason other than he’s a lot stronger than I’m willing to go along with, I know his output is a mixed bag.
Then again, that’s the point of expansion. Of all the cinematic adaptations of his work to come, like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining or Rob Reiner Sadnessthere is a clunker like Lots of Overdrive.
And then, and again… Lots of Overdrive an effort that can’t be tone-deaf and seems at times so interesting on King’s part that I can’t help but love it. Make no mistake, this is a bad movie based on a short story called “Trucks,” and the whole thing is basically “trucks smash and vending machines and stuff.” There’s not much to put in here, but it’s a lot of fun. Heck, it’s fun to even think about how this movie was made.
While those who worked closely with Kubrick have written about his process while making The Shiningwhich involves taking pictures that represent the Overlook Hotel in his efforts to get the right lighting, I imagine Stephen King on his hands and knees walking around a scale model of a Dixie Boy Truck Stop with lots of Little Machines and Hot Wheels, making engine noises and explosions with his mouth. Maybe in matching truck bed linens.
It’s actually pretty.
Trucks Go Smash, And Emilio Estevez Is With Him
Here is the whole plot Lots of Overdriveand probably the shortest piece I’ve ever run on this site: “Trucks go crazy.”
That’s literally it.
There’s all this about the comet Rhea-M and how the machines get violent when Earth crosses its tail. But the only reason for that explanation is because the idea of sensitive trucks, vending machines, pinball machines, cash registers, gas pumps, etc., would not make sense. What I don’t think is that Stephen King didn’t consider going into production Lots of Overdrive that none of this makes sense, nor should it.
“Trucks,” depending on the page format you read, are between 16 and 25 pages long. There is no comet. The machines have just started to rumble, and a crowd of people in a restaurant have to deal with being surrounded by deadly vehicles. On its own, it’s a crazy story, but its brevity works in its favor. You find conflict without having to think about where it comes from because it just happens, and then it ends. You go in and out quickly, saying to yourself, “Well, that hurt!”
Lots of Overdrive suffers from the worst kind of constipation because Stephen King had to stretch the premise to 98 minutes. We are given a great cast, led by Emilio Estevez’s Bill Robinson, in an intense battle between man and machine. But The Terminator it came out two years earlier and set the bar much higher than that Lots of Overdrive you can hope to reach.
It’s still very sweet
As obsessive as it sounds Lots of Overdrivea film with a 14% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, I love it. Nothing makes sense. Everyone is doing very carefully because this is an official member of Stephen King, and at that time he was very interested as a writer whose work was successfully adapted into a film when he was in capable hands. It’s meant to shock and make you think. Instead, he plays like a grown man going around in circles in his living room, tossing his Hess Truck at a Lego gas station and flaming fireworks on the playground, like a child.
One of the earliest scenes in the movie involves a Little League coach who suffers a serious head injury after a vending machine delivers bad cans of cola to him. It’s difficult. It’s gonzo. A group of people hid inside a gas station while a line of trucks waited outside, hungry to be killed.
Come to think of it, if we could get a version of this in 2026 with Nicolas Cage in it, I’d pay for D-Box seats. Anyway, you can watch 1986 Lots of Overdrive free on Tubi. Or you can do something else. Those are your options.
