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Name your favorite killing machine in the movie, 'Maximum Overdrive'

posted 13 years ago by Gentleman_Caller
29 replies | jump to latest

Which is your favorite killing machine in "Maximum Overdrive"? And why? Included is a list of my favorite killing machines from the movie. Please feel free to add any of your own choices.

GREEN GOBLIN FACE TRUCK - The "Happy Toyz" truck definitely ranks high up in the list of vehicles that kill. It's posessed like the movie "The Car", and has a personality like the movie, "Christine". The Green Goblin Face truck practically plays as the leader of trucks that hold up the Dixie Boy truck stop.

M274 "MECHANICAL MULE" - Best remembered for its mounted M60 machine gun. The gun has the most unusual character in the movie I think. It's way of gunning down several of the characters and use of Morse Code was such a wake-up call halfway into the movie. I always did wonder why none of the diesel trucks responded when the Mule met its demise.

ARCADE GAME - The "Star Castle" arcade game had some of the craziest arcade game sound effects I ever heard. It made that video arcade so eerie looking. The murder by electrocution still holds up whenever I watch this movie. During a time where the machines are coming to life, even an arcade game can kill you.

VENDING MACHINE - This scene has probably been one of my most favorite scenes in Maximum Overdrive. Keep in mind I first watched this movie when I was about 5 years old lol. For not having any of the mobility like the possessed trucks, it sure makes one hell of an impression.

1979 ROAD ROLLER - Best remembered for it's attack on a group of kid baseball players. The steam roller just may have the best kill in the movie. It would've been awesome if it could've just had more screen time like the other machines on this list.

ICE CREAM TRUCK - Okay so you don't see the "My-T Tas-T" Ice Cream truck kill anyone in the movie, it's front end is covered with blood. You also see the truck twice in the movie. It's just another great example that the neighborhood truck your kids love to hear, can also kill you.

And the list can go and on. You have the opening Draw Bridge, the bloody Lawn Mower, the Toy Car in the dogs mouth, to even the hilarious ATM machine Stephen King approaches. My favorite by far is the Green Goblin Face Diesel. This movie is why I loved trucks while growing up as a kid. Why I loved the 80's movies in all of their Rated-R, no CGI glory. They haven't made a great killer car movie in a while. Let alone a movie like this. It's about time that they do! Although they might even screw that up with movies today. Enjoy!

*beep* if I know, Bubba. *beep* if I know." - Maximum Overdrive

[–] 3PocketCharlie 13 years ago

Mine are the little toy car that killed the dog and the plane that nosedived into a school bus.

All glory to the Hypnotoad

[–] ronaldt49 13 years ago

And the school bus had probably come to life and was doing its own thing, possibly not bothering a soul, when this little plane just nose dives into it.

Looked like the passenger compartment of the bus was the only damage, so the bus should have just kept on going. Going under an overpass would have sheared off the tail of the plane so the bus could continue down the road.

Bus may have wanted to be the Partridge Family bus.

Who knows?

[–] KrystelClaire 11 years ago

The lawn-mower

[–] Banjo (63) 6 years ago

It's funny, when I first saw the plane buzz the kid, I thought "yeah, but to crash into someone you destroy the plane... so better make it count and not just kill one kid!"

Then at the end of the movie we see a plane (the same one perhaps even) had crashed into what we can assume was a bus full of kids. I laughed out loud because somehow it HAD made its kamikaze count as I jokingly thought!

[–] Hey_Sweden 12 years ago

Definitely the steamroller and the vending machine.

What do you think this is, a signature? It's a way of life!

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] twelveboar 11 years ago

The Tow Truck at the gas station where Curt and Connie stop. That starter motor noise and the way it rattles when it gets wedged in the building.

Also, the Autocar tractor trailer ( Zeke's Garbage ). Beautiful truck and a violent little S.O.B.

[–] techbox14 11 years ago

The walkman....still trying to figure out how it killed the guy, lol.

[–] rush2dope 11 years ago

Definitely that tow truck. The startup sound messed with me when I was a kid.

Stan: You can't fax glitter!
Xander: Not with that attitude.
Stan: Not with any attitude!

[–] ronaldt49 11 years ago

Wouldnt want to be walking by a tow-yard, especially at night, and hear that sound.
I'd probably say something, do what I said and step in what I did when I turned to run!!!

[–] captainamerica-5 10 years ago

The tow truck is completely eerie in a sense. It's that starting sound it makes that has freaked me out for years & to this day. There's a regular bus outside my work place that has the EXACT same starting noise, and I always think of this movie & the tow truck, wondering if this bus is going to eventually lunge itself at someone.

The other freaky vehicle is def the steam roller. The way it happily bounces around as it crashed thru the baseball field and runs the kid over. Imagine if you saw a real steam roller flyin' thru at that rate of speed uncontrolled by any human person.

[–] moonscar119 11 years ago

gotta love a cold diesel start after being off for a while. you can see another one like it in the road warrior when they restart the 18 wheeler

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One
Big
A**
Mistake
America

[–] Traianus 11 years ago

I thought the Happy Toyz truck was pretty genius, with the irony of using something happy and playful and turning it into something diabolical and sinister (as King so often does). Using the Green Goblin face (as it originally looked, drawn from the comics) was perfect. It gave the machines an evil personification. On a side note, I never understand why the Spider-Man 2002 film changed the look of the Green Goblin's face. Maximum Overdrive actually did well to show how the original artwork showcases a perfectly terrifying face.

[–] Supremer68 10 years ago

I lived in Wilmington NC for a few years and passed that gas station everyday its actually right outside Wilmington. Steven King filmed quite a few movies in Wilmington NC

[–] Woodyanders 10 years ago

My favorites are the steamroller and the vending machine.

I'm a totally bitchin' bio writer from Mars!

[–] vpzsnascol 10 years ago

My favorites are the obvious Happy Toyz truck, the plane that took out the school bus kids, the My-T Tas-T truck (because it plays 'King of the Road' by Roger Miller) and the bull dozer because it laughs while it crushes the car. :)

[–] 10 years ago

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