A friend of mine said to me that this was NOT a short story written by the same Stephen King that wrote The Shining, Misery and Carrie.
He said it was written by guy who just happened to have the same name as the Stephen King.
Does anyone have any idea where he could get an idea like that from? And in which collection can the short story be found?
PM
It was written by the Stephen King, I read it in class for our "horror" genre. It might be found in with Night Shift, not sure.
shareNight Shift, eh...? Do you know what the short story is called? I couldn't find it under the name "Trucks". Could it be "One For The Road"? I would really like to show it to him as proof.
PM
It's "Trucks" and it's in Night Shift, and THE Stephen King first made it into a film HIMSELF, directing the movie himself, in 1986 and it is called MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.
shareIm 4 years too late but you could always show him stephen kings website ? :P
If an author had the same name as stephen king i can guarantee you that they will change it. Though it could make them money :P
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This is the Stephen King story, which was also the basis for Maximum Overdrive. The short story is in the collection "Night Shift" published in 1979.
The name of the story is, in fact, Trucks.
This collection of stories has been the basis for a total of 4 movies:
Maximum Overdrive and Trucks
Sometimes They Come Back
The Lawnmower Man (very loosely)
Children of the Corn
you forgot The Mangler.
shareNot to mention Cat's Eye and The Graveyard Shift. I think a few other stories have been adapted out of it for TV shows too.
shareBy the way, if you enjoyed Salem's Lot, "One for the Road" is an excellent prequal to that novel.
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Yeah, that movie (Night Shift) unfortunately was filmed. It's not horror, it's tragedy!
I haven't ever seen worse movie based on Stephen King's story. :(
yeah, but they called it GRAVEYARD SHIFT i think
shareYes, that would be Graveyard Shift...
Also, there is a tape I own called Night Shift Collection which has 2 short films on it... The Boogeyman, and the Woman in the room...
Actually One for the Road takes place AFTER 'Salem's Lot.
"I cut my finger. That's tragedy. A man walks into an open sewer and dies. That's comedy."
Jerusalem's Lot is the prequel.
shareThey took lots of stories from this book
Maximum Overdrive is from Trucks
Sometimes They Come Back
The Lawnmower Man (the one in 1987 and the one he sued them for in 1992)
Children of the Corn
The Mangler
The Graveyard Shift
Strawberry Spring
Night Surf
I vagely remember seeing The Ledge in catseye, which I know also included Quitters Inc.
You may also remember that King sued over the use of the title Lawnmower Man and insisted they remove his name from the film because the film was nothing to do with the incredibly short story he wrote.
shareIt's not even fair to say that Lawnmower Man is very loosely based on the King short story. More like, they used his name to make money.
shareWhile The Lawnmower Man (film) did indeed have nothing to do with the short story, it does seem that the film was placed in one of King's worlds. Firestarter's SHOP pretty much plays a similar role, and does experimental "enhancing" drugs. It seems like the director read Firestarter, but didn't read Lawnmower Man and just borrowed that name for the movie. (IIRC the movie wasn't even going to have any SK tie-ins.)
shareOf the 20 short stories collected for "Night Shift", Doubleday 1978, thirteen of them have been adapted for movies or television. Not always successfully, I might add. They are listed here along with where they first appeared.
Graveyard Shift - Cavalier, October 1970
Night Surf - Cavalier, August 1974
The Mangler - Cavalier, December 1972
The Boogeyman - Cavalier, March 1973
Trucks - Cavalier, June 1973
Sometimes They Come Back - Cavalier, March 1974
Strawberry Spring - Cavalier, November 1975
The Ledge - Penthouse, July 1976
The Lawnmower Man - Cavalier, May 1975
Quitters, Inc. - Night Shift 1978
Children of the Corn - Penthouse, March 1977
The Last Rung on the Ladder - Night Shift 1978
The Woman in the Room - Night Shift 1978
Just a note: Cavalier was a men's magazine in the 50-s-70's for which King wrote 17 stories, 11 of which appear in Night Shift.
Where can one find these short films for The Last Rung on the Ladder and Strawberry Spring? Those are the only 2 on that list I haven't seen.
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well this film is more based on maximum overdrive than kinks story trucks, which if i remember correctly, is only 3 pages or so.
shareI'm pretty sure Trucks is way longer than three pages.
shareMAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, though directed by King, is farther from TRUCKS than probably any of his adaptions, and may be the worst King film. That makes it even more a mystery and irony why he'd direct that.
Trucks, though, is pretty close to the story, as I recall, and therefore fairly on the mark.
- If you see it killing, do bother filling.
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Well,
Maximum Overdrive seems to be S. King's idea of personal entertainment, at least at the time he did it. I cannot prove it, but I think that he just wanted to know what directing a feature film was. And it features AC/DC music a lot which is is always cool:-) I think I remember the band (or some of the members) having a brief appearance in the early scenes of the film (in a van with the band's logo on it...).
So there are two reason's to love the film - S. King directing it and AC/DC music for the score...
Let me tell something to you...Come closer, don't be afraid...
"Strawberry Spring" and "Last Rung on the Ladder" were definitely Dollar Baby films. "The Boogeyman" and "The Woman in the Room" were also Dollar Baby films. They were first released on video in the mid-eighties. I remember renting it and laughing at the horrible editing...there is a glitch between both films that shows a few frames of a completely different movie, and at the end of the video there is even another movie that seems to start but then the tape ends. "The Woman in the Room" was directed by Frank Darabont, who went on to direct "Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile", "The Mist", and he has secured the rights to adapt "The Long Walk".
As for "Maximum Overdrive", King not only directed it, but wrote the screenplay too. He loves crazy, campy horror films and so attempted to make the campiest horror film ever. At least that's what read somewhere...an interview, article, or possibly even an endnote in one of his books. I can't find any sources online to back that up though. :(
The movie "Trucks" is loosely based on the short story, and I read this was a made-for-tv adaptation. As far as bad storylines, horrific acting, and general laughability, I have to say it far succeeds "Maximum Overdrive". Besides, it doesn't have Emilio Estevez in it. :)
King was heavily into drugs (cocaine, iirc) when he directed Maximum Overdrive. Pretty obvious when you see his promotion for the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWS4tTzs60
Well... your friend is an idiot. Stephen King did write Trucks... and infact directed his own movie version of it called Maximum Overdrive, which is way better that this version of the movie.
shareYour friend is wrong.
"This is where you pucker up and kiss my ass." -A.D. Skinner
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