Back to trending
Maximum Overdrive

Maximum Overdrive

Horror · Action · Science Fiction · 1986

When a comet passes close to the earth, machines all over the world come alive and go on homicidal rampages. A group of people at a desolate truck stop are held hostage by a gang of murderous 18-wheelers. The frightened people set out to defeat the killer machines…Or be killed by them.

Movie details

Maximum Overdrive

“Imagine your worst nightmare...machines take over the world!”

1986 Horror · Action · Science Fiction 1h 38m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

When a comet passes close to the earth, machines all over the world come alive and go on homicidal rampages. A group of people at a desolate truck stop are held hostage by a gang of murderous 18-wheelers. The frightened people set out to defeat the killer machines…Or be killed by them.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Maximum Overdrive?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Horror · 2004

As the city is locked down under quarantine, Alice finds out that the people that died from the previous incident at the Umbrella Corporation have turned into zombies. She then joins a small band of elite soldiers, who are enlisted to rescue the missing daughter of the creator of the mutating T-virus. Once lack of luck and resources happen, they begin to wage an exhilarating battle to survive and escape before the Umbrella Corporation erases its experiment from the face of the earth.

The Driver

The Driver

Horror · 2019

After a plague of the undead decimates human life on Earth, a former hit man (Mark Dacascos), his wife, and daughter live quietly in a survivalist compound. But when their base is attacked, a massive explosion summons a swarm of the undead. They escape and must seek out the Haven, a rumored sanctuary up north, while the father teaches his daughter to shoot, drive, and survive before time runs out.

Split Second

Split Second

Sci-fi · 1992

In a flooded future London, Detective Harley Stone hunts a serial killer who murdered his partner and has haunted him ever since — but he soon discovers what he is hunting might not be human.

Universal Soldier: The Return

Universal Soldier: The Return

Action · 1999

Luc Deveraux, the heroic former Universal Soldier, is about to be thrown into action once again. When SETH, the supercomputer-controlled ultra-warrior, decides to take revenge and destroy its creators, only Luc can stop it. All hell breaks loose as Luc battles SETH and a deadly team of perfect soldiers in a struggle that pits man against machine and good against evil.

The Hunt

The Hunt

Action · 2020

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell

Action · 2018

Burt Gummer and Travis Welker find themselves in a fight for survival after investigating deadly giant worm attacks in the Canadian arctic.

Planet Terror

Planet Terror

Horror · 2007

Two doctors find their graveyard shift inundated with townspeople ravaged by sores. Among the wounded is Cherry Darling, a dancer whose leg was ripped from her body. As the invalids quickly become enraged aggressors, Cherry and her ex-boyfriend El Wray lead a team of accidental warriors into the night.

Wake Up

Wake Up

Horror · 2024

A group of young activists set out to make an environmental statement by vandalizing a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, the teenagers find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.

Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead

Horror · 2005

The living dead have taken over the world, and the remaining humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they cope with the situation.

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation

Action · 2009

All grown up in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor must lead the resistance of humans against the increasingly dominating militaristic robots. But when Marcus Wright appears, his existence confuses the mission as Connor tries to determine whether Wright has come from the future or the past -- and whether he's friend or foe.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Stephen King

Written by

Stephen King

Emilio Estevez

Emilio Estevez

Bill Robinson

Pat Hingle

Pat Hingle

Hendershot

Laura Harrington

Laura Harrington

Brett

Yeardley Smith

Yeardley Smith

Connie

John Short

John Short

Curt

Ellen McElduff

Ellen McElduff

Wanda June

J.C. Quinn

J.C. Quinn

Duncan

Court is in session

Put Maximum Overdrive on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.