"Maximum Overdrive" - D +

What a silly romp .... More sci-fi splat than real horror, " Maximum Overdrive" is what's both great and terrible about the 1980s.

Here's the set up: The earth finds itself swimming in the cosmic exhaust of some mysterious comet. The intergalactic leavings turn the night-time sky a funny shade of superimposed green while granting autonomy to everything electrical or mechanical.

A small band of average anybodies finds themselves trapped in a North Carolina hellhole truck stop, surrounded by "terrifying" self-directed semi-trucks and other machines with a mind of their own.

Horror ensues .....

So, what's so great about this one? Well, it has all the ham-fisted pop shots at the establishment that you would expect from such a production at that time. "We're all being punished by the luxuries were so accustomed to in our daily decadence." Oh, and organized religion is bad for you, too! Classic fodder for silliness.

And let us not forget the gratuitous manners by which man, woman, child and dog meet their maker:

• A little leaguer is run over by a steamroller
• A coach is pummeled to death by a fast-shooting soda vending machine
• A bleach blond is strangled by her hairdryer
• And many a wet-filled skull is splattered across a semi's grill

There is some really great over-the-top bad acting going on throughout the entire production. Every time someone enters a fit of hysterics, you will too ... hysterical laughter, that is. There are just too many instances to mention.

And just what is so terrible about it? Well, Stephen King made the mistake of adapting his own work for the screen and then getting behind the camera for his first (and thankfully last) director's credit.

There are these little missteps sprinkled throughout that bring overall poor production quality to the front. I don't think these are an homage or joke as much as "just get through it" oversights.

And this is too short a film to try and pad it out with as much useless back story and relationship building as they cram in here. There are a few really badly paced moments that make you wonder, "Gee, what the heck are those trucks outside doing now?"

On the upside, you get a soundtrack powered by King's favorite band — AC/DC — and goofy performances from Emilio Estevez (just two years removed from the incomparable Repo Man) as well as Yeardley Smith (a few years before becoming "Lisa Simpson").

Grade: D + (the one-time-only sliding scale of horror film rankings that I will apply this month)