*Updated with Full List of Special Features and New Trailer* If you think of rogue steamrollers and bloodthirsty semi trucks every time you hear AC/DC's "Who Made Who," then you might be a big fan of Maximum Overdrive, the 1986 horror film directed by the master of the genre himself, Stephen King. Several of us at Daily Dead are passionate fans of the zany movie that pits humans against machines (in case you missed it, read Heather Wixson's Deadly Pleasures piece on the film), so we're excited to see that Lionsgate's Vestron Video is bringing Maximum Overdrive to Blu-ray in the US.

New Press Release: "The Vestron Video series keeps on trucking with the upcoming release of Stephen King’s cult classic MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, arriving on limited-edition Blu-ray™ on October 23.

Stephen King’s Horrifying Vision Arrives on Blu-rayTM in the U.S. for the First Time Ever!

Street Date: 10/23/18

Blu-ray™ SRP: $39.97
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Get behind the wheel of one wild ride when the Vestron Video Collector’s Series releases Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive on limited-edition Blu-ray™ on October 23 from Lionsgate. Written for the screen and directed by the original Master of Horror – Stephen King – this marks the first time ever that this horrifying film about sentient, homicidal machines has been released on Blu-ray in the U.S. Maximum Overdrive is loaded with all-new special features, including interviews with Producer Martha De Laurentiis and Special Make-Up Effects Creator Dean Gates; on-set vintage interviews with Stephen King, Emilio Estevez, and Laura Harrington; behind-the-scenes footage; and more! The Maximum Overdrive limited-edition Blu-ray will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Get ready for the ultimate battle of man vs. bloodthirsty machine in this terrifying Stephen King classic! For three horrifying days, the Earth passes through the tail of a mysterious comet. The skies glow an eerie green as humanity waits to see what the fallout will be. But what they imagine is nothing like the nightmare they find — the comet’s magnetic fields cause all the machines on Earth to suddenly come to life and terrorize their human creators in a horrific killing spree. Now, it’s up to a small group of people trapped in a desolate truck stop to defeat the killer machines — or be killed by them!

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

  • NEW: Audio Commentary with Writer Tony Magistrale, Author of Hollywood’s Steven King
  • NEW: Audio Commentary by Actor and Comedian Jonah Ray and Blumhouse Film Executive Ryan Turek
  • NEW: “Truck Stop Tales” Featurette – An Interview with Producer Martha De Laurentiis
  • NEW: “Rage Against the Machines” Featurette – An Interview with Actress Laura Harrington
  • NEW: “Honeymoon Horrors” Featurette – Interviews with Actor John Short and Actress Yeardley Smith
  • NEW: “Maximum Carnage” Featurette – An Interview with Make-Up Effects Creator Dean Gates
  • “A Kid in King’s Court” Featurette – An Interview with Actor Holter Graham
  • NEW: “The Wilmington Factor” Featurette – A Look Back at the Filming of Maximum Overdrive with Members of the Production Crew in North Carolina
  • NEW: “Who Made Who?” Featurette – An Interview with Murray Engleheart, Co-Author of AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll
  • NEW: “Goblin Resurrectus” Featurette – The Restoration of the Happy Toyz Golbin
  • Behind-the-Scenes Footage
  • Still Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • TV Spots 

CAST

Emilio Estevez                         St. Elmo’s Fire, Young Guns, The Outsiders, The Breakfast Club

Pat Hingle                                Batman, Batman & Robin, Sudden Impact

Laura Harrington                     The Devil’s Advocate, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Christopher Murney                Barton Fink, The Last Dragon

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Year of Production: 1986

Title Copyright: Maximum Overdrive © 1986 Dino De Laurentiis Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Type: Theatrical Release

Rating: R

Genre: Horror, Action

Closed-Captioned: NA

Subtitles: English, Spanish, English SDH

Feature Run Time: 98 minutes

Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 (2.35:1) Presentation

Blu-ray Audio: Original 2.0 Stereo Audio (DTS Master Audio)

Previously: According to the Vestron Video Collector's Series Facebook page and Amazon, Maximum Overdrive will rev its engines on Blu-ray this October 23rd.

The Maximum Overdrive Blu-ray is expected to include the following special features (according to the Vestron Video Facebook page, as well as Bloody Disgusting via Diabolik DVD):

  • Interview with Producer Martha DeLaurentiis
  • Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Creator Dean Gates
  • On-Set Vintage Interviews with Stephen King, Emilio Estevez, and Laura Harrington
  • Behind-The-Scenes Footage
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • TV Spots
  • Still Gallery

Synopsis (from Diabolik DVD): "After a mysterious comet turns every machine on Earth into a homicidal rampage device, the survivors at the Dixie Boy truck stop are making a stand, and human vengeance goes into overdrive."

Written and directed by Stephen King, Maximum Overdrive stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith, John Short, Ellen McElduff, J.C. Quinn, Christopher Murney, Holter Graham, Frankie Faison, Pat Miller, Jack Canon, Barry Bell, John Brasington, J. Don Ferguson, Leon Rippy, and Robert Gooden.

We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on any potential updates on the upcoming Blu-ray release of Maximum Overdrive. Will you be adding it to your Blu-ray collection?

Cover art via the Vestron Video Facebook page:

Theatrical trailer:

Source: Facebook
  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.