5 Reasons Maximum Overdrive Rocks

Stephen King has described his directorial debut as a "moron movie" and also said that he was "coked out of my mind all through its production, and I really didn't know what I was doing." But Cujo is my favourite King book and in On Writing he wrote that he "barely remembers writing it at all," so I don't really think him being "coked out" matters much and that it was a pretty lame excuse. But it doesn't really matter because I love Maximum Overdrive. I watched it recently after not seeing it for years and here are 5 Reasons I think Maximum Overdrive Rocks and everyone should give it a chance.

1. YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE



"Honey! Come on over here, Sugar Buns! This machine just called me an asshole!" Hands down the best King cameo ever. If an ATM did that to me I would die laughing. I now hopefully wait for it to happen whenever I use one. I also love how the news ticker in the front of the building says FUCK YOU!

2. EMILIOOOO!



















The Mighty Duck man himself.

3. Pop can to the groin
















In one scene, a baseball coach approaches a pop machine and it starts hurling out pop cans, slamming one into his groin, reminding me of that episode of The Simpsons where Hans Moleman enters his movie Man Getting Hit By Football in Springfield's film festival. It made me (and the kids on the baseball team) laugh hysterically. But it's not so funny when a can slams into his head, leaving a gory mess....

4. Kickass AC/DC soundtrack



















AC/DC's album Who Made Who was the soundtrack for Maximum Overdrive, the entire film being comprised of their songs, including the title song Who Made Who and classics like Hells Bells and You Shook Me All Night Long.

5. Yeardley Smith


















Oh, speaking of The Simpsons, Yeardley Smith has a role in this film. If you close your eyes, you would swear Lisa Simpson has a role in this movie, which is pretty sweet.

An Evening With Stephen King (and David Cronenberg)!

Stephen King is coming to Toronto! He's going to be promoting his new book, Under the Dome and having an on-stage conversation with David Cronenberg, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos (The Hour).

Unfortunately, when you arrive at the event , you draw a coloured chip and 250 people will get one with the colour that wins the chance to buy a signed copy of the book. If I go, I really hope that I win.

Tickets are $28 and $33. The event is on November 19 at 8:00 P.M at The Canon Theatre, located at 244 Victoria St., Toronto.

BOOK REVIEW: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide

Stephen King movies have a pretty bad reputation (just watch Maximum Overdrive or the dozen Children of the Corn movies and see what everyone is complaining about). But I like Stephen King movies, for the most part. Some of my personal favourites are: Storm of the Century (a mini-series written by King), Sometimes They Come Back (a film based on his short story of the same name) and Creepshow (anthology film with a screenplay written by King based on his own short stories). And of course there are the classics like Carrie, The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption.

I don't really understand when people complain that King movie adaptions "ruin" the book because movies are never as good as the book anyway. Here's what King has to say about that:

"They may not be good movies but they haven't ruined the books. Look here they are, lined up on the bookshelf."

Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide is a thorough handbook for all films based on King's work. Some of the films I haven't even heard of before. And it's fairly recent; the last movie featured is Rose Red, which came out in 2002. The book also includes short films, forthcoming projects (so far only two of them have been produced), unproduced projects, associational titles, King cameos, television episodes, other media (i.e. plays), recurring talent in his films and an interview with King.

The write-up about each film includes the tagline, a listing of the cast, a description of the film, how they made the film, a brief background on the book/short story it's based on and various quotes from reviews, King, and people who worked on each film. Each write-up is incredibly thorough and it's interesting to see what King thinks of the movies based on his work. But the films are listed in chronological order rather than alphabetical, making it annoying to find a particular movie without looking it up in the index, unless you know the year it was released.

Creepshows also features a lot of nice illustrations, such as movie stills, film posters and book covers.

This is an interesting book and I would recommend it if you're a fan of Stephen King or just a fan of horror movies.

Rating: 4/5

Horror Books To Bring Camping

I'm more likely to read while camping than to sit in my trailer and watch a movie. And seeing as how Bloody Disgusting has already done a list of the top 10 movies to watch while camping, I thought I would do a list of the top books to read while camping.

Camping and scary stories just go together. I can remember telling scary stories around the campfire, or telling scary stories in my tent with a flashlight under my face. The following books all have a plot that revolves around camping. It's scarier to read something at the same time as you're experiencing it.

Dark Mountain by Richard Laymon

Two families go on a camping trip in the mountains. But they don't know that there's a witch living in the mountains. The standard fast-paced Laymon novel.

Also by Richard Laymon

No Sanctuary: There are two parts to this novel that almost feel like separate books. In one part, a couple goes camping in the woods and meet three guys who have plans to terrorize them. The other part is about a woman who likes to break into others' houses while they're gone and stay there until they get back. But she breaks into the wrong house.... Both of the stories are tied together in the end.

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

Three couples rent a cabin on the Maine coastline. But they don't know that there's a bunch of cannibals living in the caves. This is one of the goriest novels I've ever read. It reads like a B-movie, which makes for a really fun camping read. I don't understand how The Girl Next Door, The Lost and Red were all made into movies before this Ketchum novel.

Also by Jack Ketchum

Offspring: The sequel to Off Season.

Cover: A group goes camping in the woods and come across a crazed Vietnam vet.

The Mountain King by Rick Hautala

Two men are hiking in the mountains and one is taken by Bigfoot. The other man returns to the mountain to find his friend.

Deliverance by James Dickey

The book that the movie was based on. Four men go on a canoeing trip and encounter crazed backwoods hicks.



The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

A young girl gets lost while hiking in the woods with her family. This book is about how she survives alone in the woods. One of my teachers read this book to my grade 8 class. Not scary and not really horror, but it's still a compelling read.