MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE Screening at Schlafly Bottleworks This Thursday

“”If you don’t get your hand off my leg, you’re going to be wiping your ass with a hook the next time you take a dump!”

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE is screening  at 7pm this Thursday, August 1st at Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260 Southwest Ave St Louis, MO 63143. Doors open at 6:30pm. It’s a fundraiser for Helping Kids Together

It’s great to see when a famous author steps into a director’s chair, especially when it is critically-acclaimed author Stephen King. So what do you get when you take someone who writes a lot of horror stories and give him a cast, script, and budget? MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, a cult hit from 1986 starring Emilio Estevez. Saying this is a Stephen King movie, you would probably be expecting a macabre movie, but nope, instead you get a lot of trucks (after all it’s loosely based on his short story Trucks!) and electronics……. Electronics that kill!

In MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, machines revolt against their creators when a comet bathes our planet’s skies with a slimy green haze. Trucks with diesel engines appear to be universally deranged and out for human blood, as does any gadget that runs on electricity (cars however, seem oblivious to the machina uprising)  So, if this scenario ever actually happens, don’t worry about the family station wagon but do keep a close eye on the toaster and the F350 turbo diesel, and remember that any big rig is just as likely to run you over as look at you, especially ones with a giant Green Goblin face affixed to the front!

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE is full of ridiculous gags such as a bible salesman who gets hit by a truck so hard  it knocks him out of his shoes! You have a plane running on it’s own as “Ride of the Valkyries” plays! You have a homicidal coke machine spitting out full cans which smash in the skull of the coach of a little league baseball team while other tykes get hammered as well. One poor kid, trying to escape on his bike, gets squashed by a steamroller, for crying out loud! The most memorable scene to me is when young Deke rides his bike down a neighborhood where we witness the carnage of the machine attacks as bodies lay strewn all over the place with heads hanging out of windows, lying dead by their hammocks, legs sticking out of bushes, etc. Hell, there’s even a dead dog with a toy mechanical car wedged in its mouth! Somehow, Emilio will have to lead those capable enough to survive out of this difficult situation….perhaps a sewer tunnel system might be an option at their disposal!

The woefully underappreciated MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE has become a cult classic that will continue to mesmerize discerning viewers for generations to come. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE  is a blast and has a great soundtrack by AC DC, which really helps with the mood!

The screening is at 7pm Thursday, August 1st. The location is Schlafly Bottleworks – 7260 Southwest Ave St Louis, MO 63143. Doors open at 6:30pm.

$6 suggested for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds. Jimmie the bartender will be on hand to take care of you.

“Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together(http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living.

The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities.

We hope to see everyone this Thursday night!