Episode 721: A Secret DVD Commentary of Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, with Chad Coup!

July 26, 2026

Episode 721: A Secret DVD Commentary of Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, with Chad Coup!

Episode 721 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or click here to stream (right click to download, if that’s your thing).

In this week’s episode, John King and Chad Coup discuss all of Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, DVD Commentary style.

NOTES

To hear John and Jaroslav Kalfař discuss Stephen King’s On Writing, check out episode 6.

To hear TDO’s roundtable discussion of King’s Danse Macabre, check out episode 337.

To learn more about the Kerouac Project’s renovations and call for donations, go here.

Episode, Film, Film Commentary, Horror

Posted by:

thedrunkenodyssey

2 responses to “Episode 721: A Secret DVD Commentary of Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive, with Chad Coup!”

D J Rout

July 29, 2026 at 10:49 pm

I’m so glad that Chad raised the question of the power going off but the pumps still working (1:04:00). That is one of the things that slightly wrecks one of KIng’s best short stories.

And seeing as it is one of his best, why are the two adaptations so crappy? On the strength of the story, it should make a great film, but somehow it hasn’t. I suspect the Canadian version was based on the conviction that a better writer and director could do a better job – and then there’s that damn biohazard suit…

Well, let’s wait for adaptation number 3, whenever that will be.

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thedrunkenodyssey

July 29, 2026 at 11:02 pm

“Trucks” tells most of its story through telling rather than showing. To adapt the story, then, means imagining a much more specific plot than what King wrote back in the 1970s.

What do you think the best Stephen King film is? Or if you think The Shining is the best, what is the best after that one?

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