Maximum Overdrive

Article summary

Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 American science fiction action horror film written and directed by Stephen King in his directorial debut. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, John Short, Yeardley Smith and Christopher Murney. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story "Trucks", which was included in the author's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and follows the events after all machines (including trucks, radios, arcade games, vending machines, etc.) become sentient and violent towards humans when Earth crosses the tail of a comet, initiating a worldwide killing spree. The film is King's only directorial effort, though dozens of films have been based on his novels or short stories. It contained black humor elements and a generally campy tone, which contrasts with King's somber subject matter in books. The film has a mid-1980s hard rock soundtrack composed entirely by the group AC/DC (King's favorite band), whose album Who Made Who was released as the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack. It includes the best-selling singles "Who Made Who", "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Hells Bells". Maximum Overdrive was theatrically released on July 25, 1986, to critical and commercial failure.…

Key claims

1. date of death: 2001-05-14 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. release date: 1986-07-25 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of death is "2001-05-14". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the release date is "1986-07-25". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

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