MOTHER TRUCKIN’ MAY: TRUCKS (1997)

TRUCKS (1997) is the second adaptation of the Stephen King short story of the same name. I can only imagine the person who thought making this was a good idea was batshit crazy. It should have been apparent after the first attempt, MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986), that the story was not worth being adapted into a film. There's just not enough story there. It's a great short story and possibly good material for a short or anthology series episode. But not really worth a full-length feature. 

The story published in King's first anthology, Night Shift, is comprised of about maybe three scenes and is seventeen pages long. There's no buildup, no background, and no explanation. We're plopped mid-scene with group of strangers trapped in a truck stop diner as they try to figure out how to survive and possibly escape a pack of killer trucks. A few people are killed attempting to escape or fight off the attacks. It ends with them still stuck, except now they've been forced to work for the trucks, pumping gas. It has an ambiguous ending with the narrator imagining a bleak future of humans doomed to become slaves to the machinery we built.

There is potential there for the story to be expanded and fleshed out into something more. Unfortunately, neither movie really delivered. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE attempted to explain the cause of the phenomena. It didn't exactly make sense to me but seemed to have its own logic. Of course, the best part of that movie is the iconic Green Goblin truck. Overall, it's at least entertaining enough to have grown a cult following for being so bad it's good. While TRUCKS is mostly just so bad it’s bad.

I don't mind a bad movie. It wasn't actually horrible, mostly keeping my attention. But clocking in at about two hours, it's way too long. About halfway through, I really had to fight the urge to pick up my phone. Run time aside, it has so many other issues. Overall, it just doesn't make sense. I have so many unanswered questions. Starting from the beginning, when the movie opens with the truck in the salvage yard driving straight into the building killing a man. So why don't the trucks just do that at the diner? Everywhere else the trucks seem to just be going on a mindless killing spree. Are these trucks smarter? It's almost like they're enjoying tormenting the people. Or maybe they know they'll need them later to pump gas. Alright maybe I'm expecting too much, but it bothered me.

I'm also confused by the toy truck attacking the mailman. So not all machines are attacking just trucks, but that includes toy trucks. HUH? Make it make sense. Like all cars would make sense, or all machines, or just computerized machines. But no—it’s specifically trucks, all kinds of trucks; including toy trucks. But then there's the Hazmat suit that kills the workers after being inflated by the truck. How's that work? The suit isn't a part of the truck, but it did inflate it. Did the truck somehow transfer its consciousness into the suit or become a part of it. I'm not understanding the logic. I know I'm thinking about it too hard. 

Speaking of the mailman, what the hell was he doing out delivery mail in the middle of the major emergency. Alright, he wouldn't know about the trucks killing people. But did he really miss the whole giant toxic cloud in the sky? There was whole big explosion and news alerts telling everyone to stay indoors. Did he not think it was weird that the town was deserted and all businesses closed in the middle of the day? I don't know if the mailman is just dedicated to his job or completely oblivious. Either way, he really made me want to yell at the screen. 

And about the random news alerts, what is up with that? How? Just how? The TV is complete static for who knows how long, to randomly start working when there's an important update, just to go back to static the minute the news reporter stops speaking. What's worse is that it didn't even seem to help with the story. None of it seemed too important or relevant. It absolutely didn't shed any light on what was going on. Which of course is the biggest question of all. How is this all possible?

Throughout the movie we get hit over the head with the idea that the cause has something to do with Area 51 but never in a concrete way that feels satisfying. We know from the beginning the town where it takes place, Luna, is near a military base, possibly Area 51. But according to Thad (Roman Podhura), who used to be in the military, Area 51 doesn't exist. Yet later he admits knowing about secret military telescopes and a listening station for extraterrestrials called Project Phoenix. There's mention of meteor crash years earlier and we get a couple of random theories from characters about energy waves from comets or a government experiment. It felt like it they were purposely trying to confuse the audience, or maybe the writers were the confused ones.

I do appreciate that at least they got a bit creative with the kills. The mailman was particularly gruesome, and I like a little (sometimes a lot) of gore. Though it seemed random and out of place. The axe-murdering Hazmat suit was an interesting twist, even though it didn't make sense. Overall, TRUCKS wasn't completely horrible. I'd say it's okay to watch once but you couldn't pay me to do it again.