I keep coming back to the question (and it's not just Nabin who's written about MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, so I know I've said this a lot!)—WTF was Dino DeHorrendous on to let a guy with ZERO directing experience direct a feature film? Maybe King was so high on his own supply that he thought he could direct a feature film without having so much as directed an episode of television, a short subject, or even a school play, but he had friends who were directing movies and episodic television like George A. Romero, Mick Garrison, or Frank Darabont who really should have sat him down and said, "Steve, Buddy! Don't you think you ought to try directing something less ambitious to see if you even WANT to direct first...?"

It would be one thing if Big Steve had announced he was laying out $1M, or even $10M of his own money to direct this movie and "show Hollywood" how it was done—but it wasn't his money he was spending, it was De Laurentiis Entertainment Group's. It would also be something else if King had directed a handful of episodes of TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE before announcing he was directing his first feature—but he hadn't.