Maximum Overdrive (1986) review

A comet sails entirely too close to Earth and causes a variety of devices to come to life (such as gas pumps, arcade games, soda machines and lawnmowers) as well as cars and tractor trailers, which become "automated" and torment several individuals - including laborer Bill (Emilio Estevez), his girlfriend Brett (Laura Harrington) and newlyweds Connie (Yeardley Smith) and Curtis (John Short) - who are at a truck stop in Wilmington, North Carolina.  It's not just novelist King's debut as a filmmaker but (to date) the only movie he's ever directed, and it's plagued with multiple problems: he was addicted to cocaine and alcohol and doesn't remember making it and producer Dino De Laurentiis hired a crew of Italians who didn't speak English so there were translation issues.  Even though King is a horror legend, this doesn't really try to be scary - the scene at the beginning with the bridge malfunctioning is unintentionally funny - and, in interviews, he's as critical of it as anybody (and has repeatedly apologized to Estevez for the botchery).