Death Race 2000

On a Saturday night what do you do when you dont have anything to do because your friends had other plans and your girlfriend is sick with stomach flu?

I had other things in mind like watching "A Portrait of Jennie" or "The Postman Always Rings Twice" but on a night when you should be out having a few drinks and having fun you might as well watch something that's not too serious.

You should watch the cult action Sci fi classic Death Race 2000!

Directed by Paul Bartel and produced by the legendary Roger Corman it tells the story of a future where the only sport that matters is a cross country race of death that is considered the most prestigious event in the United Provinces of America.

The main character is Frankenstein (David Carradine) who have reportedly lost almost all his original body parts including his own guts for the race he's competed over the years. He is now up against other racers who is after his record like his closest rival "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone) who hates being second to Frankenstein and growls all the time and appears to be psychotic. The other racers are a collection of demented but interesting characters like Mathilda the Hun (Roberta Collins),  "Calamity" Jane Kelly (Mary Woronov) and  Nero the Hero (Martin Kove).

Supposedly the country is being governed overseas in Moscow, the United States has been put into economic turmoil when their European counterparts (notably the French) has sabotaged their economy. Now inexplicably people are now into the Annual Transcontinental Road Race that encourages murder by having the racers run over innocent bystanders. The more helpless the victims the higher the score the racers can get which is totally stupid but all the more fun. David Carradine is too immersed in his role to be taken seriously, Frankenstein walks and talks like a monster and he often mentions the lost limbs (replaced by artificial limbs) he's had and the scars over years of racing but it is not visible when he takes off his clothes.

 Every racer has a navigator supposedly to point the way to their destination (and I think have sex with the racers Im not sure if that is also their purpose), Frankenstein has the vivacious Annie Smith (Simone Griffeth) who is the grand daughter of Thomasina Paine (Harriet Medin) the leader or the "Resistance" who are trying to overthrow the Bipartisan ruling government. Annie trieds to lure Frankenstein into an ambush where he is supposed to be replaced by a double to assassinate  "Mr. President" (Sandy McCallum). It turns out that Frankenstein has other ideas and plans to kill Mr. President himself with a "hand grenade" artificially planted on his prosthetic hand.

The film is campy and funny, their dialogue is too absurd and the violence is too graphic but it is an exploitation film so that is what I expected and more than what I got. I didn't think the nudity was necessary but I guess it's there to arouse 4th grade fanboys who have not seen a naked woman before.

The characters are more amusing than terrifying, I didn't think Stallone was scary when he used his Tommy Gun on the crowd and I didn't think they were scared either. The Nazi chick yells "Blitzkrieg" whenever she scores points (running over people) and the commentators reminds you of those noontime variety hosts every noon with their supposedly acerbic wit but they appear to be really out of their minds.

To summarize I think it's a film worth watching, it's not the type of movie that I will encourage little kids to watch but in this day and age where violence and sexual content can be easily accessed I think this film wont even shock them anymore because after all it is a fan boy's film.

Grade: B