Picture this: it is a dystopian turn of the 21st century, and it is time for an annual event…the annual Death Race!
What the hell is a Death Race, you ask? Death Race 2000 is a race created after the ‘World Crash of ’79.’ The U.S. has become a totalitarian regime. To pacify the masses, the government sponsors the Transcontinental Road Race, where drivers earn points by running over pedestrians. Yes, you read that right—elderly folks, kids, and even hospital patients are fair game, with different point values assigned based on age and vulnerability.
A film directed by Paul Bartel and produced by Roger Corman, based on Ib Melchior’s 1956 short story The Racer on a budget of upwards $530,000 for New World Pictures, it starred David Carradine as Frankenstein (the reigning champion, a mysterious, black-clad driver with a prosthetic hand and a hidden agend), Sylvester Stallone (the year before he became Rocky, as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, a gangster-style racer desperate to dethrone Frankenstein), Simone Griffeth as Annie, Bartel mainstay Mary Woronov as Calamity Jane, Martin Kove as Nero the Hero, Roberta Collins as Matilda “The Hun,” Louisa Moritz as Myra, (Joe’s Navigator, another Bartel mainstay), Don Steele as Junior Bruce (Race Announcer), and Joyce Jameson as Grace Pander (Race Announcer).
The cast also includes Carle Bensen as Harold (Race Announcer), Sandy McCallum as Mr. President, Harriet Medin as Thomasina Paine, Vince Trankina as Lieutenant Fury, Bill Morey as Deacon, Fred Grandy as Herman “The German” Spok, Matilda’s Navigator, William Shephard, Jane’s Navigator, Leslie McRay as Cleopatra, Nero’s Navigator, Wendy Bartel (the sister of Bartel in her only named role) as Laurie, Jack Favorite as Henry, Sandy Ignon as FBI Agent, John Landis as Mechanic, Darla McDonell Rhonda Bainbridge, Roger Rook as Radio Operator, and Wendy Dio in her only role as Blonde Masseuse.
Hitting theaters on April 27, 1975, Death Race 2000 is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. Interestingly, so does Rollerball, which had a similar premise. In Deathrace 200 you have nihilistic car race with taking people out for points (Infants & Children: 70 points, Elderly (over 75): 100 points, Adults (18–75): 10–40 points, Teenagers: 40 points, Disabled or Sick: Bonus points), in Rollerball, there is a roller derby/motorcycle/rugby/basketball hybrid with players collateral damage.
Incidentally, speaking of Rollerball, Roger Corman greenlit the project after hearing about it, rushing Death Race 2000 into production to beat it to theaters. The result? A crazy ass film that feels like it was made in a drug-fueled dream, satirical, violent, and weirdly prophetic.
Filming Death Race 2000 was every bit as wild and scrappy as the movie itself, a chaotic, low-budget sprint through Southern California that leaned hard into guerrilla-style production with Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, who later shot 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. The film was shot at Ontario Motor Speedway (which was used for the race’s starting line, posing as “New York” with retro-futuristic overlays), Pasadena Civic Auditorium (which served as interiors for the dystopian government HQ), and Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel (which was the ziggurat-like courthouse marking the race’s end).
At the same time, the Mojave Desert & Angeles National Forest provided the desolate, lawless terrain for the cross-country carnage, with blood squibs, fake limbs, and absurd costumes that were all done on the cheap, but with maximum impact. Furthermore, to add to the loose shoot, Improvisation was welcome with Carradine and Stallone reportedly improvising many lines, adding to the film’s anarchic tone.
Overall, Death Race 2000 was a success at the box office despite some mixed reviews. Now considered a cult film with a significant following, in 1975, a sequel of comic books was published entitled Death Race 2000. A remake arrived in 2008, starring Jason Statham, entitled Death Race (which was followed by several sequels).
Then, in 2017, a direct sequel to the original film, called Death Race 2050, was released on DVD. A sequel produced by Roger Corman, it featured a cast that included Malcolm McDowell. A long overdue follow-up to Death Race 2000, unfortunately, many would agree that Death Race 2050 was not nearly as memorable. With all of that in mind, those looking for a physical copy of Death Race 2000, in 2023, Signal One Entertainment put together a solid transfer to Blu-Ray comparable with the costly out-of-print, 2010 Blu-ray edition put out by Shout! Factory.
In the end, Death Race 2000 remains relevant in many respects. For one, it came a year before Sylvester Stallone’s breakthrough with 1976’s Rocky, and became a building block toward bigger things in his career. Death Race 2000 even inspired video games like Carmageddon and Grand Theft Auto, and HBO Max’s Twisted Metal, which is in its second season, each of which has shades of Death Race 2000. Full of satire and dark humor, Death Race 2000 is the definition of a cult classic 50 years later.
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