Death Race 2000 is a very interesting piece of schlock that came out in 1975 and was directed by Paul Bartel, who also directed a fantastic little film called Eating Raoul. The top billed actor in this film was David Carradine who was huge at the time, but it also starred a young Sylvester Stallone. It was also remade in 2008 under the name Death Race, however the remake is a more tame imitation of the original that doesn’t hold any of the charm or gratuitous nature of the original.
The concept is simple. A bunch of colorful characters race their cars across the country running over as many people as they can, earning points for each pedestrian killed. Babies earn the most points, but the elderly and women can earn some big numbers as well. Think of it like Wacky Races only with a lot more murder.
The racers each have their own shtick that makes them stand out amongst the others, for example Stallone’s character of Machine Gun Joe is dressed up like a 40s mobster and he carries around a tommy gun. There’s also a cowgirl, a nazi, and Carradine’s character who goes by the name Frankenstein.
This is a movie that simply would not be made today. The concept of running over pedestrians for sport seems so appalling that even the most underground filmmakers probably wouldn’t touch this one. In the remake, the drivers were portrayed as despicable prisoners instead of heroic athletes, and the races were on a closed course without the pedestrian kills.
While I won’t defend the horrific nature of this film, it is clearly a satire of how the filmmakers believed the world would end up in the future. There have been so many films, books, and TV shows that mirrored this idea since this movie, and while it wasn’t the first to tackle the subject, it was certainly the most overt in its message. With movies like The Hunger Games, Series 7, Battle Royale, Gamer, and many others, it seems like a running concept that one day our blood lust will spill over into our love of media.
It’s this concept that prevents the film from being too offensive to watch. The violence is prevalent, however we only get to see quick glimpses of the carnage before the camera quickly cuts to the next shot.
Everything is so tongue in cheek and over the top, it’s hard to take it seriously, and that’s something that’s intentionally done from the beginning. The racers are a sadistic bunch, however for the most part they’re putting on a show for the audience. One scene they’re yelling obscenities and trying to kill each other and the next scene they’re all together in a posh hotel getting back massages.
Death Race 2000 is a violent gem of a film that has a look that completely encapsulates the 70s. It’s decently acted and features some cool action, although much of the racing is done with speed ramping to make it look faster. If you’ve seen the remake and hated it as much as I did, do yourself a favor and check this one out, you may be pleasantly surprised.
