WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS

Death Race 2000 opens with a cartoon title sequence that looks like a child's crayon drawing on polystyrene. It's backed up with a theme tune that sounds as if the tape's chewed, and cuts to a poorly superimposed "futuristic" setting.

The rest of the film is like this. Cheap, somewhat curiously directed, poorly acted and shouldn't work. Yet somehow it does. Is this the most subversive American movie ever made? There's occasional digs at other races (The Nazi driver "Herman the German" for one), but in the main it's U.S. culture that is being constantly lambasted. A future America where the Stars and Stripes are red and gold, and the President (Sandy McCallum) says things like "I have made the United Provinces of America the greatest power in the known universe." Even when slating other races, the finger points back to gung-ho xenophobia, as when the President hilariously states "It is no coincidence, my dear children, that the word 'sabotage' was invented by the French."

Not only is this open season on it's country of origin's own culture, it also has some of the sickest humour ever seen in a mainstream movie. The central concept is of a car race where killing pedestrians gains the drivers points in the contest. "And toddlers, under twelve, now rate a big 70 points", explains a TV announcer. There's also a specially arranged "Euthanasia Day" at the local geriatrics' hospital, and the supreme sickness of the title quote.

What adds to the film is its sense of unmitigated cheese. David Carradine is lame in the lead role, while many of the other – equally lacklustre – performers struggle with a third-rate script. Sample line? "You know Myra, some people might think you're cute. But me I think you're just one large baked potato." This combines with "pit stop" scenes which involve little else other than gratuitous nudity. Violence in the movie is shot and edited as if it thinks it matches the gore of Cronenberg or Tom Savini. However, it's merely tame and almost comical as badly staged red paint explodes everywhere. Some of the car racing is also sped up, which resembles less fast cars, more Keystone Kops. However, as much of this is overlaid with incongruous classical music there's every possibility that this is intentional. It's also fun seeing Sylvester Stallone beaten senseless by a skinny Carradine in a poorly choreographed fight. Imagine Mad Max involved in a fight between Wacky Races and Benny Hill and you're part way there to imagining what this unique film is like.

Stallone is "Machine Gun Joe", described as being "loved by thousands, hated by millions", which is quite apt. While I'm a Stallone fan (apologist?) it's worth noting that this is less a Stallone acting appearance (Rocky, Copland...), more a Stallone by-the-numbers performance (Rocky IV, Judge Dredd...)

Of course, while all this is thrown together at such a force and with such a delightfully hammy velocity that it makes it great amusement, there is evidence that it's one-joke satire isn't enough to fill it's paltry 78 minutes running time. Like the cars that are supposedly driving fast but are really puttering along at a snail's pace, the final quarter of the movie runs the risk of grinding to a halt. A final satirical barb by a racing commentator ("The race is the symbol of everything we hold dear, our American way of life. Sure it's violent, but that's the way we love it... violent, violent, violent!") seems to overstate the matter and falls flat.

The ending is resolved with yet more poorly animated titles and a narration that talks about man's need for violence. One of the best bad movies I've ever seen, Death Race 2000 is within reach of absolute greatness, though doesn't - quite - manage it. 6/10.