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.

Every once in a while, Roger Corman, "a dear friend of mine" ;=8), comes out with a little gem among the tons of coal he produces every year, and "DR2K" is one of them. Kind of a poor-man's "Roller Ball", "DR2K" is about the ultimate in New America's blood sport in a fascist "near-future", with David Carradine("Kung Fu")as the anti-hero Frankenstein. Produced by Corman, and directed by Paul Bartell("Eating Raoul"), the film is fast-paced, blackly humorous, and well-made. Unlike many Corman cheapies, the stark, spartan setting of "DR2K" only adds to the bleak atmosphere, where Mr. President rules from overseas, and old folks are routinely euthanized as part of the game. The game, in this case, being the Transcontinental Road Race where anything goes, and where pedestrians are run over and assigned kill points. Carradine plays a darkly foreboding Frankenstein, so-called because of the many limbs he has lost as a result of running the Death Race. A pre-"Rocky" Sylvester Stallone is grand as Machine-Gun Joe Viterbo, Frankenstein's arch-rival. Also stars Mary Woronov("Eating Raoul", "Rock & Roll High School")as Calamity Jane, Roberta Collins("Eaten Alive", "Hardbodies")delightful as Matilda the Hun, and 60's DJ Don Steele as a mincing little announcer. One of Corman's many little social cowmentaries, this one about the all-too American obsession for violence and sports; thankfully he allows Bartell to deftly and briskly direct. Still, it's a fairly low-budget affair; pedetrians get crushed, and things git blowed up real good, but it only makes you wonder what the film cud have been with a larger budget. Oh well, at least there isn't a giant evil pickle from Venus in this one... The MooCow says this Guilty Pleasure is definitely rentable, so just yell "Blitzkrieg!" and fire up that vcr!! :

Death Race 2000 is the finest example to show how easy it actually was back in the seventies to come up with a timeless cult film. Honestly, anyone could have invented an outrageously exaggerated premise like this but the fact that it was actually Roger Corman who dealt with it just proves how eminently he ruled the B-movie circuit back then. Death Race 2000 is one of the most entertaining films ever made and I, for one, can't imagine someone not loving the severely ridicule story of a coast-to-coast car race where the contesters score points by wiping pedestrians off the road. Silly, yes…but even more ingenious, flamboyant and offensive. Pure cult, in other words, and fundamental viewing for every soul who ever showed interest in extravagant film-making! The script is stuffed with imaginative findings (euthanasia day at the hospital!) and downright UNsubtle protest towards the American way of life (a factor that determines Death Race 2000 as cult even more). Considering it's a Corman production, the film also contains explicit violence, provoking messages and a truckload of sleaze! All the elements that guarantee untamed cult success! Of course it has to be said that it could have been an even better film if Corman and director Paul Bartel focused on a more proper elaboration of the versatile idea. The rivalry between Carradine and Stallone, for example, should have resulted in a more intriguing sub plot and even though DR 2000 already contains much absurdity as it is, the premise surely had potential enough to add even more sick jokes and cynical situations. David Carradine acts deliciously as always and Stallone is excellent as well. Death Race 2000 is cinema that separates the men from the boys, people! Stop exploring the cult genre in case you didn't had the time of your life watching this film.