Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Instant Favorite.

A Disappointing Continuation

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Roger Corman-produced low-budget classic, directed by Paul Bartel, about a future where an annual race is held where the drivers score points by running over and killing pedestrians. The reigning champion is a masked driver named Frankenstein (David Carradine), whose new "navigator" is a woman with ties to a resistance movement looking to overthrow the despotic President. In typical Corman fashion, the movie came about because Corman wanted to capitalize off of Rollerball, another movie about a violent future-sport. While I do like Rollerball, this one is more fun to watch, in my opinion. The movie has a great cast playing assorted colorful characters. In addition to David Carradine, there's Mary Woronov, Martin Kove, Louisa Moritz, Simone Griffeth, Joyce Jameson, and Sylvester Stallone (in one of his first big film roles). There's satire, action, droll comedy, and intentional corniness. Despite the futuristic plot, this is totally a product of its time. Probably not something for all tastes but few things worth enjoying are.

When Roger Corman and his crew set out to make a movie, you weren't always guaranteed a good time. However, with DEATH RACE 2000, you'll be happily rewarded. Here is, perhaps, the best "death match" movie ever made! In the not-too-distant future, a cross-country auto race is held once a year. Participating drivers are given the opportunity to run over unwitting citizens. And score points based upon their age, race, social status, and so forth. In this year's current race, there's the ever-popular Frankenstein (David Carradine), Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone), Calamity Jane (Mary Woronov), Matilda the Hun (Roberta Collins), and Nero the Hero (Martin Kove). Who will win? Who will die? Watch and enjoy! And flatten all the remakes along the way!!!

In a fascist dystopia future, five racers; Calamity Jane, Matilda the Hun, Nero the Hero, Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone) and Frankenstein (David Carradine) travel across the country to win the TransContinental Roadrace. Running over people scores the racers points. Annie Smith is Frankenstein's navigator and possibly plans to kill him as part of an anti-race resistance.It's a campy cult classic. This world is outrageous and silly. However it's a one-joke world and not that funny. It may be a good drinking game. There is no doubt of the movie's camp credentials. It isn't anything more than that.

In a dystopian near-future, The United Provinces (as America is now known) is ruled by a despotic president who has developed a bloodthirsty 'opiate for the masses': Death Race, a televised transcontinental car race in which the drivers collect points by killing pedestrians. As the five cold-blooded contestants battle it out on the open roads between New York and New Los Angeles, a group of political activists attempt to bring an end to the event by any means necessary.Don't be put off by the crappy opening title graphics that look like they've been rendered in colouring crayon by a ten year old: produced by movie legend Roger Corman and directed by Paul 'Eating Raoul' Bartel, Death Race 2000 is a thoroughly entertaining cult classic that no fan of drive-in/exploitation cinema should pass on. A masterclass in how to make the absolute most of a minimal budget, this fast-paced film packs a surprising amount into its tight 80 minute runtime: outrageous graphic violence, imaginative design (the customised vehicles and crazy characters looking like something out of a seriously warped Wacky Racers cartoon), wanton sleaze and nudity, clever political satire, cruel black humour, and loads of bonkers high-speed race action (the likes of which would influence George Miller on his hugely successful Mad Max movies).The film also benefits from an excellent cast: David Carradine, the perfect choice to play surly race champion Frankenstein (I came face-to-face with the actor a couple of times and he was just as unapproachable in real life); a young Sly Stallone as Frankenstein's main rival, uncouth hoodlum Machine Gun Joe Viterbo; sexy Simone Griffeth, as Frank's navigator Annie, whose stunning looks and figure would make it hard for me to keep my eyes on the road; cult favourite Mary Woronov as sassy driver Calamity Jane; and Martin 'Karate Kid' Kove, as Nero the Hero, the terrorist's first victim. With a cool line-up like that, a good time is almost guaranteed.