Death Race 2000 (1975)
81 %
Reviews Counted: 27 Fresh: 22 Rotten:5 Average Rating: 6.5/10
Consensus:
Death Race 2000 is a fun, campy classic, drawing genuine thrills from its mindless ultra-violence.
Runtime: 85 mins
Synopsis: More delightfully sick humor from Bartel (EATING RAOUL). In a boorish future, the government sponsors a popular, but bloody, cross-country race in which points are scored by mowing down pedestrians--with bonus points for the elderly! Five teams, each comprised of a male and female,... [More]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov, Roberta Collins, Louisa Moritz
Director: Paul Bartel
Screenwriter: Robert Thom, Charles B. Griffith
Story: Ib Melchior
Producer: Roger Corman
Composer: Paul Chihara
Screenwriter: Robert Thom, Charles B. Griffith
Story: Ib Melchior
Producer: Roger Corman
Composer: Paul Chihara
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Death Race 2000 is as Corman as his B-grade action pics come, with cars flying through the frame, blood spilling behind them, and overnight pit-stops for some sex ("navigators" in each car keep their drivers juiced up).
Comment
06/07/08
Top Critic
It has a comic strip premise which is neverthless wholly credible in a sick sort of way.
05/06/08
The story, about a road race in the not-too-distant future for which the drivers are given points for running down pedestrians, becomes an elaborate and telling fantasy about our peculiar popular entertainments. Fine work carved from minimal materials.
03/28/07
Top Critic
Superior drive-in exploitation fare, this violent, campy action flick presents Carradine as Frankenstein, a scarred road warrior in black leather suit and cape.
03/28/07
Top Critic
Script, from an Ib Melchior story, makes its satirical points economically, and director Paul Bartel keeps the film moving quickly.
03/28/07
Top Critic
a must see for so many people - science fiction fans, satirists, action movie buffs, 70s film aficionados and anyone who likes an over-the-top film
02/04/06
Overall the movie isn't as synchromeshed as it might be; the rivalry between champions Carradine and Stallone isn't very interesting, and some of the gags aren't sick or funny enough. But it's a great audience film.
01/26/06
Top Critic
Corman didn't direct the drive-in hit Death Race 2000, but it bears his imprint of economic utilitarianism.
12/23/05
In the end, it reveals itself to have nothing to say beyond the superficial about government or rebellion. And in the absence of such a statement, it becomes what it seems to have mocked -- a spectacle glorifying the car is an instrument of violence.
05/09/05
Top Critic
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