Cult Movie: Death Race 2000 (1975)

★★★★

Legendary producer Roger Corman died last month. What’s remarkable about Roger Corman is that he was able to cement a legacy both inside and outside the studio system, not just for the movies he produced / directed, but for the plethora of actors, writers, and directors that he broke into the industry. The likes of Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Towne, and Nicolas Roeg may have found other ways into making films without Roger Corman, but the historical record shows that it was him who gave them a chance.

Death Race 2000 was designed to piggyback off the publicity surrounding the studio-backed dystopian Rollerball. It stars David Carradine as a mask-wearing driver aptly named Frankenstein, driving in a pan-America race where points are scored by running down people. All this is approved by The President, of course, with Frankenstein a national hero for his heroics of running down anyone unfortunate enough to be on the street during the race. The event is complicated by a resistance movement of anti-race protestors looking to stop the race and take over America.

The main thing that struck me about Death Race 2000 is its tone. Dystopian fiction tends to be dour, yet Death Race 2000 leans into the absurdity of the premise and finds the comedy in the violence. It’s in bad taste, sure, but it’s so over-the-top that it can’t be mistaken as any form of serious commentary. I thought this camp tone would grate on me, but I found myself enjoying it after only a few minutes. It’s fun because it’s so silly. Between the costumes, the characters, the silly rivalries, and the running commentary, the spectacle resembles pro-wrestling – albeit with a lot more carnage.

This is admittedly not a clever movie, but it is an entertaining one. There wasn’t a point where I wondered about the politics of the world or tried to make sense of the plot. I was having too much fun. I’m almost certain the only reason one of the teams was dressed as Nazis was to make “master race” puns. It’s little silly touches like the hand-shaped grenade or the roadrunner-esque detour off a cliff that make this movie a delight to watch. The political message amounts to little more than “ixnay on the hombre”, but that’s only if you stop to think about it. You shouldn’t. Rollerball may have had something to say about a corporate-run society, but Death Race 2000 only wants to entertain you.

Roger Corman was the undisputed master of the B-movie. He achieved it by understanding how to make movies on a limited budget and understanding what an audience would react to. A lot of what he made is unashamedly exploitation cinema, but the movies drew audiences for a reason. Despite some limitations that comes from its low-budget filmmaking, Death Race 2000 is still very watchable. It’s more entertaining than a movie that exists to piggyback off the marketing of another movie has any right to be.

If you liked Death Race 2000, try: Rollerball, Robocop, Grand Theft Auto (Game)