Review of Death Race 2000 (1975) by Aaron R — 05 Apr 2013

Death Race 2000 is a great example of early grindhouse features that fit into the genre of satire as well, and the whole experience is empowered by the fact that the story is given the atmosphere of a 1970's racing film feel, similar to Smoley and the Bandit or Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Although it has the fun, unserious element of Grindhouse instilled throughout the constant running time to ensure that it's a fun thrill ride from start to finish.

Death Race 2000 is just 80 minutes of consistent, low budget action fun that could only have come out of the 1970's because that was the greatest era for chase films and Grindhouse features, and as I said, Death Race 2000 succeeds as both. It's just so perfectly full of poor acting, explosions and gratuitous nudity, as well as some satire. Death Race 2000 is just an awesome cult hit with good chase sequences and even a few laughs. It even has a message for America, and it's expressed well through the awesome violence.

Death Race 2000 is also interesting from a chronological perspective because it features a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone in an action flick with an over-the-top (not a reference to the film) performance that's all to ideal for the film, and it's symbolic of his later career, specifically his post-First Blood era when everything became primarily action focused. Plus it's good to see him in his youth and his performance was good.

So all in all, Death Race 2000 was great and better than I expected, and was a masterful mix of 1970's car chasing and Grindhouse, as well as themes of dystopia and satireS its definitely worth a watch, even if just for fans of Sylvester Stallone or David Carradine.