Customer Reviews

Death Race 2000 (Roger Corman's Cult Classics) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was glad to get a copy of this today and was hoping for an improvement over my DMI Full Frame Copy. However, it appears this is another case where marketing has misslead the public once again. The Film was clearly shot in Full Screen and this 1:85 transfer is matted down, cropping out much of the top & bottom of the image. When Frankenstein Talks to Myra, you nolonger get to see her boobs as they are now out of frame. This scene was a memorable shot in the full screen version and those who chose the framing of the matting did us no favors here. I am a bit disappointed by this issue....

However,
The Image is a vast improvement, I just wish we had been given all of it. The sound is a slight upgrade but still 2.0 mono. I would still recomend a purchase if you are interested in this title but just be aware you are not getting a true widescreen film and are missing out on some great bits that are now cut out in this print. If you have the old Full Screen release of this DVD, you may want to keep it as this new DVD does not make it obsolete.

this movie is really funny. not really a "kids" movie though...

the "plot" is: there is an annual race across country, and the drivers rack up points along the way by running people over. the drivers also try to sabotage one another. a deeper plot to the movie is, there is an activist group who wants to overthrow the government, and, among other things, they dissaprove of the annual races. one of the activists goes undercover as a navigator for one of the drivers in the race. she tries to set him up to be killed, not knowing that he also wants to see the current government overthrown.
the driver she is navigating for is Frankenstein, who is treated pretty much like a national hero; he has been in many of the races, and had so much damage done to him from them, the media had been playing the card that they "werent sure he would be able to race" this time around, but "with half a face and half a chest, and all the guts in the world - he's back!" and he enters the race, of course.
Frankenstein's plan, unknown to anyone else, is to assassinate the leader of the country; by winning the race, he will get the opportunity to shake the leader's hand. he plans to have a bomb inside his "fake robot hand" which will blow the leader (and himself) to smithereens.
So that's the plot as i see it... though the movie isnt one that i really watch for the plot. i titled this "hilarious" because that's what it is, it is hilarious. enjoy!

I had a VHS copy of this movie years ago. It was considered good quality at that time. I recently bought a DVD copy that wasn't widescreen and it looked like a transfer from the VHS cassette. Now, it had been truly restored in widescreen and a real collectible for anyone who has a DVD library. The DVD is picture perfect. I played it on a Blu-Ray player that upgrades to 1080P. The picture flies off the screen and with wonderful surround sound too. It looks like a newly released film, and I guess with the restoration it is truly that, a new film. David Carradine, right off the Kung Fu series and a young Sylvester Stallone are the stars. A true cult film you can watch over and over with your friends.

Just gotta say...they'll put anything on blu-ray! It's hard to imagine Roger Corman and high definition in the same thought, but lo and behold-we're getting his 'cheap' flicks on blu-ray! Who would ever 'thunk it'? The quality of the disc is nothing to write home about...but the movie is outrageous! Campy classic!! Just wish it looked as good as Corman's "Rock and Roll High School" on blu. That version colors really 'shine'...this movie looks dull in comparison. Still, it's the best it's ever looked! Lookin' forward to more Corman Classics on blu!!

I saw this movie at a drive-in way back in the 70's. Definitely a "B" movie, but a tremendously fun one, a cult classic worth watching. The humor is dark and at times unbelievably corny(There's a "hand" grenade joke where the grenade is actually shaped like a hand.) I'm very glad that this movie was released on DVD.

When I was 8 yrs old my mother wanted to get out of the house so she took me to the movies and naturally it was death race 2000 imagine what was going through my head seeing the screen go black and then hearing a car engine followed by a large skull appearing from the darkness scared the hell out of me. Now it is one of my all time favorite movies. the quality is fantastic from the vhs the dvd looks like it was made today carridine and stallone nail it in this cult classic the disc includes behind the scenes and commentaries and the audio is fantasic this is a must have for all roger cormik fans.

If you like cheesey action films from the 70's then you will love this movie. This is where the point scoring system for hitting pedestrians came from. Awesome!!!!!

This movie is amazing. There's nothing more to say about a movie where people are run over for points. It's just awesome.

just has i remembered it great and it arrived in perfect condition before the due date 5 out of 5

Set in the not-too-distant future, America watches in anticipation as the world's top 5 drivers set off on a transcontinental road race with no holds barred as they fight to destroy their competition and rack up points by killing anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way! DEATH RACE 2000 is as absurd, outrageous, and over-the-top as its name implies. David Carradine stars as the fan-favorite Frankenstein, an honorable athlete with a calm and collected demeanor that earned him the win in the earlier races. Playing opposite of Carradine is Sylvester Stallone as the rude, crude Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, the scourge of the racing world that will stop at nothing to win. Each of the killer cars sport their own unique designs that give them a life of their own as they rip across the deserted country roads. Paul Bartel and 2nd unit director Charles Griffith pour plenty of heart-pounding intensity into the high-speed action sequences, which still hold up to today's standards despite some obvious manipulation to the film speed. On top of everything else, the script shows frequent signs of intelligence beneath its rough exterior. For a film that exists outside of the Horror genre, it also boasts an incredible number of gory deaths and bloody effects. DEATH RACE 2000 is wickedly funny, deliciously dark, and ultra-violent, making it the ultimate crowd-pleaser for Action and Horror fans alike.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies