Death Race 2000 (1975)

US 80m, Colour
Director: Paul Bartel; Cast: David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone, Sandy McCallum, Louisa Moritz, Don Steele

Death Race 2000 is a adult-themed dystopian black comedy about a transcontinental car race that has become the nation’s most popular sporting event. Awarded points for the numbers of people they can run down during the race, the film’s star, known as Frankenstein is also the nation’s most celebrated driver whose crashes and mutilated body have become legendary. As with more recent films such as The Running Man (1987), Battle Royale (2000) and The Hunger Games (2012), the government uses a sporting event to control the masses. A low-budget, campy production, Death Race 2000 has become a cult film that was remade in 2008 by Paul W.S. Anderson as a more serious dramatic action film (Klaus Ming May 2013).