Death Race 2000

It’s all ridiculous and occasionally surreal, but Bartel never loses sight of the unpleasantness; when these cartoons explode, they don’t get to place any more orders with the Acme company. They just die. Read full review

As a genre picture, and as a nugget of pure unadulterated cult entertainment, Death Race 2000 is one of the best around. Read full review

A distinctively crass, hugely enjoyable sick satire from director Paul Bartel, working for uber-producer Roger Corman – allegedly, Bartel kept thinking up more and wilder jokes, while Corman insisted more and more people got run over. Read full review

Low-budget sci-fi, from an often amusing suspense script by Robert Thom and Charles B. Griffith, directed by Paul Bartel in his ingratiatingly tacky, sophomoric manner. Bartel seems to have an instinctive kinky comic-book style; the picture rips along, and there's a flip craziness about it - it's an ideal drive-in movie.

The All-American imagery, coexisting with occasional shots of swastikas and socially-sanctioned cruelty, give it the feel of a surreal, funny fever dream about national purpose gone horribly awry. Read full review

Fine work carved from minimal materials. Read full review

Script, from an Ib Melchior story, makes its satirical points economically, and director Paul Bartel keeps the film moving quickly. Read full review

Death Race 2000 isn’t the sharp satire Corman thinks it is, but it’s fun. Read full review

Death Race is a maladroit but exuberantly gamey mix of social commentary and blue-collar goofiness. Read full review

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. Read full review

Superior drive-in exploitation fare. Read full review

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. Read full review

Could it be argued that the movie is “so bad that it’s good”? I suppose, especially if you’re a connoisseur of cinematic guano. For me, Death Race is merely bad. I wouldn’t worry about finding a way to append the word “good” to anything associated with this film. Read full review

I was torn between walking out immediately and staying to witness a spectacle more dismaying than anything on the screen: the way small children were digging gratuitous bloodshed. Read full review