Death Racers

English/85 Minutes/2008/Not Rated

“Three years from now, war began.” - Narrator (sic)

Death Racers is not a good movie. The acting consists of broad stereotypes, the cars are street models with aluminum pipes stuffed with plastic rockets fixed to the roofs for weapons. In short, Death Racers looks like something your nutty cousin would make, with a few exceptions. But they are important exceptions.

This film is released by The Asylum which is a production company that specializes in knockoffs. For example when a movie like Transformers is released Asylum brings out “Transmorphers” and with “Death Race” hitting stores, “Death Racers” is the inevitable knock off. Generally the films are excreable and hilariously bad and range from “so bad its good” to just bad. In the case of “Death Racers” the knockoff is better than the real deal. Although that may be damning with faint praise.

The story of “Death Racers” is fairly straightforward. In a post-apocalyptic future (think "The Running Man") a large section of an unnamed state has been cordoned off as a prison (think "Escape From New York") where the worst of the worst are sent. An evil genius (played by WWE's Raven) prisoner has learned that the prison just happens to be over the state water supply (talk about poor city planning). The villain's plan is to use liquid Sarin he has synthesized to poison the water.

The only way to stop him, apparently, is to give some inmates cars tricked out with weapons and have them go hunt the villain down. On the way they can score points by killing other criminals, 10 for each, with 400 points for the evil genius. The first party to 1000 points gets to go free. Of course this will all be televised (on basic, no pay-per-view).

Our cast includes former wrestlers/recording artists Insane Clown Posse (Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope), a white guy pretending to be Hispanic (Jason Ellefson), and two lipstick lesbian black-widows (Jennifer Keith and Therese). The stage is set for offensive humor, offensive language, and bloody kills. In this regard “Death Racers” definitely delivers.

The film makes me think of some Troma releases (like "Maniac Nurses Find Ecstasy") but without the craft that made for some of their better films ("Toxic Avenger," "Bloodsucking Freaks"). The acting is better than you might expect from an Asylum release and the plotting (and some of the dialogue) is also above average. This is a case where a pretty good movie is handicapped by its budget. If the guys who made this had access to the cast and material that Paul Anderson did for “Death Race” this might have been a decent film, at least from a technical perspective.

It must be said that standards are typically lower for this kind of release and some rough edges (if not total mess) are to be expected. The main characters (I.C.P.) benefit from playing essentially outgrowths of their public personas. If you are unfamiliar with their work their performance probably won't make a lot of sense, but think of them as the Troma of rap music. They make offensive, gory, over the top rap music playing as maniacal clowns. The rest of the cast is actually pretty good (even if a having a wrestler as an evil genius is about as credible as Tara Reid in “Alone In The Dark”) with some standout performances by Jennifer Keith (Double-Dee Struction) and pseudo-Latino Jason Ellefson (Fred “The Hammer”), although his performance includes some racial humor that might be a bit much for people and is genuinely offensive (which is rare in films these days).

The camera work mixes a high contrast flat look for some outdoor scenes, bizarre video effects (mirror images), running moments back and forth, and having a lot of victim POV shots. Most of the blood effects are pretty limp, showing their lack of budget (and perhaps lack of imagination). With a limited supply of extras and stunt people most of the cars drive at a leisurely 5 or 10 miles an hour while "victims" throw themselves into the cars. There are some exceptions where the lack of blood or blood in the right places actually feels more realistic and makes for some genuinely disturbing moments of violence. On the upside, since we're dealing with wrestlers, a lot of the hand to hand action actually looks pretty good. There is even a scene of animal violence (not real).

It is the genuine moments that make the movie worth watching. There's even subtle social commentary about “Homeland Security” and the use of military forces for less than noble reasons as well as the manipulation of the media surrounding those moments. All of this was missing from the major release "Death Race." It's safe to say that this movie is closer to the black exploitative heart of the original "Death Race 2000."

At its best "Death Racers" recalls better movies such as "Robocop," "The Running Man," and Takashi Miike's "Full Metal Yakuza" (that metal penis). At its worse it is a technical failure with some questionable acting. If you can look past the budget limitations though this movie is worth watching. The plot is better and the resolution more satisfying (and surprisingly dark) than the Paul Anderson film and is recommended.

This movie is perfect for late night parties and for having a good laugh with friends. It also comes ready for drinking games! Just take a shot every time the TV announcer says “DEATH RAAAAACE!” You'll pass out before the ending.

Not Rated: (im)Mature Audiences, Bloody Violence, Pervasive Language, and Some Sexual Content