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Death Racers (2008)

DVD Cover (The Asylum Home Entertainment)
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Overall Rating 39%
Overall Rating
Ranked #8,352
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Connections: Death Race 2000

In a dystopian future, contestants compete in a cross-country road race in which killing is part of the game. --IMDb
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Review by Crispy
Added: January 10, 2009
The Asylum is well know for their habit of making "Mockbusters", and Death Racers is their take on Death Race. This was only the second of their films I've seen, the first being Transmorphers. That film's plot had absolutely no relation to its Hollywood counterpart, and I can't say I really enjoyed the final product. On the other hand, Death Racers has seemingly taken elements from both Death Race and it's original film, Death Race 2000, and incorporated them into a new, (not so) original story. The end result was a film that while still lacking, was a lot better than it had any right being.

In the near future, The Red Zone is a maximum security prison where the worst criminals are dumped and are allowed to run wild. Naturally resulting in an 'Only the Strong' hierarchy, the criminal known only as The Reaper has established himself head of the prison. Using the water mains running underground, he has developed a plan that will fatally poison most of the United States. Thanks to an inside surveillance man, the Governor decided to run a pay-per-view event called a Death Race through the prison in order to deal with The Reaper. Teams of two prisoners are given vehicles loaded with missiles and machine guns and set lose to win their freedom; points are awarded for each prisoner killed, and The Reaper is worth forty times the points.

Not much of a plot there and for the most part, it's just as simple in application. With that said, nobody is going to watch this for the story. People are going to watch this for the blood, women and low bar humor that are expected to be delivered in spades. While this film does deliver all of the above, however, not to the extent that it really should be. At the beginning of the race, there's a lot of fun bargain violence. Fun, however, the bloodshed slows down considerably after this. T&A is provided by the team Vaginamyte, two scantily clad black widow sluts, although the only actual nudity is one of them taking her shirt off for five seconds. The humor aspect brings me to what is simultaneously this movies biggest draw and what will turn away most viewers. One of the teams is none other than the infamous Insane Clown Posse, a duo that is almost universally hated by all except their fan base, who practically deify them. If you've ever heard any of their songs, you know the kind of juvenile humor they rely on. It works fine for this movie, that is, if you can get through any preconceived bias you might have.

Although expectations were low for this film going in, there were some points where the ball was dropped. And badly. One of the biggest complaints I had was the background music. Instead of using some generic rock score, instead they just used ICP music. The first problem lies in the fact that none of the songs used actually lined up with what was happening onscreen. Secondly, they just used a small handful of songs and played excerpts from each, over and over again. Just because ICP starred in the movie, doesn't mean some decent backing tracks had to be out of the question. The other problem I had was the constant use of music video-esque repeat editing. In the violence scenes, sure they would kind of work, but they were thrown in everywhere for the stupidest shit. A character shutting his car door would be shown three times in a row, for absolutely no reason. Major polishing could have been done in this area.

I'll admit, I was also disappointed with the acting here. I know, I know, the acting is never good in these movies, but considering what we were given, I had high hopes. In no way am I claiming that ICP are great in front of the camera, but they were a lot more reserved than they could have been. Having seen their film, Big Money Hustlas, I've seen how much fun they have when allowed to go buck wild. The leashes should have been kept off these two for best results. Also, The Reaper is played by Scott Levy, best known as Raven to wrestling buffs. Now, you have to realize, as a young sprite, Raven was my favorite wrestler in WCW (I missed his heyday in ECW), and as a student of one Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, he could cut a damned nice promo. Seeing him in action here was an extremely depressing affair for yours truly.

Considering how heavy all the ICP influence on this film, the juggalos will obviously be the biggest fan of this one, and will be completely written off by most others (if you're wondering, I do listen to ICP, but I'm more of a casual fan). It wasn't a bad flick, as far as B movies go, but not one I'm apt to watch again anytime soon. 6/10 sounds about right.
Ginose #1: Ginose - added January 10, 2009 at 1:08am
Yeah, quite a fan of ICP, and the influence of their "humor" was heavy all throughout this one, as well as the Asylum's own b-budget fun... actually, I found myself enjoying this one alot more than I wanted to, especially with the "what the fuck" ending it threw at us...Liked it better than than that "Death Race"... be sure of that...

7.1/10
Ginose #2: Ginose - added January 10, 2009 at 1:14am
I also liked how this one had more in common with "Death Race 2000" than it's supposed remake... that could be one of the reasons I enjoyed it so damned much... it actually felt like a sequel... right down to it being called the "Death Race"... that was ice...
Chad #3: Chad - added March 1, 2009 at 9:52am
Could have been much worse, but I was shocked to see that I enjoyed it. Raven was great, and ICP... well, they're ICP. 6/10 sounds about right.
BuryMeAlive #4: BuryMeAlive - added August 1, 2015 at 6:07am
Seriously, this one is close to unwatchable. 2/10
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