Universal Pictures has put out a press release for DEATH RACE, the remake of the classic exploitation film DEATH RACE 2000 (1975), which starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone. The new version stars Jason Statham as a convict forced by a sadistic warden to run a countrywide gauntlet in a souped up speedster.
For some reason, the storyline sounds more like DEATH SPORT, the disappointing 1978 spin-off of DEATH RACE 2000:
Jason Statham leads the cast of an action-thriller set in the post-industrial wasteland of tomorrow, with the world’s most brutal sporting event as its backdrop. A penitentiary full of felons has inspired the jailers to create a grisly pastime ripe for lucrative kickbacks. Now, adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for televised violence and a spectacular arena come together to form the Death Race.
Three-time speedway champion Jensen Ames (Statham) is an expert at survival in the harsh landscape that has become our country. Just as he thinks he has turned his life around, the ex-con is framed for a gruesome murder he didn’t commit. Forced to don the mask of the mythical driver Frankenstein—a crowd favorite who seems impossible to kill—Ames is given an easy choice by Terminal Island’s warden (Joan Allen): suit up or rot away in a cell.
His face hidden by a metallic mask, one convict will be put through an insane three-day challenge. Ames must survive a gauntlet of the most vicious criminals in the country’s toughest prison to claim the prize of freedom. Driving a monster car outfitted with machine guns, flamethrowers and grenade launchers, one desperate man will destroy anything in his path to win the most twisted spectator sport on Earth.
It is also interesting to note that the remake had to drop the “2000” from the title or risk sounding like a historical movie, rather than a futuristic one. We have long since passed the time when the real-life calendar caught up with speculative fiction’s predictions of the future. (Think of 1984 and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY as examples.)