“It’s no accident that the word sabotage was invented by the French.”
Tag: DEATH RACE 2000
Laserblast, June 22: Death Race 2000, Avatar the Last Airbender
Tuesday June 22 is short of exciting horror, fantasy, and science fiction titles arriving on home video, but cult fans will be pleased to note new DVD and Blu-ray discs for DEATH RACE 2000, the 1978 satire from producer Roger Corman, about a lethal cross-country race, for which drivers improve their ranking by mowing down pedestrians. It’s no secret that DEATH RACE is basically an exploitation rip-off of ROLLERBALL, but in this case the little low-budget movie is far livelier than its big-budget template. The film, which stars the late David Carradine and a pre-ROCKY Sylvester Stallone, has been previously released on DVD several times (including a special edition), but this marks its Blu-ray debut. The high-def disc (featuring a 1.85 transfer from the Interpositive film element) is loaded with bonus features, including:
- David On Death Race: Interview with David Carradine
- Audio Commentary With Roger Corman & Mary Woronov
- New Audio Commentary With Assistant Director Lewis Teague And Editor Tina Hirsh
- Playing The Game: Looking Back at Death Race 2000
- Ready To Wear: Interview with costume designer Jane Ruhm
- Designing Dystopia A detailed look at the design of the films now-legendary race cars, costumes and futuristic landscapes with members of the production, design and costume crew
- Start Your Engines: Interview with author Ib Melchior
- Killer Score: An all-new interview with composer Paul Chihara on the creation of the films eclectic score
- Leonard Maltin Interviews Roger Corman About Death Race 2000
- Theatrical Trailer
- Theatrical Trailer With Commentary By John Landis
- TV And Radio spots
- 12-Page Booklet
- New World Trailers
The week’s other releases include AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER: THE COMPLETE BOOK 1 (COLLECTOR’S EDITION) and THE GOTHIC HORROR COLLECTION: NOSFERATU, VAMPYR, AND LE VAMPIRE. The former is a 7-disc collection of the animated series that inspired by upcoming movie by M. Night Shyamalan. The latter is a single-disc featuring the over-rated F.M. Murnau silent adaptation of DRACULA, plus Carl Theodore Dryer’s creepy and critically well regarded VAMPYR (1932) and LE VAMPIRE (1945), a short documentary about vampire bats.
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