Red-Band ‘Death Race 2050’ Trailer Looks Incredible, May Have Cost Twelve Dollars
Does America really need another Death Race movie, considering the fact that America is approximately a year and a half out from living out its own insanely budgeted real-life Death Race sequel? Or do we, in fact, need a new Death Race movie now more than ever? As we rapidly hurtle towards our own dystopian world, can’t we look to the upcoming Death Race 2050 as a guide, a bloody roadmap for the deranged years to come? In order — yes, yes, and yes. (Note: this lede can be easily recycled for news concerning other apocalyptic franchises such as Mad Max, Terminator, and Bad Moms.)
Fortunately, B-movie godfather Roger Corman has returned to grant a nastier, funnier, and altogether cheaper-looking Death Race to the people of today. The trailer surfaced today, but when Death Race 2050 comes directly to video on January 17, Corman will rewrite the franchise by positioning this new film as a direct sequel to his 1974 original Death Race 2050. The rules are the same, however — as a nation of voyeuristic spectators watch from their couches, competitors pilot souped-up muscle cars in a mad dash to claim as many lives as quickly as possible, with extra points for children, the elderly, and the disabled. In the United Corporations of America (commentary!), the Death Race is a necessary sacrifice that keeps the hordes docile and under the control of the sinister Chairman (Malcolm McDowell, who once starred in A Clockwork Orange, and is now doing this).
The trailer is just as it should be: gun-crazy, ludicrously fun, and almost laughably cheap-looking. Corman might as well have thrown this together using couch change; we wouldn’t have it any other way.