Death Race (franchise)

The Death Race series is a car combat franchise encompassing a series of films and other media centered on a reality show set in a prison, where inmates race against each other in order to win their freedom.

Films

Death Race 2000

Main article: Death Race 2000

Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film. In the near future the ultimate sporting event is the deathrace. Contestants get score points for running people down as they speed across the country. The sport has crazed fans who sacrifice themselves to the drivers. An overt agency is trying to bring an end to the immoral deathrace and has infiltrated one of their followers in to the race as a navigator. In the end of the race the lives of the competitors, the President and the deathrace itself are in peril.

Death Race

Main article: Death Race (film)

Death Race is a 2008 remake (although director Paul W.S. Anderson stated in the DVD commentary that he thought of the film as a prequel) of Death Race 2000. In the year 2012, the economy of the US collapses, causing unemployment and crime rates to skyrocket, and a sharp increase of convicted criminals, which leads to privatized prisons for profit. In 2013, Claire Hennessey (Joan Allen), the warden of Terminal Island Penitentiary, earns profits from the pay-per-view broadcast of a modern gladiator game called "Death Race", with the prisoners as the players. The racers, along with their navigators, drive a 3-part race over 3 days on a closed track at Terminal Island, with various pressure plates: swords activate the racers' offensive weapons, shields activate defensive weapons such as oil, smoke, and napalm, and skulls ("Death Heads") activate deadly metal traps which rise up from the track. The reward for the drivers is that if one racer wins 5 races, they will be granted their freedom by Warden Hennessey.

Death Race 2

Main article: Death Race 2

Death Race 2 is a prequel to the 2008 film, Death Race. Getaway driver Carl "Luke" Lucas (Luke Goss) is arrested after a robbery for his crime boss Markus Kane (Sean Bean) goes wrong. As his accomplices are robbing the bank, two police officers casually enter the building. Luke tells his accomplices to abort, but they refuse; Luke intervenes, resulting in the death of one of the three accomplices. Luke shoots and kills one of the officers and dumps off his accomplices in order to fulfill Markus's wishes. In doing so, Luke is eventually captured by the police following a high-speed chase and sentenced to serve time on Terminal Island. Markus, worried that Luke will trade info on his crimes for immunity, discovers his location and orders his men to take Luke out.

Death Race 3: Inferno

Main article: Death Race 3: Inferno

Death Race owner Weyland (Ving Rhames) has been forced to sell the rights to Niles York (Dougray Scott), a British billionaire who acquired the rights by hostile takeover. York reveals he intends to relocate Death Race to the deserts of Africa. Before leaving, Weyland arranges Lucas to have surgery to heal the infected and deadly scars on his face sustained from the previous film Death Race 2. With Carl Lucas, aka Frankenstein (Luke Goss), one win away from gaining his freedom, York coaches Lucas to lose his races and threatens his life if he fails to comply.

Death Race 2050

Corman has announced a sequel to his original 1975 film, Death Race 2000; shooting started in Peru in February 2016. It will star Malcolm McDowell, Burt Grinstead, Marci Miller, Folake Olowofoyeku, Anessa Ramsey, Yancy Butler, and Charlie Farrell. G. J. Echternkamp will direct.[1]

Cast and characters

Character Film
Death Race 2000
(1975)
Death Race
(2008)
Death Race 2
(2010)
Death Race 3:
Inferno

(2013)
Death Race 2050
(2017)
Death Race 4
(TBD)
"Frankenstein" David Carradine Jason Statham & David Carradine voice-over Luke Goss Luke Goss & Dougray Scott Manu Bennett  TBA
Annie Smith Simone Griffeth   Marci Miller  
"Machine-Gun" Joe Viterbo Sylvester Stallone  
"Mr. President" Sandy McCallum  
Myra Louisa Moritz  
Lists   Frederick Koehler   Frederick Koehler
14K   Robin Shou  
Jensen Ames   Jason Statham  
Claire Hennessey   Joan Allen  Joan Allen - Photograph  Joan Allen - Archive footage  
Joseph Mason (a.k.a. Machine Gun Joe)   Tyrese Gibson  
Coach   Ian McShane    Ian McShane - Photograph  
Case   Natalie Martinez  
Gunner   Jacob Vargas  
Ulrich   Jason Clarke  
Pachenko   Max Ryan  
Hector Grimm   Robert LaSardo  
Travis Colt   Justin Mader  
Carl "Luke" Lucas   Luke Goss  
Katrina Banks   Tanit Phoenix  
Goldberg   Danny Trejo   Danny Trejo
R.H. Weyland   Ving Rhames  
Markus Kane   Sean Bean  
Big Bill   Deobia Oparei  
September Jones   Lauren Cohan  
Medford Parks   Patrick Lyster  
Rocco   Joe Vaz  
Xander Grady   Henie Bosman  
Calin   Warrick Grier  
Hill Billy   Sean Higgs  
Apache   Chase Armitage  
The Sheik   Michael Solomon  
Scarface   Trayan Milenov-Troy  
Niles York   Dougray Scott  
Satana   Hlubi Mboya  
Razor   Bart Fouche  
Psycho   Jeremy Crutchley  
Nero   Eugene Khumbanyiwa  
Olga Braun   Michelle van Schaik  
Joker   Mark Elderkin  
Pretty Boy   Brandon Livanos  
Jackal   Anton David Jeftha  

Spin-off

Deathsport is a 1978 science fiction B-movie produced by Roger Corman, directed by Allan Arkush and Nicholas Niciphor.

In other media

Comic book series

A sequel comic book entitled Death Race 2020 was published in 1995 by Roger Corman's short-lived Cosmic Comics imprint. It was written by Pat Mills of 2000 AD fame, with art by Kevin O'Neill. The pair had already worked together on several comics including Marshal Law. The comic book, as the title indicates, took place 20 years after the film and dealt with Frankenstein's return to the race. New racer characters introduced included Von Dutch, The Alcoholic, Happy the Clown, Steppenwolf, Rick Rhesus, and Harry Carrie.

The comic book series lasted eight issues.

Video games

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.