# Death Race (franchise)
**Death Race** is a transmedia franchise of dystopian racing stories built around the premise of a violent, televised automobile race in which killing earns points, beginning with the 1975 film *Death Race 2000* and continuing through a 1976 arcade game, a 2008 film remake with three direct-to-video entries, a 2017 legacy sequel, and a comic book.[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000) • [2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/) The franchise actually comprises two separate film universes: the Paul Bartel and [Roger Corman](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-corman) films (*Death Race 2000* and *Death Race 2050*), and the [Paul W. S. Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-w-s-anderson) remake line (*Death Race* and its prequels and sequel).[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First film | *Death Race 2000* (1975), directed by Paul Bartel, produced by Roger Corman through New World Pictures[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000) |
| Source material | A story by Ib Melchior; screenplay by Robert Thom and Charles B. Griffith[4](https://time.com/archive/6909164/death-race-worth-a-test-drive/) |
| Original budget | About $300,000[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000) |
| Arcade game | Exidy's *Death Race* upright, launched in 1976, based on the film; it became the subject of a national media controversy[2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/) |
| Remake | *Death Race* (2008), written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, distributed by Universal Pictures, 89 minutes, MPAA rating R[5](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/04/interview-with-paul-ws-anderson/) • [6](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/death-race) |
| Remake series | *Death Race 2* and *Death Race 3: Inferno* (prequels), *Death Race: Beyond Anarchy* (2018, sequel)[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) |
| Corman-line sequel | *Death Race 2050* (2017), the belated sequel to *Death Race 2000*[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) |
## Death Race 2000 (1975)
The original film imagines a future United States that has abandoned democracy for totalitarianism and martial law after a global economic crisis. A government-sanctioned transcontinental road race is won by the driver who kills the most pedestrians, with babies and the elderly earning especially high scores, and a rebellion led by Thomasina Paine seeks to end the barbaric sport.[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000) • [3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) [David Carradine](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-carradine) and [Sylvester Stallone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sylvester-stallone), on the brink of stardom, play rival racers competing for the championship.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/)
The film was made for about $300,000, and the racers' cars were Volkswagen Beetles with custom shells bolted on top; because each car was unique, they could not be crashed and were not driven faster than 42 mph.[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000) • [5](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/04/interview-with-paul-ws-anderson/) On release it earned a poor critical reception, with critics faulting the depth of its themes of anarchy and rebellion, but it later underwent critical reappraisal and is now regarded as a cult classic.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) Director George Miller has pointed to *Death Race* as an influence on his *Mad Max* franchise.[1](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000)
## The Exidy arcade game (1976)
In 1976 the video game company Exidy launched *Death Race* as an arcade upright, basing the game on the film and deliberately associating it with the movie's title and narrative world.[2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/) The game's release fed into a broader American debate about media regulation and youth access to violent amusements.[2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/)
The ignition point of the controversy was a July 1976 Associated Press wire article by Wendy Walker, which ran in hundreds of newspapers across the United States several months after the game's release.[7](https://proxy.goincop1.workers.dev/https/gamehistory.org/media-vs-death-race/) Exidy executives treated the controversy as a combination of annoyance and a good source of publicity.[2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/) Scholar Carly Kocurek, writing in *Game Studies*, traces the game's bond with later controversial titles, describing the *Grand Theft Auto* franchise as the progeny of *Death Race* in both narrative theme and reception.[2](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/)
## Death Race (2008)
Paul W. S. Anderson, the British writer-director known for the *Resident Evil* films and *Alien vs. Predator*, conceived the remake as a prequel that tells the genesis of the race portrayed in Corman's film, rather than a straightforward retelling.[8](https://www.comingsoon.net/extras/news/45597-death-race-producerdirector-paul-w-s-anderson) The project took shape slowly: after *Mortal Kombat* opened at number one in America, Anderson told Corman over lunch that he wanted the rights to one of his old films, and about 12 years passed before shooting began; Corman, who had also released Anderson's first film *Shopping* in the US, remained attached as producer throughout.[8](https://www.comingsoon.net/extras/news/45597-death-race-producerdirector-paul-w-s-anderson) • [5](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/04/interview-with-paul-ws-anderson/) Filming started in Montreal in August 2007.[9](https://claytribune.com/death-race-review-stathams-star-power-cant-save-this-loud-repetitive-mess/)
The film is set in 2012, after the collapse of the US economy, when gladiatorial sports stream online as pay-per-view entertainment. At Terminal Island prison, run by Warden Hennessey ([Joan Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/joan-allen)), inmates race for their freedom: five wins earn a release, and losing racers leave in body bags. The prison's most famous racer, [Frankenstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/frankenstein), has died, so the warden frames former professional racer Jensen Ames ([Jason Statham](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-statham)) for his wife's murder and makes him take on the Frankenstein persona. Ian McShane plays Coach, leader of the pit crew, and Tyrese Gibson plays Machine Gun Joe.[6](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/death-race)
**Production style.** Anderson insisted on practical stunts: there is not a single computer-generated stunt in the film, and every car crash was done for real, which required about a year of pre-production to build the cars and camera rigs. The vehicles are armed and armored rather than sleek, and the race course is modeled after a video game, with power-ups that activate weapons or spring obstacles in front of opponents.[5](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/04/interview-with-paul-ws-anderson/) • [6](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/death-race)
## The remake series and Death Race 2050
The 2008 film spawned its own line of direct-to-video entries. *Death Race 2* tells the origin of the race and of the Frankenstein character and persona, and *[Death Race 3: Inferno](https://www.edgepedia.org/death-race-3-inferno)* relocates the bloodsport to South Africa; both are prequels set before the 2008 film.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) *[Death Race: Beyond Anarchy](https://www.edgepedia.org/death-race-beyond-anarchy)* (2018) is the sequel to the 2008 film, in which Connor Gibson ([Zach McGowan](https://www.edgepedia.org/zach-mcgowan)) is appointed to take down the long-time champion Frankenstein.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) Universal Pictures sells the four Anderson-line films together as the *Death Race* 4-Movie Collection, starring Jason Statham, Danny Trejo, Luke Goss, and Zach McGowan among others, with a combined run time of 7 hours 7 minutes.[10](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/death-race-4-movie-collection)
The Corman side of the franchise continued separately: *Death Race 2050* (2017) is the sequel to *Death Race 2000*, set in a society on the verge of collapse, with the race elevated through virtual-reality spectacle.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) Even though Anderson situates his 2008 film's events before those of *Death Race 2000*, the two lines are treated as two different cinematic universes, which makes the franchise's watch order a recurring point of confusion.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/) A comic book, *Death Race 2020*, written by [Pat Mills](https://www.edgepedia.org/pat-mills) and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, filled in backstory about Frankenstein before being canceled.[3](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/)
## Reception
The 2008 remake received mixed-to-negative reviews from aggregate critics, scoring 43 on Metacritic, described there as "mixed or average," with 11 of 24 sampled reviews positive and 10 negative.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/death-race/critic-reviews/) Critics were divided in tone: the *New York Times* called it "legitimately greasy, authentically nasty," while Michael Phillips of the *Chicago Tribune* praised its "peppy, good-time nastiness."[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/death-race/critic-reviews/) James Berardinelli of ReelViews judged the film weak on plot, character, and acting but effective at provoking visceral reactions.[6](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/death-race)
Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* gave the film half a star out of four, opening his review by calling it "an assault on all the senses," and his central criticism targeted the film's video-game aesthetics: "Walking out, I had the impression I had just seen the video game and was still waiting for the movie."[12](https://www.slashfilm.com/2093170/roger-ebert-hated-jason-statham-sci-fi-movie-death-race/) Reviewers also noted the tonal shift from the original: the remake lacks the distinctive tongue-in-cheek black humor that characterized Paul Bartel's 1975 film.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/death-race/critic-reviews/)
## References
1. [Death Race 2000, Screen Slate (Rebecca Cleman, 2017)](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/death-race-2000)
2. [The Agony and the Exidy: A History of Video Game Violence and the Legacy of Death Race, Carly Kocurek, Game Studies](https://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek/)
3. [The Correct Order To Watch The Death Race Franchise, SlashFilm (Debopriyaa Dutta, 2024)](https://www.slashfilm.com/1606105/correct-order-to-watch-death-race-franchise/)
4. [Death Race: Worth a Test Drive, Time (2008)](https://time.com/archive/6909164/death-race-worth-a-test-drive/)
5. [Interview with Paul WS Anderson, Electric Sheep (2008)](https://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2008/09/04/interview-with-paul-ws-anderson/)
6. [Death Race (2008), Reelviews Movie Reviews, James Berardinelli](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/death-race)
7. [Videogame Nasty: The Media vs. Death Race, Video Game History Foundation](https://proxy.goincop1.workers.dev/https/gamehistory.org/media-vs-death-race/)
8. [Death Race Producer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson, ComingSoon.net (2008)](https://www.comingsoon.net/extras/news/45597-death-race-producerdirector-paul-w-s-anderson)
9. [Death Race at Eighteen: A Premise Sharper Than the Film Around It, Clay Tribune](https://claytribune.com/death-race-review-stathams-star-power-cant-save-this-loud-repetitive-mess/)
10. [Death Race 4-Movie Collection, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/death-race-4-movie-collection)
11. [Death Race Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/death-race/critic-reviews/)
12. [Roger Ebert Hated A Jason Statham Sci-Fi Movie With A Passion, SlashFilm](https://www.slashfilm.com/2093170/roger-ebert-hated-jason-statham-sci-fi-movie-death-race/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Fictional worlds and series reference apparatus › Fictional universes, characters, and attribute reference*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license