The Death Race series is a car combatfranchise 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'' (1975)
Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film. In the near future, the ultimate sporting event is the Death Race. Contestants score points for running people down as they speed across the country. The sport has crazed fans who sacrifice themselves to the drivers. A covert group is trying to bring an end to the immoral Death Race and has infiltrated one of their followers into the race as a navigator of the top driver. In the end, the lives of the competitors, the President and the Death Race itself are in peril. The screenplay was based on the short story "The Racer" by Ib Melchior.
''Death Race'' (2008)
Death Race is a 2008 remake 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. Claire Hennessey, the warden of Terminal Island Penitentiary, earns profits from the pay-per-view broadcast of a modern gladiator game called the "Death Race", with the prisoners as the players. The racers, along with their navigators, drive a three-part race over three 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 activate deadly metal traps which rise up from the track. The reward for the drivers is that if one racer wins five races, they will be granted their freedom by Warden Hennessey.
''Death Race 2'' (2010)
Death Race 2 is a prequel to the 2008 film, Death Race. Getaway driver Carl "Luke" Lucas is arrested after a robbery for his crime bossMarkus Kane 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'' (2013)
Death Race owner Weyland has been forced to sell the rights to Niles York, a British billionaire who acquired the rights by hostile takeover. York reveals that he intends to relocate the 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, a.k.a. Frankenstein, one win away from gaining his freedom, York coaches Lucas to lose his race and threatens his life if he fails to comply.
A comic book sequel series titled Death Race 2020 was published in April-November 1995 by Roger Corman's short-lived Roger Corman's 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 series, as the title indicates, takes place 20 years after the film ended and deals with Frankenstein's return to the race. New racers introduced here included Von Dutch, the Alcoholic, Happy the Clown, Steppenwolf, Rick Rhesus and Harry Carrie. The comic book series lasted eight issues before being cancelled and the story was left unfinished in the end.
The 1982 video game Maze Death Race for Sinclair ZX81 computers resembles the film by its cover artwork, title, and car-driving content.
The Carmageddonvideo game series all borrow heavily from the plot, characters and car designs from the film Death Race 2000.
Television
The 2017 TV show Blood Drive also draws from the Death Race series. Instead of killing people to earn points, people are sacrificed to the cars' engines, which have been modified to run off human blood rather than traditional fuel.
