DEATH RACE 2000 To Finally Get A Sequel

One of the absolute best Roger Corman films is Death Race 2000, directed by the legendary Paul Bartel and starring David Carradine as the ineffably awesome Frankenstein (and featuring a young Sly Stallone). It's set in the (then) future, where a deadly cross-country road race keeps the population glued to their TVs as cartoonish drivers in extraordinary cars splatter pedestrians for points. It's seriously one of the best movies ever, heavy with comedy, violence and angry social messaging. There was a terrible remake, which dropped the entire conceit of the film - they set the damn thing on a racetrack - but there was never an official follow-up. 

Until now!

Roger Corman has announced that Death Race 2050 is currently in production in Peru. GJ Echternkamp, who previously directed Virtually Heroes for Corman, is helming and Matt Yamashita, who wrote that film, is scripting. I'm a little torn here - Corman's latter-day output is waaaaay too tongue-in-cheek for me (Yamashita also wrote Sharktopus vs Pteracuda, for instance, yet another basic as hell entry in the funny shark monster genre), but I've met Echternkamp and I think he's actually got the chops to do a real 70s style (ie, funny but not a pandering parody) Corman film. 

Manu Bennett of The Hobbit and Arrow and Spartacus is taking over as Frankenstein - he's maybe a little big? Maybe it's a different Frankenstein. Malcolm McDowell will show up for a paycheck as the Chairman of the evil corporation that runs America and the Death Race. This time Frankenstein must deal not only with the race but also with a co-driver who turns out to be a rebel spy. As long as a lot of people get hit by cars in graphic fashion I'll be happy enough.