Deathsport, 1978.
Directed by Allan Arkush & Nicholas Niciphor.
Starring David Carradine, Richard Lynch, Claudia Jennings, David McLean, William Smithers, and Jesse Vint.
SYNOPSIS:
In a dystopian future, a ranger is forced by an evil Lord to take part in a brutal game of survival.
In the distant future the world has been ravaged by centuries of war, with many major cities destroyed and everything in between a barren wasteland inhabited by mutants. Sounds familiar, right? However, in this dystopian future there are Ranger Guides that roam the country, helping out those for whom barely existing in filth is as good as things get, but the evil Lord Zipola (David McLean) isn’t a fan and takes two guides – Kaz (David Carradine) and Deneer (Claudia Jennings) – prisoner, forcing them to take part in Deathsport, the deadliest game of survival ever invented by anyone ever.
Oh yes, it takes a particular kind of hero to get the better of those dirt bikes with tin foil fairing glued to the front, and David Carradine is that hero… possibly.
Acting as a sort of sequel/companion piece to his 1975 cult favourite Death Race 2000, legendary penny-pincher Roger Corman is the producer behind Deathsport and it shows, as the dirt bikes that pass for ‘destructocycles’ in the movie look to be about as dangerous as having your ankles bashed with a shopping trolley, and so they have been fitted with silver bits to make them look more… futuristic and – gasp! – dangerous.
Much of the cast have also been fitted with snazzy costumes and weird weapons to appear more sci-fi – remember, this is a year after Star Wars so everything is about laser swords and blasting guns – and so, much like in Death Sport 2000, the dressing up box has been raided and everyone looks like they are auditioning for a disco video shoot, and the weapons consist of clear plastic swords that whistle when they are swung and laser guns that look like industrial torches with a bit of sponge glued to the front.
Speaking of Star Wars, Corman somehow managed to ‘acquire’ the audio of TIE Fighters for when the destructocycles go through tunnels, which is a bit jarring as when they are not in tunnels they make a similar noise to cars from a 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon. Other than that the bikes have no real purpose apart from being ‘dangerous’, because we are told they are.
Despite having the same producer, lead actor and probably catering truck as Death Race 2000, the one thing that Deathsport does not share with that movie is its sense of humour, as Deathsport is about as po-faced as the first Mad Max movie but without any of the tension and barely any of the excitement.
For his part, David Carradine seems to think he is in some Shakespearean epic and delivers his lines like he was auditioning on a stage in Stratford-Upon-Avon – possibly after a visit to the bar – and he doesn’t appear to be as interested in what he was doing as he was in Death Race 2000.
Luckily, we have screen villain extraordinaire Richard Lynch to ham things up a bit more appropriately, with his luscious hair and glitzy black costume, but although Lynch seems to know what movie he is in, his attempts to add some balls to proceedings seems to go unnoticed by the other cast members, who just sort of float around, reading their lines and occasionally taking their clothes off.
Overall, Deathsport is one of those grubby little movies that is entertaining for all the wrong reasons, mainly because it looks so cheap, it is all taken far too seriously and for Roger Corman’s shameless ‘borrowing’ of things from other movies.
At 82 minutes long it doesn’t take up too much of your time, and it isn’t the worst example of low budget sci-fi tomfoolery out there – let’s face it, had it been an Italian production it would have been a lot worse – but if you are planning to double-bill it with Death Race 2000, it might be best to watch them in reverse order so you at least end on a high.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
