''Death Racers'' is a 2008 American action film directed by

Roy Knyrim Roy Knyrim (born 1966/1967) is an American film director and special effects makeup artist. He directed ''Demons at the Door'' (2004), '' Cemetery Gates'' (2006), ''Night Skies'' (2007), and '' Death Racers'' (2008). His credits as a special effe ...

. Considered a

mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to ma ...

of the film '' Death Race'' (released that same year), ''Death Racers'' follows teams of criminals competing in a deadly, over-the-top racing event in a

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n United States. It stars the hip hop duo

Insane Clown Posse Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo. Formed in Detroit in 1989 as a gangsta rap group, ICP's best known lineup consists of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (originally 2 Dope; Joseph Utsl ...

and professional wrestler Scott "Raven" Levy, and was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and s ...

Plot

In the year 2030, a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

breaks out in the United States. In a final attempt to restore order, the president declares

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

. In 2033, a massive prison camp known as "the Red Zone" is built in a desolate city that soon holds over one million insane and violent felons. The US is declared safe. A dangerous criminal known as the Reaper has been extracting

sarin Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devic ...

as he discusses these plans, and the state's governor, Reagan Black finds out about them. Black develops a plan to hold a "death race" within the prison system, assembling four teams of racers: * The Severed Head Gang, consisting of Danny Satanico and Fred "The Hammer", two members of the largest

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Territory (animal), territory in a communi ...

in the US, known for

decapitating Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

their enemies. The team is given a customized 1995

town car The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to ...

. * Homeland Security, consisting of Colonel Bob and Captain Rudy Jackson, formerly honored, but now disgraced members of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. The team is given a vintage 1943

Willys MB The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, -ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503,According to i ...

. * Vaginamyte, consisting of Double-Dee Destruction and Queen B, two

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

s who seduced and murdered over 72 male and female victims. The team is given a yellow

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chass ...

with a

black widow spider ''Latrodectus'' is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. Howeve ...

design. * Insane Clown Posse (Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope), whose violent form of hip hop was attributed as indirectly influencing multiple murders, acts of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and a school massacre which resulted in the

rappers Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

being convicted for these murders and being dubbed as "the

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

of their time". Although the group's music has been banned, it continues to retain a strong fanbase. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are given an

ice cream truck An ice cream van ( British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or nea ...

customized with a meat grinder,

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...

s and "all the

bling-bling Bling-bling, often shortened to just bling, is "flashy jewelry worn especially as an indication of wealth or status; broadly: expensive and ostentatious possessions" such as grills and designer bags. The term arose as slang, but grew into a cu ...

these two

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

locals could find". The race is televised live, hosted by anchors Harvey Winkler and Jennifer Ramirez. Black offers the teams gathering points for killing loose prisoners, promising freedom to the team that brings back the Reaper—dead or alive. When Danny Satanico suggests that the four teams escape, Black reveals that each team member has a chip implanted in their bodies which would kill any member that breaks the rules, using Satanico to demonstrate. When Insane Clown Posse's truck gets a

flat tire A flat tire (British English: flat tyre) is a deflated pneumatic tyre, which can cause the rim of the wheel to ride on the tire tread or the ground potentially resulting in loss of control of the vehicle or irreparable damage to the tire. The mos ...

, a fight ensues between the teams and loose criminals. In the distance, Violent J witnesses an explosion. The teams investigate, finding the burning Homeland Security jeep with two corpses inside. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope find FX filming the race. He tells them that there will be an ambush at their first destination, and they let him ride in their van. Each of the teams work together to surprise and kill the ambushers. Metal Machine Man, under the order of the Reaper, kills FX and attacks the racers before being hit by missiles fired by a pair of mysterious men. The teams fix their cars before dispatching. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope arrive at the Reaper's lair, and successfully infiltrate the fortress, preventing the Reaper and his henchmen from releasing the sarin into the water. The mysterious men arrive, firing a rocket into the room, and reveal themselves to be Colonel Bob and Captain Rudy, who were hired by Governor Black as inside men, and faked their deaths to convince the other teams that they had a chance of winning. Believing the Reaper died in the explosion, Bob and Rudy retrieve his severed hand and leave in Insane Clown Posse's truck. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope emerge from the rubble. Because Violent J is injured, Shaggy 2 Dope goes after Bob and Rudy alone. The Reaper appears and attempts to release the sarin as Violent J attempts to stop him. The Homeland Security team members arrive at the finish line, presenting the Reapers hand to Governor Black. Shaggy 2 Dope rises from the back of the truck, shooting at Bob, Rudy and the governor. Black presses the button to activate the explosives in the bodies of the Insane Clown Posse team members. The sarin explodes, causing a chain reaction which destroys the country.

Cast

Production

In January 2008, it was announced that

and

Twiztid Twiztid is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan, known for both their horror-themed lyrics and rock influenced sound. Formed in 1997, Twiztid is composed of rappers Jamie "Madrox" Spaniolo and Paul "Monoxide" Methric. Spaniolo and ...

had received a treatment for a low-budget

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

titled ''Road Rage'', to be directed by Roy Knyrim of Sota Productions, who had previously directed J and Shaggy in ''The Chronicles of the Dark Carnival''. It was stated that filming would take place over a two-week period in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

during the Spring of that year. In March, a second announcement was made, stating that Insane Clown Posse would star in a film scheduled to begin production in the first week of May. Bruce and Utsler would portray their stage personas of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, and the characters would drive around in an ice cream truck, killing

pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with t ...

for points. It was stated that the film would be aired by the

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

in the summer. Insane Clown Posse members

Violent J Joseph Frank Bruce (born April 28, 1972), known by his stage name Violent J, is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler, and part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse. He is a co-founder of the record label '' Psychopathic R ...

and

Shaggy 2 Dope Joseph William Utsler (; born October 14, 1974), known by his stage name Shaggy 2 Dope, is an American rapper, record producer, DJ, podcast host of Shaggy and The Creep Show, and professional wrestler. He is part of the hip hop duo Insane Clow ...

agreed to appear in the film because the director was a personal friend, and they wanted to warm up their acting skills for '' Big Money Rustlas'', the prequel to the

Psychopathic Records Psychopathic Records is an American independent record label headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The label is most associated with the hip hop music subgenres horrorcore and rap rock. The label was founded in 1991 by Alex Abbiss and hip ...

film ''

Big Money Hustlas ''Big Money Hustlas'' is a 2000 American comedy film directed by John Cafiero as his feature film debut. The film, a homage to exploitation films of the 1970s, focuses on a streetwise San Francisco detective who tries to take down a New York City ...

''. Psychopathic was not involved with the production of ''Death Racers'' in any way. According to Bruce, "We just did it for fun. We knew it was gonna be basically garbage." ''Death Racers'' was released direct-to-video by

on September 16, 2008. The film's soundtrack featured original music by Joseph Kamiya, in addition to previously released music performed by Insane Clown Posse.

Legacy

Violent J referred to ''Death Racers'' as "a terribly shitty movie", but states that he does not regret making the film, because it inspired him to continue with the production of ''Big Money Rustlas'', because he felt that Psychopathic could make a better film than ''Death Racers''. At the 2008

Gathering of the Juggalos The Gathering of the Juggalos (The Gathering or GOTJ) is an annual festival put on by Psychopathic Records, featuring performances by the entire label roster as well as numerous well-known musical groups and underground music, underground artists. ...

, J referred to the film as "the

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made a ...

ripoff A ripoff (or rip-off) is an unfavorable financial transaction. Usually it refers to an incident in which a person is overcharged for something, or receives goods or services not of the standard expected for the price. A ripoff is usually distin ...

fake version" of '' Death Race''.

References

External links

* * * {{Death Race Franchise 2008 comedy horror films 2008 independent films 2008 horror films 2008 films American action comedy films 2008 action comedy films The Asylum films American auto racing films 2000s comedy road movies American comedy road movies American comedy horror films American dystopian films American exploitation films Films shot in Los Angeles American independent films Insane Clown Posse Films set in 2033 Films set in the United States 2008 comedy films 2000s exploitation films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films