Death Race details

We previously heard that director Paul WS Anderson, known for slick-looking and thought-free works like MORTAL KOMBAT and AvP, was departing a CASTLEVANIA movie to focus on his long-planned remake of DEATH RACE 2000. And while he’s still involved in a creative capacity on CASTLEVANIA, it sounds like he is indeed already in the mechanic shop with Frankenstein.

Moviehole got some insider bites about the new televised murdersport flick, which is reportedly now set at a prison where convicts compete behind the wheel to gain their freedom. Jason Statham is being pursued for a part, likely that of Frankenstein, a popular masked driver. It also sounds like the film will borrow heavily from videogame elements, with racers getting points “by hitting other cars or driving over giant buttons on the track” to access vehicle weaponry. The project is apparently now puttering along at Universal, who wants to cut some of the budget — word has it that the script is loaded with gratuitous explosions and other expensive wreckage. Somehow I get the sense Anderson will miss the arch satire of the original…

For those who might have missed the original wonderfully violent 1975 cult flick from Roger Corman, DEATH RACE 2000 follows futuristic racers in a road competition where they rack up points by slaughtering pedestrians.