Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Disclaimer: I want to say first thing that this DVD was given to me free of charge and without me asking for it. I think it was given away as a store promotion, “Get a free gift!” because they couldn’t actually sell them. Judging the book by it’s cover (and title) I figured it would stink, but I couldn’t return it for something better, couldn’t sell it for enough to be worth the trouble, and figured I could at least give it a review.

At the time of the filming it was set in the future (at present time it is in the past). The American government has degenerated into a more Roman-like society ruled by the “President” who not only condones but encourages sports that involve the killing of innocent people. The most popular sport is a cross-country auto race (think Cannonball Run) where hit and runs rack up points. Frankenstein is the champ and the fan favorite but his navigator is part of the resistance that has set out to put an end to the races. The racers clash at first but band together to a certain degree as they are picked off by the resistance. Racers are not supposed to die, only pedestrians! Frankenstein has another agenda besides winning the race; he wants to kill the President though his motivations are never explained (or maybe I dozed off for a minute).

It’s highly campy, poorly paced, and poorly acted with awful audio and video quality. The Real Don Steele, the announcer who was a popular radio personality in real life, is the only person I actually like although his character is pretty much evil. The quality of his performance just outshines everyone else. Sylvester Stallone gives a comparatively good but still forgettable performance. David Carradine is stiff, flat, and cheesy. I’ve never heard of anyone else in the cast and didn’t care to when the movie was over.


****POTENTIAL MINOR SPOILERS****
The story is disjointed and uninteresting. The twist at the end (Frankenstein wanting to kill the President) is never actually explained. He’s not part of the resistance, they’re trying to put him out of commission along with the other drivers, and he’s government trained but as a driver not as an assassin. So why is he planning an assassination? He has a grenade built into his hand or something. I think it’s a false hand. Yet while his glove is on he can use his hand normally.
****END SPOILERS****


The only half-way neat part of the movie is seeing the themes of the cars and their drivers. There’s Calamity Jane in a car with a bull motif, a mobster with Tommy guns on the headlights, and others.

Content:
Needless violence galore. Even if you like violent movies the gore effects are lame. If you think violence is pointless this, at least, is unrealistic enough to be worthy of Mystery Science Theatre ridicule. Plenty of female nudity. 3 scenes, in fact, 2 of which are rather long and 1 of which includes several women. The language wasn’t as bad as I would have expected with the amount of violence and nudity it has.

DVD:
I’ve seen 2 different DVD’s on the internet though I don’t know if one is more readily available than the other. Mine has kind of a white cover with Stallone’s face and a car in the foreground (pushing him as the star even though he's more of a support role). The spine is reddish-orange and has the title printed upside-down.

The only difference I’m pretty certain of is that the other release has more chapters. Mine only has 6 or 7. It’s not even worth a chapter menu, but it still has one. There is nothing else that it offers. The ratio is 1.33 Pan & Scan. The video has not been cleaned at all and looks like VHS quality. There are no extras and no insert although the case is plastic instead of cardboard.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
It’s a forgettable experience. Only if you REALLY like terrible old B movies should you even give this one the time for a rental, and only if you can buy it for less than you can rent it should you consider adding it to your collection. It gets a generous 1*.



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age