LET’S GET PHYSICAL: DEATH RACE 3: INFERNO (2013) **

FORMAT:  DVD

Death Race gets bought out by an evil mogul (Dougray Scott) who turns the race into a worldwide event.  He also reneges on the contract of the reigning champion Frankenstein (Luke Goss) and blackmails him into throwing the race, which makes everyone’s favorite racer streaming mad.  When Death Race gets taken out of the prison and into the desert, Frankenstein sets out to settle the score. 

Death Race 3:  Inferno kicks off with a fun ad for the Death Race that plays things with its tongue firmly in cheek.  I thought this would mean this entry would retain some of the same black humor that made Roger Corman’s original Death Race 2000 so memorable.  Sadly, the announcer’s gusto during the race highlights is one of the few enjoyable aspects of the film.  

The new setting doesn’t add much to the flick either.  The prison races in the first two movies were like a video game come to life and had a sense of fun about them.  This time out, all we get are a bunch of drab-looking sand dunes and desert tracks, which only adds to the overall generic feel.  The inclusion of a bunch of locals protesting the race feels like a clumsy attempt at social commentary too. 

There is at least one new interesting wrinkle to the race:  A preliminary round where the female navigators fight to the death for a place on the track.  However, the sixteen-women brawl is ultimately underwhelming as the fight is rushed, the camerawork sucks, and the whole sequence is edited halfway into oblivion.  Likewise, the race scenes themselves in general suffer from over-editing and less than optimal camerawork.  Speaking of editing, the twist ending isn’t bad, but it’s needlessly over-explained and over-edited.  This is a DTV Death Race sequel we’re talking about here.  This isn’t The Usual Suspects. 

Goss is bland and generic in the lead. which suits the movie as it’s bland and generic too.  Danny Trejo doesn’t get much to do (besides get a BJ) and Ving Rhames essentially just has a cameo this time around.  Fortunately, Scott is having fun chewing the scenery as the crooked warden.  Too bad his demented glee didn’t rub off on the rest of the cast. 

AKA:  Death Race:  Inferno.