Sometimes They Come Back for a Death Race…2000

2008-08-12
3:55:02 am

Okay, so I'm CLEARLY reaching for a title on this one. Probably because the two flicks I watched have little-to-nothing to do with each other. They were the Steven King-based TV movie Sometimes They Come Back and the Roger Corman, soon-to-be-remade Death Race 2000.

Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

Written by Stephen King, Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal (Beverly Hillbillies, Superman IV)

Directed by Tom McLoughlin (Jason Live, Freddy's Nightmares & the Friday the 13th series)

Starring Animal House's Tim Matheson and a bunch of other people I didn't recognize

I'm going to keep these two review brief, so here goes. The basic story is that Matheson's brother was killed by some greasers back in the day, but now he's moved back to his home town (a common thing in King's work that I've read). He's a teacher and it turns out that the ghosts of the greasers (they were killed when a train ran over them after they killed his brother) show up in his class room. He understandably goes a bit crazy as these dead kids threaten him and his family.

When I grabbed this DVD I didn't realize it was a TV movie, I was just looking for another movie to check off in my copy of Creature Features by John Stanley (the best horror/sci-fi/fantasy book in my book, too bad there hasn't been an update since 1999/2000). I was a little bummed that there wouldn't be any gore or over the top violence, but I'll tell you what, it was a pretty creepy little movie. All of the actors I've never heard of did a good job of coveying the creepiness of the situation, especially Matheson (who I've obviously heard of). It was nice to see him playing against type.

Anyway, these are the types of stories that freak me out the most; the kind where something really bad and crazy is happening to you, but it's so crazy and bad that no one will believe you. How do you function in life if your parents/wife/friends/family don't believe you're going through these terrible things? Beats me, that's why everyone should set up a code word for when they're being extra serious.

Anyway, good on everyone involved for treating me to a surprisingly good and creepy movie about the undead (even if the are over-the-top greasers). The real clincher for me was the fact that Matheson actually inadvertently killed the guys, adding an added layer of guilt and weirdness to everything. That and the scene where Matheson gets to talk to his dead brother's ghost. It's pretty intense, but maybe I'm just a big softy.

You know who's not a softy? Roger Corman.

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Written by Ib Melchior (original story), Robert Thom (the awful Bloody Mama) & Charles B. Griffith (the fantastic Buckets of Blood)

Starring David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone and others

In the future, there's this race about death where you get points by killing people. Um...that's about all these is to the plot of this Roger Corman-produced flick. David Carradine stars as Frankenstein, a driver who's supposedly had most of his limbs broken, smashed and then replaced, but still looks just like the dude from Kung Fu. Stallone's in it too as a crazy, Tommy gun-toting driver.

I'll be honest, I didn't really pay much attention to the plot of this flick (something I don't think would bother Corman). There's a subplot about people who are against the race because of its ties to the government, so they help by adding more explosions. There is a pretty good fist fight between Carradine and Stallone, with Carradine winning (as you would expect as this predates Rocky).

Basically, the cars are cool and you can tell they're really traveling as fast as they seem. There's lots of explosions, people getting hit and blown up. It's great stuff. Plus it's around an hour and a half, so you don't have to put too much time into what's basically another death-as-sport metaphor flicks. Though unlike Rollerball or Running Man, I gotta admit, Death Race had a lot more satire and chuckle-worthy moments (like the government constantly blaming the French for all the bad in the world and the lady commentator being called Grace Pander). Oh, there's also a lot of hot 70s chicks who don't always wear there clothes, so, you know, bonus if you're into that. Oh, plus I get to check it off in my Creature Features. I'm really just a simple creature folks.