Death Run

Death Run is a 1987 British science fiction film directed by Michael J. Murphy on a low budget. Shot on Super 8mm, it has cheap production values but plenty of action and energetic camera work. The plot begins just before a nuclear war, when a scientist at the British National Research Centre places Paul and his girlfriend Jenny into suspended animation. Twenty-five years later, the unit loses power and the couple wakes up. After a few peaceful days camping, a biker gang captures them and takes them to a decadent city ruled by the Messiah, a nazi chic-wearing megalomaniac with a deformed hand. Jenny joins his harem, and Paul is jailed. A sympathetic jailer, Barbara, promises to help him escape the Run. A prisoner called Hero, the only survivor of the Run, teams up with Paul. With Barbara’s help, they fight the guards, release captive mutants who attack the bikers, hijack a car, and rescue Jenny. After more fighting at a gasworks, they run out of petrol and meet a pregnant woman who claims to hate the Messiah. A romance develops between Barbara and Hero, but they find Jenny dead and learn their hosts are cannibals. They kill all but the pregnant woman, who says the Messiah raped her and used her pregnancy to seem sympathetic. They forgive her and move on, but mutants ambush them, forcing them to use their petrol to burn the creatures. Hero trains Paul to survive the Run, then lets him get recaptured. The Run involves running downhill handcuffed to a high-voltage wire while fighting mutants. Paul runs into the forest, where Hero breaks his cuffs and handcuffs a crony to the wire as a decoy. The Messiah sends his men after them; they kill most, and Hero impales a burly crony with a fence post. The Messiah’s harem girls stab him, and Paul finishes him with a machete, promising to build a new society. Later, Paul builds a house for his village. The pregnant woman has her baby, and the film ends with a shot of the baby’s hand, deformed like the Messiah’s. Due to its obscurity, the film has few reviews from major critics but is popular among genre fans, including a complimentary review at The Zone and from Internet personality Johnny Shitcase of Shitcase Cinema, who found it highly amusing.