You find yourself in a 15mph race that ends in your untimely yet quite anticlimatic death.

Back in 2002, to combat the increasing popularity of illegal street racing in Puerto Rico (known as "La Fiebre", or "The Fever/Illness"), the government commissioned a movie to be made (called, simply enough, La Fiebre). The relatively low-budget film was sponsored by Pep Boys, Armor All, and Shell, all of which are featured prominently in the movie (and if you're anything of a car geek, you know why it's funny that Pep Boys sponsors the film).

The basic premise of the movie is that a kid dies while street racing, and then his friends try to deal with the loss and with their continuing desires to race. The film quickly reaches its deadly climax two minutes into the film, and then spends 82 minutes in a tediously long denouement. Aside from the initial "action" of the street race, the plot is essentially typical of any Latin American soap opera, featuring sexual intrigue, male posturing, and jealousy, all punctuated by trips to Pep Boys to buy new fart-can mufflers for their Mitsubishi Mirages.

When it was released, the DVD sold for about $15, so I bought it, mostly due to my overwhelming curiosity and poor judgement. I figured it was worth a laugh or two. Most of the film is pretty much trash, but those first two minutes alone are worth the entire cost.

First, I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the cars involved in the race is a MK3 Supra Turbo similar to the several that I owned. But the Supra is just a sidenote in this tale of woe. The real protagonist is a beat-up 1984 Honda Prelude, complete with cracked windshield, no hubcaps, and bondoed body panels. Somehow he manages to pull ahead of the Supra, leaving it in the dust. He pays the ultimate price for his victory though — seconds later he flies off a cliff, plunging to his death.

Well, I say 'plunging' because I'm sure that's what the director originally had in mind. Sadly, due to the small budget of the film, it turns out to be more of a "gently thumping to his death." The car doesn't tumble, disintegrate, and explode like you're used to seeing in Hollywood movies. It just kind of goes "plonk" and, as if to add insult to deadly injury, it doesn't even have the dignity to fall over. Instead, it stays sticking up out of the ground like when cartoon characters fall from cliffs and hit the ground so hard that a gravestone spontaneously pops up. Poor misguided street racer. Such an ignominious end.

Since I can guarantee you won't find this DVD at your local Blockbuster (or even on NetFlix), I've put up the crucial first two minutes of the film for your enjoyment. I want you to appreciate the masterful acting skills displayed here. And also the way they managed to sneak in an Armor All logo even amidst the wailing grief over his death.

Click Here for the 11 MB video. You'll need the XVID codec (available here for Windows) to play it.