Roots of Evil (1979)

An action film directed by Christian Anders and Antonio Tarruella.

Directors:

Christian Anders, Antonio Tarruella (co-director) (as Tony Tarruella)

Writer:

Christian Anders

Stars:

Christian Anders, Maribel Martín, Dunja Rajter

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christian Anders	...	Frank Mertens
Maribel Martín	...	Ingrid (as Maribel Martin)
Dunja Rajter	...	Cora Ramada
Deep Roy	...	Van Bullock
Fernando Bilbao	...	Komo (as Fred Harris)
Ria Kemp	...	Guest Star
Wolfgang Schütte	...	Thomas (as Wolfgang Schutte)
José María Guía	...	O'Blonski (as Jose Ma. Guia)
Ichimi	...	Takimura (as Ishimi)
Fernando Hilbeck	...	1st Inspector
Carl Rapp	...	2nd Inspector
Robert Case	...	3rd Inspector (as Roberto Case)
Cris Huerta	...	Sumo (as Chris Huertas)
Yasuhito Ishikawa	...	Ting
Hideaki Gennai	...	Cheng

Storyline

An action film directed by Christian Anders and Antonio Tarruella.

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Plot Keywords:

trash | dwarf | nudity | karate | martial arts | 

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Taglines:

When You're Up Against Every Dirty Trick in the Book ... You Fight Dirty to Stay Alive! (US 1982 release)

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 1979 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Roots of Evil

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leo Kemkes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min (original length) 99 min (extended cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although Christian Anders speaks perfect German, his voice was dubbed for the German version by Manfred Seipold - the German voice of Chuck Norris from 1977-1988.

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Goofs

The uniforms of the policemen who arrested Frank resemble Russian army leader uniforms rather than actual Spanish police or army uniforms.

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Quotes

Frank Mertens: [Grabs Van Bullock by the throat] Van Bullock! You disgraced my name!
Van Bullock: Arrrgh! Komo!
Komo: [Grabs Mertens] What you want?
[Mertens slaps Komo, and they fight a little while, until Komo finally grabs Mertens firmly]
Van Bullock: Hahaha, throw him out, Komo! Throw him out! Just throw that bastard out!
[Komo throws Mertens out of the window]

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Alternate Versions

German Blu-ray features an extended version with approx. 14 minutes of additional footage.

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Connections

Featured in Die schlechtesten Filme aller Zeiten: Die Brut des Bösen (2017)

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Soundtracks

Disco Feelings
Written by Christian Anders, Arranged by José Luis Navarro
Sung by Christian Anders

User Reviews

Hilarious Midgetsploitation from the crazy 70s!

If you're looking for a cheap laugh, then look no further than this film! I was fortunate enough to find this obscure turkey in the back of an old second-hand store, and upon viewing the cover, consisting only of a picture of Christian Anders looking angry with the title in huge lettering across, reading "Djævelsk Terror" (Devilish Terror), and then the description on the back: "One man alone against a perverted midget and his gangsters", I had to buy it!

The story is roughly as follow: The ambitious karate-teacher, Frank Mertens (played by German folk-singer Christian Anders) only wants to run his own small karate-school in peace and tranquility, preaching non-violence in the name of his deceased master, with the help of his secretary Ingrid (played by the Spanish actress Maribel Martín). But with the arrival of the evil, drug-dealing and martial-arts teaching midget Van Bullock (played by Deep Roy of "Charlie and the Chocolate-Factory fame in one of his very first roles), everything changes. Van Bullock wants to place his own karate-school right next to Frank Mertens' karate-school, but doesn't like the competition, so he tries to buy Mertens out, but he refuses. After that, Van Bullock sends some of his goons after Mertens to beat him up, to no avail. Then he tries more peaceful negotiations, but they fail miserably yet again, and he apparently has no choice but to eliminate Mertens from the face of the earth. Moving his own school to another part of the city, or accepting fair competition is not an option!

With the help of his trusty, neutered (!) henchman Komo (played by notorious B-movie actor Fernando Bilbao aka Fred Harris), Van Bullock beats his way to whatever he wants, and even scores with the most sexy ladies imaginable, including his mistress Cora (played by the Croatian/German actress/singer Dunja Rajter). But Frank Mertens is the one man that cannot be controlled, so Van Bullock frames him for a crime and Mertens then goes to jail. What happens next is totally ridiculous, as Mertens more or less turns himself into a John Rambo-clone and breaks out of jail, going after the bad guys.. mind you, this was made BEFORE "First Blood", so every reference to Rambo is actually non-existent, and the Rambo-films actually should pay THIS film homage instead!

Overall, this was a pretty bad movie, poorly directed, poorly acted, and (especially) poorly written! But it does have some redeeming points, such as having a couple of German folk-singers in the lead as action-stars, and Deep Roy giving a hilarious portrayal of a hysterical and egotistical gangster-boss. At one point, we see a montage of Mertens training to funky 70s music, and some of his routines are - to put it mildly - a bit bizarre, as in wearing tight leather-shorts with straps attached, and speed-jumping up and down with only his belly touching the floor, etc. The ending of the movie was particularly weird, as Mertens runs around in the woods fighting Van Bullock and Komo, and at the same time also fleeing from the police, practically rendering him an outlaw!

But when all is said, I have to give this a 5/10, as it was very entertaining, and I laughed quite a lot while watching this. However, I wouldn't recommend this film to people who can't appreciate movies that are "so bad they're good", as this one clearly falls into that category.