Roots of Evil (1979) - Christian Anders, Deep Roy, Maribel Martin, Dunja Rajter

[AlbertV]

Thanks to @One Armed Boxer's review of Ninja in the Claws of the CIA, I tracked down the trailer for Christian Anders' German martial arts film Roots of Evil, aka Die Brut des Bosen (literal translation: The Brood of Evil).

 

Co-directed by Anders and Antonio Tarruella, the film co-stars Deep Roy (who would play all of the Oompa Loompas in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as a villain. I wonder if former musician Frank Mertens (Alphaville) took his name from Anders' character in the film...hmmmm. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by AlbertV

[dionbrother]

Love this crazy movie.  Paid some $35 for the German blu ray, maybe the most I've paid for a standalone title.  Some scenes were filmed at Sean Connery's mansion in Spain!  Sean never knew about it.

[AlbertV]

1 hour ago, dionbrother said:

Love this crazy movie.  Paid some $35 for the German blu ray, maybe the most I've paid for a standalone title.  Some scenes were filmed at Sean Connery's mansion in Spain!  Sean never knew about it.

Wow!!! I definitely want to see this. I am sucker for these kind of films. I will eventually get around this getting this. 

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

I thought of Christian Anders as a former singer who became notorious with bullshit statements i had no idea he is also a martial artist and made movies. Shocking. 

 

[dionbrother]

Supposedly owned a chain of karate schools and claims to have started a cult in the 80s.  In the US, only known for dating Heather Thomas, the hot blond on THE FALL GUY.

[kuenfist]

The holy grail of german kung fu movies in the 70's. It is so silly and stupid in a good way. If you are able to watch it with the german dub do it. You will cry of laughter. For those how like goofy fu movies this is the right one.

[AlbertV]

This is actually Christian Anders throwing the flying side kick. From 1970.

[dionbrother]

He was a legit martial artist and a very popular singer in Germany.  Sings the theme song to ROOTS OF EVIL and I think composed the score.  I'm planning to cover it on my podcast, which will be the first podcast in English devoted to a Christian Anders movie.  Even have a German friend offering to translate articles for the show.  He's a fascinating and bizarre individual.  Wish he still had his English language vlogs on Youtube.  Just the German material remains.

[AlbertV]

I ordered by all region Blu-Ray of the film from DiabolikDVD. Was $39.99 plus $5 for shipping...not bad if you ask me. 

[AlbertV]

I got my Blu-Ray and watched the film. I'm also watching the extras and found out Wolfgang Schutte, who plays Frank's buddy and student Thomas, is also a legit martial artist. He started with at 14 in Jiu-Jitsu but also trained in Karate, Taekwondo, and Judo. He opened his own school when he heard about Christian Anders. The duo became friends through their love of martial arts but Schutte almost didn't appear in the film due to a serious car accident he was in that caused him many bone fractures. However, he did recover and was able to be in the film. Schutte learned English for the film as well. 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by AlbertV

[Killer Meteor]

Some of Deep Roy's other kung fu connections include playing the living ventriloquist dummy Mr Sin in the Doctor Who serial 'The Talons of Weng Chiang" and doubling Van Damme's daughter in Sudden Death.

[AlbertV]

Watched Roots of Evil (Die Brut des Bosen) and wow! I mean, this was quite an insane film probably because Deep Roy makes for an OTT mastermind in Van Bullock. Christian Anders (who wrote, directed, scored, sang the theme "Dead End", and of course plays the lead) has some pretty good skills. But seriously, WTH is with that training scene where he's decked out in S&M underwear with bands to help with his upper body then flops around like a goldfish out of water...I mean come on! I just laughed my butt off. Wolfgang Schutte was also pretty good as Frank's BFF Thomas. Schutte, like Anders, is a legit martial artist and owns his own schools. 

I saw the interviews and Christian Anders wishes he had listened to co-director Tony Tarruella, whom he met through Sean Connery. Anders insisted he knew what he was doing but later regretted it. Deep Roy had always wanted to do a sequel to the film, but a falling out with Atlas Film and producer Leo Kemkes prevented it from happening, but Roy still has hopes to do some "sequel" as he said Van Bullock is one of his favorite roles. As for Wolfgang Schutte, he almost ended up not doing the movie due to serious injuries sustained in a car accident. Eventually he recovered in time when Anders called him up for the film and Schutte learned English for the film. 

I love the English promos of the film, where they nicknamed Anders "Mr. Blitzkrieg" LOL

[sifu iron perm]

Enjoyed this one, the theme song was catchy and funky.

 

[AlbertV]

The Theme Song "Dead End", music by Christian Anders with lyrics by Lucy Neal.; arranged by W. Dies