The Root of All Evil starts just outside the small American town of Hazelville where local resident Fang (Tom Erb) & his gang break into a National Forestry Service area & cut down various pine trees so he can sell them to the residents of Hazelville as Christmas tree's. Meanwhile Max Cooper (Phil Gardiner) has been trying to convince the authorities that the events of Trees (2000) actually happened, in yet another attempt he travels to Hazelville again to team up with another survivor from the original forest Ranger Cody (Kevin McCauley) who just wants to forget all about killer tree's. But when a local senator is killed on a ski slope Max insists a killer great white pine tree, or a 'Pinus Strobus', was responsible & he fears every house in Hazelville may have one in the run to Christmas...Co-written, produced & directed by Michael Pleckaitis I have a really hard time understanding how anyone can genuinely enjoy a low budget piece of crap such as The Root of All Evil, to be honest this isn't much more than a glorified home video. The jokey script by Pleckaitis & Jim Lawter seems to exist for no other reason than to parody Jaws (1975) by using killer tree's instead of a shark & it's sequels as well as a few other notable films, from the Ranger whose name is Cody which is an obvious reference to Roy Scheider's character in Jaws the police Chief Brody, there's the selfish Mayor who refuses to do anything for fear of bad publicity, there's the blurred photo's which Cody believes is solid proof but no one else agrees, they even refer to the killer tree's as great white pine's & there are other numerous homages littered through The Root of All Evil which I can't be bothered to go into. The character's are awful, the dialogue just as much & once the initial joke wears off which doesn't take too long I can assure you this is a pretty painful film to try & sit through & at over 100 minutes it outstays it's welcome. The only positive thing I can say about it is that there are a couple of occasions where the parody works & it's almost amusing but these are few & far between I'm afraid.Director Pleckaitis actually does a reasonable job & to be fair to it The Root of All Evil looks reasonably professional. However the CGI computer effects are absolutely awful, unless you have literally a multi million budget you just cannot produce convincing CGI effects & they almost always turn out terrible & The Root of All Evil is no exception. The killer tree's themselves look rubbish & then there's a huge monster thing at the end which looks & moves like it belongs in some cheap 90's video game. There is no gore whatsoever apart from some fake blood. It's certainly not scary, there's no tension & it's definitely not funny so why does a film like this actually exist?With a supposed budget of about $150,000 the filmmakers probably did the best they could on a small amount of money but my argument is that doesn't excuse it from being crap & not worth spending good money on to watch. The acting sucks & McCauley who plays Ranger Cody looks very much like Roy Scheider which I doubt is a coincidence.The Root of All Evil the sequel to Trees that nobody wanted is rubbish, I'm sorry the low budget doesn't excuse it from being painful to sit through, definitely one to avoid.
... View MoreBuyer beware! There are only 2 comments about this film on IMDb (before this one) and both appear on the front cover of the film! I'd have been gutted if it were my £4 forked out on this shower of excrement! This movie is TERRIBLE and certainly isn't funny! It could easily have been completed inside one day and doesn't meet the unintentionally funny requirement which makes similarly badly produced films like troll 2 far more worthwhile. The humour is deliberate and at the same time unfunny, I have no idea who this kind of film is made for! Went on for far too long and an ending never seemed likely to arrive until our audience was spared by the "to be continued..." text. Killer Christmas trees has so much potential - Why did the blind girl get cured by a bit of chlorine! Why does where's waldo bloke simply not care at all that his wife is getting hounded by rich bloke? Why do the trees kill some people but turn others into rubber figurines? This film was punishing!
... View MoreThis movie is a must see. Watch Trees then watch Root of all evil. You will be on the ground laughing. "Horshack" Ron Palillo did a great job as a wimpy rich man. The rangers wife did great snubbing the husband for the money man. She was awesome. The lumberjacks were hilarious running around trying to kill killer trees in the streets and at the gym. The big guy Fang was a tough customer, and his partner Petey was pretty funny too. He farted everywhere he went. Cheers to the hottie playing the agent. Vavavoom! The graphics were totally cool too. The last time I went camping I was very cautious about how the wind blew and which way the trees were migrating. Those sons of saplings ate my picnic.
... View MoreThis sequel to "Trees" is far better than the original. The addition of some movie professionals has helped improve the product. The plot of this movie picks up where Trees left off. Ranger Cody now has a fear of trees. When killer Christmas trees invade the town of Hazelville no one believes the ranger. Mayhem and chaos ensue. I live in the town where this was filmed, and the sight of killer Christmas trees running down Main Street is absolutely hilarious! The second film in a "treelogy," this is a great movie to watch on a cold, rainy night.
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