Of Unknown Origin
by George P. Cosmatos
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DVD details
Actor: Jennifer Dale, Kenneth Welsh, Lawrence Dane, Louis Del Grande, Peter WellerDirector: George P. Cosmatos
Cinematographer: René Verzier
Editor: Hubert C. de la Bouillerie
Editor: Roberto Silvi
Producer: Claude Héroux
Producer: Pierre David
Writer: Brian Taggert
Writer: Chauncey G. Parker III
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Of Unknown Origin
DVD Review: Your Move......Creep
Summary: 4 Stars
Of Unknown origin is one of those long forgotten and fun horror films of the 80s. Stephen King cites this as one of his all time favorite horror movies. Of course, whether or not you can actually consider this a horror film is debatable, but what else would you categorize it as? The plot is quite simple, and that's all part of the appeal. Buckaroo Banzai himself finds his home invaded by a rat after his family takes off for a few days. It starts off as an annoying nuisance, but soon turns into obsession as Weller tries to kill the damn thing. He sorta falls into a sort of temporary insanity that affects his work performance and all those around him(of course I'd go a bit batty if I had to go a few days without Shannon Tweed myself). It starts out simply enough with some damaged furniture and wiring. Traps naturally don't work, neither does the exterminator or pretty much any other conventional means. By the time we reach the climax of the film, Weller's decked out in a helmet(with flashlight of course), kneepads and a homemade spiked club ready to enter a duel to the death with the invading rodent, practically destroying his home in the process(you're reminded time and again that Weller practically built the house himself as to make the damage all the more shocking). We only see the rat in a few quick shots. These are shots of an actual rat at various angles to give the illusion that it's larger than the average rat. It's kinda hard to get an idea of how big the rat actually is until one scene where it slips under the covers of Weller's bed. Then we can see it's about the size of a basketball or small dog. Like I said before, it's a fun film. The simple premise, the unintentional quirkiness, and a good performance by Weller all add up to a fun and entertaining time. Rediscover(or discover) a fun, forgotten film.
Description of Of Unknown Origin
An advertising executive battles a giant, intelligent rat that has invaded his townhouse.A low-rent horror flick from the early 1980s, Of Unknown Origin comes across like a grisly, live-action version of Tom and Jerry. Our inept hero is the ambitious, house-proud executive Bart Hughes (Peter Weller), who is left alone by his wife and son to complete a business proposal only to discover that he is sharing his apartment with a mischievous giant rat. Unable to trap or poison his foe, Hughes quickly descends into nightmare-haunted madness and thus the stage is set for a suspenseless battle of wits that is less cat-and-mouse than idiot-versus-rat.
Finding an angry rodent swimming in your toilet might be a pretty unpleasant prospect, but cinematically speaking it is far from terrifying. Created using jerky point-of-view shots and creature effects that range from incongruous real-life footage to button-eyed glove puppets, the rat is an unthreatening villain, despite Weller?s best efforts to react in abject horror when he finds the corners of his mail nibbled or his dry groceries spoiled. There are some unsuccessful attempts to make Hughes? plight more immediate to the audience by references to real-life rat problems--he visits a library to research his enemy and finds some disturbing photographs of rat-attack victims and subsequently ruins a dinner party with a genuinely unsettling rant about infestation and plagues--but it is difficult to feel sorry for him when he can?t even muster the tenacity to track down a professional exterminator. By the time Weller gets caught in one of his own traps, you will probably be roo! ting for the rat anyway, and might take some pleasure from a ridiculous denouement in which, dressed in full battle-gear, he completely destroys his beloved apartment by clumsily chasing the elusive vermin with a nail-studded baseball bat. Gore Verbinski's genuinely hilarious Mousehunt did it with a lot more charm. --Paul Philpott
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