Of Unknown Origin

source: Of Unknown Origin

I gave this dandy nail-biter (no pun intended) nine stars as it is one of those movies that when found and decide to watch it I accepted the fact that it most likely is a low-budget waste of time. And most likely would bore me to sleep. I mean, really...What can anyone expect from a movie that only cost around 4 million to make. About ten or fifteen minutes into the flick it became obvious I would watch this one all the way to the ending roll of the credits. The acting is good, especially for this kind of movie. The camera shots and angles raise this movie up from the gutter and into the attic, a dark attic. Which this creepy old brown-stone building no doubt has. Never mind the nail clippers. The suspense in this thriller will keep your teeth gnawing on 'em just like a rat chewing on a lead pipe. If you are looking for an above average thriller I highly recommend, "Of Unknown Origin". Enjoy :0)

"Of Unknown Origin" is an interesting item on the resume of the late director George P. Cosmatos. Better known for features such as "Rambo: First Blood Part II", "Cobra", and "Tombstone", he directs this man vs. nature thriller with a sure hand, creating some genuine suspense and some harrowing and disturbing moments. The animal action is first rate, and the shocks done with consummate skill (there's a wonderful jolt involving a toilet). The movie is pretty obvious about its themes - a man running the rat race at work must fight an actual monster rat at home, and must get in touch with his most primitive instincts - but that doesn't mean that they don't still work. The man in question is Wall Street yuppie Bart Hughes (Peter Weller, in his first lead role), who's temporarily left on his own after his wife Meg (scorching hot Shannon Tweed, in the role that officially "introduced" her) and son Peter (Leif Anderson) spend some time with Barts' in-laws. Bart has some important business to attend to at work, but he ends up distracted by the war he must wage with this infernal rodent that's threatening the peacefulness of his exquisitely refurbished brownstone. Just as there are co-workers (played by Kenneth Welsh and Maury Chaykin) who would like to see him take a fall, he's often undermined by the utter craftiness of this beast, who often proves to be a step ahead of him. The movie has a great look, with slick cinematography by Rene Verzier, and it also has an effective music score by Ken Wannberg. Weller is terrific in the lead, and is believable through the characters' whole arc. The exemplary supporting cast consists of such top notch Canadian character actors as Lawrence Dane, Welsh, Louis Del Grande (the guy whose head blew up REAL good in "Scanners"), Keith Knight, Chaykin, and Earl Pennington. Tweed supplies some delectable eye candy early on in a shower scene. Stephan Dupuis handles the makeup effects. The finale, when it comes down to a physical battle between human and rodent, is rousing stuff, with Weller carrying around one very MEAN looking custom made weapon. This is a good little story that does merit another look from dedicated genre fans. Eight out of 10.

You know that one guy who'd do anything to get you fired, destroy your house, alienate you from your friends and family, chew through your surge protector? You know, the usual. Well, imagine if that guy was a poodle-sized sewer rat. I wondered going into this movie why Peter Weller would agree to star in what is essentially the rat-equivalent of Jaws: The Revenge. I got my answer about twenty seconds into the film, where it opens on a shot of Shannon Tweed, playing Weller's wife here, showering. Umm, okay. She leaves, along with Weller's extremely dimwitted kid to stay at a hotel (only to pop up later in the movie scantily-clad back in her hotel or in a dream sequence in order to meet some strange 80s boob quota I suppose). Weller is doing fine by himself, (staying behind to finish some work), until the dishwasher overflows, eventually upsetting a rat who decides to move into his apartment. Its hard to gauge just how big this thing is supposed to be until it decides to crawl up under the covers in Weller's bed later, apparently he's the size of a tomcat. Weller does his best to get rid of the rat, upgrading from normal rat traps to (what are basically) miniature bear traps. When the medieval rat traps don't work or come back gnawed on he decides to get a cat, which also comes back gnawed on (or replaced with a cheap stuffed animal that resembles his cat). When he decides to ignore the rat he chews on on his surge protector, fuse box, and therein cutting off the power. Weller runs around the house, bashing holes into walls in search of the rat, is plagued by nightmares of birthday parties where the giant rat jumps out of a sheet cake (?), and where his dimwitted kid ends up mixing in various rat poisons in with his cereal. The finale brought to mind Arachnophobia as it ended in a dank basement; the film ending maybe twelve seconds after the rat's been dispatched as Weller brushes himself off as if the last two hours hadn't just happened just in time to greet his wife and kid at the front door. I'm sure they won't notice the completely demolished apartment.

Over the years we've had killer frogs in Frogs, killer ants in Phase IV, killer rabbits in Night of the Lepus, a killer alligator in the sewers in Alligator. This time, it's the turn of a killer rat, in this largely overlooked but sporadically interesting George P. Cosmatos thriller. Peter Weller leads the cast, as an overworked businessman who lives in a classy New York town-house with his wife and son. The wife and son go away for a short vacation, leaving Weller to get on with his paperwork for an upcoming business deal. However, an unusually large rat has somehow found its way into his house. Slowly but surely, it figures out various ways to outwit and terrorise the hapless Weller, until he decides that enough is enough and tries to kill it himself. There are some great jumpy moments in this film. The scene where Weller stumbles to the toilet one night, only to lift up the lid and be faced with the giant rodent is superbly done. The scene where he gropes around inside a dolls-house for the rat-trap he planted days earlier, only to have it snap shut on his hand, is hard to watch without closing your eyes. However, the film goes through frequent dull patches which damage some of the good suspense work. The office scenes are necessary to the film to get across the stress Weller's character is under from work, but they seem to drag on pointlessly. The film is much better when concentrating on the man .vs. beast side of the plot. If you're into these films, with a mutant animal causing havoc, this may be of interest to you.

This little movie is hardly a must-see. People who got excited by this forgettable mediocrity have probably seen far too few (good) horror films, or are huge Weller fans. I didn't have a problem with a mere rat being such a challenge for what seemed to be an intelligent man, i.e. the absurdity of the premise is acceptable because this is a horror film. However, the only way this film should have been done was to do it as an all-out comedy. Though, even then it would have probably gotten dull sooner rather than later due to its one-joke premise. Maybe if they had made the rat out to be much larger, or if they had gotten him to look like Martin Sheen... Though, admittedly, if we had a Sheen rat we could never believe that he could be that intelligent. Perhaps if it looked like Barbra Streisand...? A Barbra rat would be just as dull-witted as a Sheen rat but at least its nose would have scared everyone - including me. Brrrr!

Smug, anal, successful and ambitious detail-oriented Wall Street yuppie businessman Bart Hughes (exceptionally well played by Peter Weller in his first lead role) has his cozy and comfortable life thrown out of whack when a large and crafty rat invades his fancy brownstone apartment. When conventional methods of extermination prove fruitless, the increasingly primal, obsessive and paranoid Bart resorts to more drastic vicious and barbarous measures in order to rid himself of this loathsome pest. Director George P. Cosmatos, who also helmed the Sly Stallone action vehicles "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Cobra," wrings plenty of tension out of the creepy premise, expertly maintains a snappy pace throughout and stages the ample jolting shocks with a considerable amount of flair and skill. Moreover, the smart and trenchant script by Brian Taggert offers a potent, gripping and provocative allegory on "civilized" man's latent capacity for extreme violence and brutality needing the proper stimulus to be activated (the incredible conclusion with Weller chasing the rodent around his posh abode while brandishing a spiked baseball bat is both disturbing and exciting in comparable measure). Weller's outstanding intense performance easily carries the picture, with fine supporting turns by Jennifer Dale as Weller's concerned secretary, Lawrence Dane as Weller's tough, but fair and equally worried boss, Louis Del Grande as the macho building superintendent, gorgeous "Playboy" Playmate Shannon Tweed as Weller's hot babe wife, and Maury Chaykin as a jerky co-worker. Rene Verzier's beautifully polished cinematography and Ken Wannberg's supremely spooky'n'shivery score are both on the money effective and impressive. The rat is one genuinely scary and nasty piece of repulsive work. A total powerhouse.

This movie is about a large, smart rat threatening to undermine everything a worldly wall street climber (Peter Weller) has worked to create for his world. The movie is like it's clever rat...creeping up with more intelligence than should be expected. Great movies work equally on separate levels so that a wide audience can take what they will from it and still enjoy it immensely. Although technically a B-movie punctuated by 80's camp, it is unmistakable that "Of Unknown Origin" is truly special. It's unfortunate that this movie has enough unattractive elements to deter a viewer's interest. First of all, it's a "rat movie". When has that ever been a favorable genre? Second of all, Shannon Tweed's involvement, however early in her career, emits an odor of genericness and illegitimacy. Don't be turned off by all these potentially fatal bad traits. Director George P. Cosomotos and Peter Weller had an interesting, artful collaboration going on in "Of Unknown Origin". The film has a tight focus on theme and story, and goofy, highly entertaining, cult-status-worthy performance bits from Weller. It's a fun film- there's no doubt about that. There may be cheese, but there's also sincerity in how the film refuses to take itself seriously. Also, the familiar moral of the story is shown in so fresh a form that you won't even care. For a story that works so well on an intellectual level, it's a blessing that the actual rat combat scenes are a great time. As Weller's lost yuppie starts to lose his sanity, his battles with his furry foe become more and more extravagant. Let's just say the conclusion is incredible. The title refers to the clouded evolution of rats. It also speaks of the burning, unavoidable core of our hearts that is pure and determined to defeat our dark sides. Our consciences? Our God? Or is it just a fear of a big friggin' rat? Ponder that if you'd like, but enjoy "Of Uknown Origin" regardless.

Peter Weller anchors a cast of Canadian actors in this entertaining low budget thriller directed by George Cosmatos. Plenty of action and a good through line of how an obsessively detailed individual would battle a threat to his environment. Louis "Seeing Things" Del Grande is very good as the helpful janitor next door to Weller's yuppie palace. Features rising Canadian actors Kenneth Welsh, Jennifer Dale and a slimmer Maury Chaykin. The Canadian Tax Credit system helped put this film in Montreal, doubling as New York. With little to work with in terms of sets and exteriors, Cosmatos shows his chops as a director who tries to make each shot pay off in a particular way. The overhead shot of Weller looking out over the "human" rat race crossing the street draws an interesting parallel with the main story. More than a couple of 'homages' to Jaws, which Cosmatos admits was one of his favourite movies.A bit repetitive at times but better than 'Willard'. Worth a look.

Peter Weller's excellent performance is the best reason to see this film; he gives us a very realistic portrait of a man's descent into near-insanity. Otherwise, this horror film is rather trivial, with an one-note premise which is handled pretty poorly (although there are some scattered effective moments). Fortunately, Weller keeps it watchable enough.