- Actors: Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane, Kenneth Welsh, Louis Del Grande
- Directors: George P. Cosmatos
- Writers: Brian Taggert, Chauncey G. Parker III
- Producers: Claude Héroux, Pierre David
- Format: PAL
- Language English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Whv
- DVD Release Date: 1 Sep 2003
- Run Time: 88 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- ASIN: B0000AGVO8
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 94,574 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
Product details |
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
A low-rent horror flick from the early 1980s, Of Unknown Origin completely misses the mark in the scare stakes and instead 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 and more idiot-versus-rat.
Finding an angry rodent swimming in your toilet might be a pretty unpleasant prospect, but cinematically speaking it's 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's 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 rooting 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.
On the DVD: Of Unknown Origin comes to DVD with a basic selection of extras. An entertaining commentary from Peter Weller and the likeable George P Cosmatos III does the film a lot of favours, even if their efforts to talk up its importance as an allegory for man's struggle against nature using comparisons with The Old Man and the Sea, Moby Dick, Alien and Jaws fail to convince. Added to this is the theatrical trailer ("If it doesn't scare you to death, it WILL find another way!"), a choice of languages and scene selection. --Paul Philpott
Special Features
- Feature-length audio commentary by Peter Weller and Director George P. Cosmatos
- Interactive menus
- Scene access
- Trailer
DVD Technical Information:
- Aspect Ratio: 1:85.1 Widescreen
- Colour
- PAL
- Audio: 1.0 Mono
- Running time: 85 minutes
- Language options: English, French
- Hearing Impaired: English
- Subtitles: English, French, Arabic, Dutch
- Region Code: 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
robocop vs a rat,
By
This review is from: Of Unknown Origin [DVD] [1983] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Basic plot. Robocop himself peter weller is left alone at home when he finds he has a rat living in the house with him. This rat is a big en and goes out of its way to mess with peters head until he takes the rat on mono a mono. Not as silly as it sounds this is quite a well crafted thriller with the rat starting of slowly in its destruction and becoming more and more brave in its assaults. Great dream scene where the rat attacks his sons birthday. Peter is really good as the man getting more an more irate and its great at the end when he suits up in sports gear and completely wrecks his house to fight the rat.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The old Man and the...,
By Joshua Koppel - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Of Unknown Origin [DVD] [1983] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Peter Weller is a man on his way up fast in the business world. He has personally renovated a NY brownstone and is up for an important position at work. But then two things happen. First his wife and son go off to Vermont to visit her family. Second, a very large rat moves in. What follows is a sort of modern-day retelling of THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (complete with clips from the movie).
As Peter becomes aware of the rat and begins to try and deal with it, he slowly becomes obsessed with freeing his home of the unwanted invader. Obsession grows and Weller sinks deeper and deeper. Work begins to suffer and his secretary and boss begin to worry about him. But whatever the hardship, Weller, like the Old Man, will not let up for a moment. I found the ending of the movie to be quite satisfying with the final lines very neatly tying the whole tale up neatly. Some may think of this as horror, some suspense, and some tragedy. There are definitely elements of all three involved but any such label would bee to simple for what this movie really is. This is not a very well-known film but it deserves more exposure. 10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent must see underated horror film,
By Z. Snygg - Published on Amazon.com
This movie is one of the most underated horror films that I have ever seen. Beautiful use of the long take and voyeuristic photography. It's very "Roman Polanski esque". Weller is perfect as the upscale New Yorker who becomes obsessed with a rodent invading his beautiful apartment. If you ever lived in a large city, this movie is a must see.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent movie!,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This is a smart, classy little movie that is far better than you'd expect. The acting and script are top-notch for a horror film. It delivers some terrific shocks and suspense (and humour), as well as some very elegant photography that gives the film an almost European flavor.
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