Terreur à domicile

It's (future) Robocop VS. Rodent in this interesting & compelling but ultimately bland hybrid between an ordinary creature feature and a portrait of psychological downfall. Textbook 80's yuppie Bart Hughes has everything you could wish for in life. Married to the previous Playmate of the year, he owns a personally renovated brownstone in the heart of New York, his parents-in-law live all the Vermont, his secretary has a not-so-hidden crush on him and he's moments away from getting that important assignment everybody at the office was craving for. Bart's perfect universe gets brutally disturbed when an unusually intelligent rat decides to join the household and run a little bit of amok in the house. When all regular rat-catching methods like traps and poison fail, Bart begins to take the battle personal. He gradually goes berserk, isolating himself from his colleagues and neighbors, with only one mission left to live for: annihilate the rat! Okay, what we have here is an ambitious script about an alarmingly escalating obsession, a stellar performance by Peter Weller and skillful photography by René Verzier who successfully manages to depict the ordinary rat like the most fierce and petrifying monster in the universe. That's very admirable and all but, in the end, "Of Unknown Origin" only just remains a film about a guy chasing vermin through the house for nearly 90 minutes. The rodent's intellectual capacities, as wells as some of Bart's desperate measures to catch it, are just a tad bit implausible and actually on the verge of hilarious, even though the whole thing is acted with straight faces and serious undertones. What type of rat are we dealing with here, in fact? Because sometimes the animal is small enough to move through the draining pipes whereas at other times it looks big enough to pass for a warthog. Or maybe its variable sizes were intentional as part of the whole psychological aspect, and then I missed the point again? I know "Of Unknown Origin" isn't meant to be a full-blooded horror film, but still the lack of blood and action was mildly disappointing. Couldn't the rat have killed the irritating neighbor, the exterminator or even Shannon Tweed? Unquestionably the most fascinating moments of the entire film are the rat trivia Bart recites to all his clearly embarrassed colleagues & superiors during a diner party. Now that scene was both creepy and educational.

I give this one a ten. How? Well, if you love rats, you will hate me. Let me just start off by saying I have never written a public comment, so do be gentle. I am also rather desensitized to horror films. Salo, Irreversible, and others I am ashamed to mention, hardly phase me. I've seen other rat films. Older rat films, and new ones haven't bothered me. I had purchased this film with about 20 others, and it looked silly, was inexpensive, so why not? I find myself awake this morning at 4:30 am, and in need of mild entertainment. Here is where my horrific morning begins.

I am a 24 year old female, so to all you guys reading this, never show a woman this movie. Show her Cannibal Holocaust, not this. I slap in my DVD of this film, pull my covers back and wait for 90 minutes to pass. 10 minutes later I am screaming like a wild woman being attacked by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This movie is INSANE! I own 1000 horror movies, and I thought I had built up enough tolerance and desensitization to endure any form of human torture. Wrong! This is one evil, hideous, demon possessed rat. By the time an hour had passed I was clutching on to my baseball bat, and wouldn't you know? A shadow from my ceiling fan caused a sharp movement on the floor., and I was running down my hall in a terrified frenzy. It may be that girls like me just can't cope with a rat, but it might just be that this movie is hell bent on preying on everyone's natural dislike for these foul little beasts. I sat and hoped that WHAT I KNEW WOULD HAPPEN…would not. It did. I was so happy when this movie was over, but ever happier I gave it a chance. It is rare I feel fear, and this was a great reminder. It isn't Citizen Kane, sure, but it is more entertaining. It is my worst fear, realized. Except for that whole broom in girlie prison thing. I digress.

I know you guys are tough! I know you ARE THE MAN! BUT! If you can make it through this movie without jumping in your seat, well, you should join the Navy Seals. Or better yet….you would make a great executioner. This is a nerve wrecking modern spin on MAN VS. MONSTER. No kidding!

This movie gets a ten from me. After sitting through 1000 movies that people say are scary, I find this fabulous little gem, and come to realize just why I love horror. This is horror. Nobody gets tortured, raped, or beheaded. That is fine, considering how brilliantly the film makers took a simple fear and found a way to torture the audience, and not one lesbian bimbo vampire was skinned alive. I was impressed.

I wish I was so well versed and I could give you the most complex analysis of the technical specifics. I am not. Peter did a great job in being convincing, and some of the camera work is great I think. The camera often acts as the eyes of this evil monstrosity. The mans wife in this movie is really pretty, and you see her boobs. So, you guys might like that if nothing else. I think the film was very well done, and most effective at making it's point. I would tell you all about the shocks, but that would ruin them for you. Some must be seen to be believed.

I'm a girlie girl, sure. I bet you can't make it through this movie, in the dark, without your baseball bat either. If you are on the fence and wondering if you want to give it go, do it. But, remember, it can bring out your feminine side. Isn't that the definition of scary for you boys?

Either way, for my own sanity,I am adopting a cat today.

This is the story of a man (Bart Hughes played by Peter Weller) who becomes obsessed with a little rat problem he's having at his newly renovated house. Instead of focusing on Bart's growing insanity, the director unfortunately showcases the rat as a vicious and dangerous beast. Although there are some quite effective closeups of the rat-villain, we never really feel any threat emerging from this little creature. Bart's obsession seems all but unbelievable. It's implausible that he would not just move to a hotel or try (harder) to contact an exterminator. Also, the movie just doesn't seem to have any real purpose. After a quick showdown it just ends, leaving some plot lines (Bart's job, his relationship to his family) unresolved.

"Of Unknown Origin" is still a very watchable movie. The pacing is quick and Weller does a pretty decent job in this one man-show. Had director George P. Cosmatos added anything to make it more than a mere monster movie, "Of Unknown Origin" would no be the obscure left-over from the early 80's that it is.

Though I don't really consider it a horror film, if you are one of many who happens to be afraid of rodents this film will terrify you. Hell, even you you don't mind rodents it might freak you out a bit. Peter Weller is always a great actor, and he stars in this film as Bart, a man who wages an all out war with one hell of an angry rat while the rest of his life begins to fall apart because of it. He is the only leading actor in this film, and he carries it almost completely on his own. His dinner table speech about the dangers of rats was both hilarious and a bit unnerving at the same time. I liked how this film was almost self-mocking in parts, though it always kept a straight face about it and never went to far. The rat's point of view shots really show this. The scenes with the rat were all very well done, congrats to whoever trained the rat. The plot was very original, and I liked how smart the rat was. Always a couple steps ahead of poor ol' Bart. I think I jumped a foot when the damn thing came out of the toilet. Last but not least, that was one heck of a bat he made near the end! Overall, this is a great film. Admittedly it's a bit cheesy in places, but it knows what it is and handles itself very well. Highly recommended.

8.5/10

The premise of this film isn't exactly original, but a story like this has great potential both for a psychological thriller and for a fun horror flick...but unfortunately, Or Unknown Origin doesn't quite manage to excel at being either. The focus is more on the battle between man and rat than providing the sort of schlocky horror that the eighties produced so prolifically, which is fine; but it never probes too deep into the psyche of the central character, and the film plays out like a movie that should be fun, but largely isn't. That's not to say that it's a bad film, however, as there are a lot of good ideas on display, and the film also features what may be a career best performance from Peter Weller. The plot sees a man who recently completed the rebuilding of a house being left alone when his wife and child go on holiday. He stays behind to try and win a promotion, but he doesn't count on an onslaught of torture when it turns out that the house he put together has become infested by a rat. What follows is an all out war between man and one of the world's most notorious pests.

Rats are one of horror cinema's most popular animals, and it's not hard to see why. There is a scene in this film that sees the central character make a case against rats, and it really makes you realise the reason why these animals are so often feared. Of Unknown Origin starts out slowly, but builds some momentum half way through when our hero begins his personal war against nature. I wasn't expecting much after the first half hour, but the film surprised me somewhat by the way it eventually comes together, climaxing with an exciting sequence that sees the central character really go off the rails. Peter Weller really is superb in the lead role, and I wouldn't be surprised if this film was the reason he went on to take the lead role in the classic Sci-Fi thriller 'Robocop'. It's a shame that director George P. Cosmatos doesn't seem too keen to get fully inside the character's head, as the potential for a great psychological thriller is definitely there. This film may have been better if it was handled by someone like David Lynch, but despite its imperfections; Of Unknown Origin is still worth seeing.