Of Unknown Origin

Last updated
Of Unknown Origin
Of Unknown Origin.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George P. Cosmatos
Screenplay byBrian Taggert
Based onThe Visitor
by Chauncey G. Parker III
Produced byClaude Héroux
Starring
Cinematography René Verzier
Edited byRoberto Silvi
Hubert de La Bouillerie
Music by Kenneth Wannberg
Production
companies
Distributed byMutual Productions (Canada)
Warner Bros. (U.S.)
Release dates
  • September 30, 1983 (1983-09-30)(Fresno, California)
  • November 23, 1983 (1983-11-23)(U.S.)
  • November 25, 1983 (1983-11-25)(Canada)
Running time
89 minutes [1]
CountriesCanada [2] [ contradictory ]
United States [3] [lower-alpha 1] [ contradictory ]
LanguageEnglish
BudgetCAD$4 million
Box office$1.1 million (U.S.)

Of Unknown Origin is a 1983psychological horror film directed by George P. Cosmatos in his North American film debut, and starring Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane, Maury Chaykin, Kenneth Welsh, Louis Del Grande and Shannon Tweed in her film debut. Based on the 1979 novel The Visitor by Chauncey G. Parker III, it focuses on a mild-mannered Manhattan banker who becomes increasingly obsessive and destructive in his attempts to kill a rat loose in his renovated brownstone. The film's title refers to the misconception (repeated in the film) that rats have no known origin.

Contents

A co-production between Canada and the United States, the film was primarily shot in Montreal, with some additional shooting taking place in New York City. [3] The film was released theatrically on November 24, 1983 by Warner Bros. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with much praise for Weller's leading performance. Writer Stephen King has named it one of his favorite horror films. [4]

Plot

Bart Hughes, a mild-mannered investment banker in New York City, moves with his wife Meg and their son Peter into a brownstone he helped to renovate. Meg's wealthy father invites the family to a vacation in Vermont, but Bart declines, preferring to work on a project that should get him a promotion. Shortly after his wife and child leave, Bart learns that the project has been assigned to another employee, James Hall. Bart is outraged, until his boss, Eliot Riverton, assigns him the important task of writing a reorganization plan for the company’s branch offices, due in two weeks. Eliot also invites Bart to join him at a dinner party for the bank's Los Angeles branch manager the following Thursday.

That evening, Bart discovers a leak from the dishwasher that floods his kitchen floor. Clete, the superintendent of a neighboring apartment building, determines that the hole in the drainage hose was caused by a rat. He also informs Bart that rats can survive almost anything, including an atomic explosion, and warns that the females are twice as vicious as their male counterparts. Bart sets traps for the critter that evening, but when he examines them the next day, the bait has been removed and the traps are badly damaged. He spends his lunch break at the library researching rat behavior, and although he is horrified by the revelations, he shares them at the dinner party that evening, ruining the appetites of the other guests.

Unable to find an exterminator on short notice, Bart seeks help from a hardware salesman, who recommends the use of poison. Meanwhile, the rat creeps through the house, leaving behind a path of destruction. Bart wakes in the middle of the night and is terrified by the sight of the rat inside the toilet bowl. He flushes the toilet, but the animal survives and makes its way back into the house. The next evening, Bart searches for his nemesis in the basement, and finds a litter of newborn rat pups; confirming the rat is indeed female. When Bart kills the pups, he narrowly escapes the mother rat’s retaliation.

At the office, Eliot compliments Bart on the quality of his work, but asks if the tight deadline is causing him stress. Bart assures Eliot that his troubles are not work-related, and they will soon be under control. After work, Bart shares a taxicab with his secretary, Lorrie Wells, and invites her into his home. Lorrie expresses admiration for Bart’s handiwork, then asks if his recent troubles are related to his marriage. Bart responds by kissing Lorrie, but she is distracted by the sound of the scurrying rat and is anxious to leave. Afterward, Bart notices a stray cat outside the front door and takes it in; hoping it will eliminate the invader. Days later, when he discovers the cat brutally slaughtered, Bart makes another unsuccessful attempt to hire an exterminator. He telephones Meg, begging for her return, but she has no desire to shorten her vacation.

The next morning, Bart enters the basement, armed with a baseball bat; but quickly retreats, realizing he is no match for the creature. Bart is further daunted upon finding the report he has been preparing for the last week, chewed to pieces. Unshaven and disheveled, Bart approaches Eliot in the lobby of the office building, and declares that his first priority is to address his troubles at home. Eliot asks only that Bart not allow the other employees to see him in his current condition.

Bart injures his hand while retrieving a rattrap, and drinks whiskey in the bathtub until he falls asleep. He dreams of a happy reunion with his family, interrupted by the rat attacking Meg, and Peter accidentally ingesting poison. As Bart regains consciousness, the creature descends from the ceiling, forcing him to take refuge on a hammock suspended above the bedroom floor. Meg attempts to reach him by telephone, as does Eliot, but neither is successful; as the rat has severed the line. Donning leg and arm pads, and reinforcing his baseball bat with nails and the jaws of broken rattraps, Bart enters the basement to face his nemesis. He swings wildly at the rat, rupturing pipes and flooding the basement. Bart continues his pursuit as the rat enters a scale model of the house, which he pummels with the bat until the creature is dead. He walks through his vandalized living room to the front door, as Meg and Peter return home. When Meg inquires about the damage to their home, Bart replies, “I had a party.”

Cast

Production

Development

The screenplay is based on the 1979 novel The Visitor by Chauncey G. Parker, which focuses on a rat that takes control of a banker's home. [5] Screenwriter Brian Taggert was hired by executive producer Pierre David to adapt the novel for the screen. [6] Taggert had previously written the slasher film Visiting Hours (1982) for David, and had been hired for that project after producer and assistant Denise Di Novi saw one of Taggert's plays being performed in Los Angeles. [6]

Taggert based the character of Bart Hughes on his own stepfather, whom he described as being obsessed with cleanliness and order. [6] He devised the title based on a Webster's Dictionary definition of "rat", which denoted the species as being of "unknown origin." [6]

Director George P. Cosmatos was impressed by the novel's cinematic potential, and traced the motion picture rights to David. Of Unknown Origin would be Cosmatos' North American film debut, after a decade of working in Europe.

Casting

Comsatos convinced Peter Weller to star in the film, which he pitched as a survival story. [5] "Both stories parallel each other," Weller said. "The ambition of the guy with his job draws comparisons to the guy who is trying to kill this rat at the expense of his house. The theme of it all is to survive at all costs." [5]

For tax purposes, most of the other cast members were Canadian. The film marked the acting debuts of both Shannon Tweed and Aimée Castle.

Filming

Principal photography began November 16, 1982 in Montreal, with a few days of location shooting in New York City. [3] The majority of the film was shot on a 7,000 square foot set, recreating the interior of a Manhattan brownstone, created by production designer Anne Pritchard. The majority of the film was shot in-sequence, so that the set could be systematically “maimed” as the story progressed. [3]

Release

Box office

Of Unknown Origin was given a limited regional release in Fresno, California, beginning September 30, 1983. [7] It later premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on November 23, 1983, [3] and opened in Canada on November 25, 1983. [8] During its opening November 23 weekend in the United States, the film earned $540,446. [9] It ultimately grossed $1,080,470 in the United States. [9]

Critical response

Vincent Canby of The New York Times had nothing but disdain for the movie, but lightly praised Weller's performance and opens his review: "Peter Weller, one of our best young stage and screen actors, is not at all bad in a rather terrible, Canadian suspense-horror film mysteriously titled Of Unknown Origin." [10] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times praised the film, describing it as "a visual tour de force... Of Unknown Origin is just fast, taut and darkly comic enough not to seem preposterous. Instead, it takes on the credibility of a nightmare. As a result, it is amazingly well sustained." [11]

Writer Stephen King is a fan of Of Unknown Origin, and has named it one of his favorite horror films. [4]

As of July 2023, the film holds a 68% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on eight critical reviews. [12]

Accolades

Peter Weller won the Best Actor Award at the 1983 Paris International Festival of Fantastic and Science-Fiction Film, for his performance, with director George P. Cosmatos winning the Grand Prix prize for Best Feature. [6]

Home media

Warner Bros. released the film on DVD in 2003. [13] Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray for the first time on May 22, 2018, featuring a new 2K scan from an interpositive element. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rat</span> Several genera of rodents

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus Rattus. Other rat genera include Neotoma, Bandicota and Dipodomys.

<i>Fire Down Below</i> (1997 film) 1997 American film

Fire Down Below is a 1997 American action film starring Steven Seagal and directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá in his directorial debut. The film also includes cameos by country music performers Randy Travis, Mark Collie, Ed Bruce, Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt, and country-rocker and the Band member Levon Helm, as well as Kris Kristofferson in a supporting role. Steven Seagal plays Jack Taggert, an EPA agent who investigates a Kentucky mine and helps locals stand up for their rights. The film was released in the United States on September 5, 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Candy</span> Canadian actor and comedian (1950–1994)

John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).

<i>Braindead</i> (film) 1992 film by Peter Jackson

Braindead is a 1992 New Zealand zombie comedy splatter film directed by Peter Jackson, produced by Jim Booth, and written by Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh, and Jackson based on an original story idea by Sinclair. It stars Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody and Ian Watkin. The plot follows Lionel, a young man living in South Wellington with his strict mother Vera. After Lionel becomes romantically entangled with a girl named Paquita, Vera is bitten by a hybrid rat-monkey creature and begins to transform into a zombie, while also infecting swathes of the city's populace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Russell</span> American actor (born 1951)

Kurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. At the age of 12, he began acting in the Western TV series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.

<i>Sleepaway Camp</i> 1983 American slasher film

Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 American slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik, and starring Felissa Rose, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Mike Kellin, and Christopher Collet. The original entry in the Sleepaway Camp film series, it focuses on serial killings which occur at a summer camp for teenagers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shannon Tweed</span> Canadian model and actress

Shannon Lee Tweed Simmons is a Canadian model and actress. One of the most successful actresses of mainstream erotica, she is identified with the genre of the erotic thriller cinema. Tweed has appeared in more than 60 films and several television series. She was named Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror IV</span> 5th episode of the 5th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror IV" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the fourth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series of Halloween specials. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 28, 1993, and features three short stories called "The Devil and Homer Simpson", "Terror at 5+1⁄2 Feet", and "Bart Simpson's Dracula".

<i>Willard</i> (1971 film) 1971 film by Daniel Mann

Willard is a 1971 American horror film directed by Daniel Mann and written by Gilbert Ralston, based on Stephen Gilbert's novel Ratman's Notebooks. Bruce Davison stars as social misfit Willard Stiles, who is squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father. His only friends are a couple of rats raised at home, including Ben and Socrates, and their increasing number of friends. When Socrates is killed by Willard's boss, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George P. Cosmatos</span> Greek-Italian film director and screenwriter (1941–2005)

George Pan Cosmatos was a Greek-Italian film director and screenwriter. Following early success in his home country with drama films such as Massacre in Rome with Richard Burton, Cosmatos retooled his career towards mainstream "blockbuster" action and adventure films, including The Cassandra Crossing and Escape to Athena, both of which were British-Italian co-productions. After relocating to North America, he directed the horror film Of Unknown Origin. This was followed by some of his best-known work, including the action films Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra, the science-fiction horror film Leviathan, and the critically acclaimed Western movie Tombstone.

<i>Psycho II</i> (film) 1983 film by Richard Franklin

Psycho II is a 1983 American psychological slasher film directed by Richard Franklin, written by Tom Holland, and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Robert Loggia, and Meg Tilly. It is the first sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho and the second film in the Psycho franchise. Set 22 years after the first film, it follows Norman Bates after he is released from the mental institution and returns to the house and Bates Motel to continue a normal life. However, his troubled past continues to haunt him as someone begins to murder the people around him. The film is unrelated to the 1982 novel Psycho II by Robert Bloch, which he wrote as a sequel to his original 1959 novel Psycho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maury Chaykin</span> American-Canadian actor (1949-2010)

Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-Canadian actor. Described as "one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian cinema," he was best known for his portrayal of Rex Stout's detective Nero Wolfe on the television series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001-02), as well as for his work as a character actor in many films and television programs.

Rat torture is the use of rats to torture a victim by encouraging them to attack and eat the victim alive.

<i>Amityville 3-D</i> 1983 film by Richard Fleischer

Amityville 3-D is a 1983 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Tony Roberts, Tess Harper, Robert Joy, Candy Clark, Lori Loughlin and Meg Ryan. It is the third film based in the Amityville Horror series, it was written by William Wales, a pseudonym for David Ambrose. It was one of a spate of 3-D films released in the early 1980s, and was the only Orion Pictures film filmed in the format. It’s an international co-production between the United States and Mexico.

<i>The Rats</i> (novel) 1974 horror novel by James Herbert

The Rats (1974) is a horror novel by British writer James Herbert. This was Herbert's first novel and included graphic depictions of death and mutilation.

<i>Your Friend the Rat</i> 2007 American film

Your Friend the Rat is a 2007 American animated short film by Pixar, written and directed by Jim Capobianco. The special takes on the form of an educational film and stars rats Remy and Emile, the main protagonists of Ratatouille, who argue for the reconciliation of humans and rats. They use historical facts presented via various styles of animation in a style similar to the Adventures in Music shorts, Melody and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.

<i>The Girl Next Door</i> (2007 film) 2007 film by Gregory M. Wilson

Jack Ketchum's The GIRL Next Door is a 2007 American psychological horror-thriller film directed by Gregory M. Wilson from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman. It is based on Jack Ketchum's 1989 novel of the same name, which was inspired by the real-life murder of Sylvia Likens, to whom the movie is dedicated.

<i>Beyond the Black Rainbow</i> 2010 film by Panos Cosmatos

Beyond the Black Rainbow is a 2010 Canadian psychedelic science fiction horror film written and directed by Panos Cosmatos in his feature film debut. It stars Michael Rogers and Eva Allan.

<i>Clown</i> (film) 2014 horror film directed by Jon Watts

Clown is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Jon Watts in his feature directorial debut, produced by Mac Cappuccino, Eli Roth, and Cody Ryder, and written by Watts and Christopher Ford. It stars Eli Roth, Laura Allen, Andy Powers, and Peter Stormare. Visual effects for the clown monster were done by Jagdeep Khoza, Alterian, Inc., and Tony Gardner. Principal photography began in November 2012, in Ottawa. The film was released in Italy on November 13, 2014, in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2015, and in the United States on June 17, 2016, by Dimension Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Panos Cosmatos is an Italian-Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is known for Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy.

References

  1. ↑ Muir 2010, p. 338.
  2. ↑ "Of Unknown Origin (1983)". British Film Institute . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Of Unknown Origin". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved February 20, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Dee, Jake (August 3, 2017). "The F*cking Black Sheep: Of Unknown Origin (1983)". JoBlo.com . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Barta, Preston (May 23, 2018). "Weller looks back on 'Of Unknown Origin' and the horror of rats". Denton Record-Chronicle . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "That Rat Movie" With Writer Brian Taggert. Of Unknown Origin (Blu-ray documentary short). Shout! Factory. 2018. OCLC   1037002045.
  7. ↑ "Festival Enterprises Theatres". The Fresno Bee . September 30, 1983. p. D9 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "What's On: Cinema". Vancouver Sun . November 25, 1983. p. F3 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 "Of Unknown Origin". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ Canby, Vincent (November 24, 1983). "'Unknown Origin'". The New York Times . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  11. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (November 25, 1983). "A Rat Race That's Taut, Darkly Comic". Los Angeles Times . p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Of Unknown Origin". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  13. ↑ Tyner, Adam (August 10, 2003). "Of Unknown Origin". DVD Talk . Archived from the original on July 10, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Of Unknown Origin". Shout! Factory.

Notes

  1. ↑ Sources disagree about the film's country of origin. The British Film Institute lists the film as a Canadian production, while the American Film Institute lists the film as a Canadian-United States co-production.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.