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Of Unknown Origin (1983)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 5/22

OfUnk
5/22: In spite of overwhelming me with dry business talk at the beginning, Of Unknown Origin makes a nice recovery by going to the heart of the matter and finishes well.

I can't help but feel the film is a metaphor that's actually hard to grasp. Yeah, there's a rat issue going on, but it's something deeper: a struggle of one's control over his life. Obviously, there are sensible solutions, but Bart ignores them on purpose by doing this or that on his own in an unsound manner. Hence, his sanity starts to erode until he's stripped down to the bare essentials. When his wife and son finally come home from vacation, he doesn't care about important things anymore like their luggage that's left behind.

Of Unknown Origin can be either horror or suspense, yet I feel it's been neither but an unintentionally funny movie...just absurd a lot of times. Unsurprisingly, it's Stephen King's favorite film while John Waters called it the greatest rat movie made. I can see why.

In his first starring role, Peter Weller is a one-man show; he makes the premise work. It's an impressive performance. On the other hand, I didn't know what a brownstone house looked like until now although it's not a representative of those in New York City since the film was shot on location in Montreal, Quebec.

All in all, having failed at the box office and disappeared for good, Of Unknown Origin is an underrated thriller.