OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN REVIEWED
“Of Unknown Origin” is a Canadian exploitation movie about one man’s battle against a rat. While I’m not a huge fan of George P. Costmatos’s work, I appreciate what he was doing here. Hell, I’d go so far as to call it underrated. When people approach horror or exploitation films, they want some sort of guttural appeal. However, it’s the appeal to the mundane terrors in our life that produces something stunning. It’s not that Peter Weller has to fight a rat, it’s how much of his life he loses to the rat.
Dumped in 200 screens by Warner Brothers in 1983, the film has struggled to find a fan appreciation bloc. Most of that stems from how it spent the late 80s in constant rotation on HBO. Divorced from the need to rely on trailers and opening weekends, the feature found life with people willing to spend an afternoon with it. Of Unknown Origin isn’t Jaws or a creature attack movie. It’s a character study regarding how much man loses when he battles nature.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- NEW 2K Scan From The Interpositive
- NEW The Origins Of Unknown Origin – An Interview With Executive Producer Pierre David
- NEW That Rat Movie – An Interview With Writer Brian Taggert
- NEW Hey, Weren’t You In Scanners? – An Interview With Actor Louis Del Grande
- Audio Commentary With Director George P. Cosmatos And Actor Peter Weller
- Theatrical Trailers
- Still Gallery
A/V STATS
- 1.85:1 1080p transfer
- DTS-HD MONO