Of Unknown Origin (1983)

A man who recently completed rebuilding a townhouse becomes obsessed with a rat infestation until it becomes an interspecies duel.

Director:

George P. Cosmatos

Writers:

Chauncey G. Parker III (novel), Brian Taggert (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Weller	...	Bart Hughes
Jennifer Dale	...	Lorrie Wells
Lawrence Dane	...	Eliot Riverton
Kenneth Welsh	...	James Hall
Louis Del Grande	...	Clete
Shannon Tweed	...	Meg Hughes
Keith Knight	...	Hardware Salesman
Maury Chaykin	...	Dan Errol
Leif Anderson	...	Peter Hughes
Jimmy Tapp	...	Meg's Father
Gayle Garfinkle	...	Janis Wycoff
Earl Pennington	...	Mr. Thompson
Jacklin Webb	...	Newspaper Vendor
Bronwen Mantel	...	Florence Riverton
Monik Nantel	...	Secretary

Storyline

Bart Hughes has a pretty good life, a beautiful wife, a young son, a good job with promotion prospects, and a renovated brownstone in New York. When wife and kid leave for a vacation, Bart stays behind to work on a project that will earn him that promotion, unaware that a certain inhabitant of his basement has other plans for his time. Bart goes a bit bonkers trying to kill this rat, destroying most of his house in the process. Certain allegorical elements tie the household conflict to the "rat race" in his office, but the main event is certainly the night-and-day contest of wills between man and rodent.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | black comedy | rat | house | based on novel | 

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Taglines:

Peter Weller (Robocop) Turns his home into a battleground against an enemy...

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 November 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Origem Desconhecida

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$540,446, 27 November 1983, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,080,470, 4 December 1983

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Famous Players Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was "originally released in a longer version" according to 'Rating the Movies'.

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Quotes

Bart Hughes: You never said anything about rubber gloves, you boneheaded fart.

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Connections

Referenced in The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Episode #7.113 (2011)

User Reviews

Three words: spiked baseball bat

Take a "B" movie idea and put it together with clever cinematography, good acting and a reasonable budget, and you will have one of the finest movies of this genre ever made. Peter Weller basically does a one man job on this movie. I have a new found respect for him after this. In this move he plays a straight arrow guy, generally normal, likes to research before making a move. A pretty normal guy however, in this movie we get to enjoy the breakdown of his being while he has to come to terms with the forces of nature (or the Super Natural or Xeno Nature). For everyone who has ever gotten frustrated by a hellish problem or works in a job that should have more cathartic releases, see this movie!