Of Unknown Origin

I'm a huge fan of Peter Weller. Here's a guy who has played everyone from Buckaroo Banzai to William S. Burroughs to Robocop. He has approached most roles with such a low key bordering on dead pan demeanor that really works for him. Somehow one of his earliest works seemed to slip by me, so I remanded that this weekend and caught up with the 1983 horror thriller Of Unknown Origin.

Weller stars as a mild mannered husband and father who has recently renovated a brownstone for him and his family to live in. When his wife and kid go out of town to visit family, he stays behind to work on a big project that could land him a promotion at his job. But a bigger problem surfaces when a giant rat invades his home. None of Weller's attempts to rid his house of the rodent seem to work leading to an ultimate battle between the man and beast.

This was directed by the late George P. Cosmatos, who would later work with Weller again in Leviathan. Cosmatos does a terrific job of mounting the tension. He keeps the runtime at a brisk 89 minutes and is smart to focus on the tension and less on the domestic issues. There is a longer version that I haven't seen, and honestly I don't know if I want to because the way the film is now is really tight. Cosmatos also does a terrific job of delivering quite a few jump scares.

Weller delivers another great performance of a man who slowly loses it due to the household pest. This could have easily been an over the top role, but Weller is a master when it comes to the slow burn. This film could have easily came out as cartooney, but both Weller and Cosmatos are smart enough to play it for genuine scares.

This terrific little horror gem has recently been released on blu ray from Shout Factory. It's definitely worth checking out.