It’s Peter Weller vs. clunky allegory in George P. Cosmatos’ “Of Unknown Origin,” a veritable contemporary take on “Moby Dick” that pits man against nature in an urban setting and sea of bricks and mortars. “Of Unknown Origin” quite obviously fancies itself a wink wink nudge at the famous novel, that Weller’s character Bart even threatens the film’s beast with in his hand while pounding on a ceiling. In “Of Unknown Origin,” the world is a rat race and Peter Weller’s character Bart is so anxious to claw his way to the top of his corporation that he’ll even sacrifice a weekend with a young, taut Shannon Tweed (her first role) so he can get ahead.
But things go bad for Bart as he realizes that his large fancy house is being ruled over and destroyed by a giant rat. As Bart looks for new ways to outwit and out gun the rat beast, he also begins to wonder if perhaps his obsession with the beast is more based around helping his family or if it’s his slowly degrading sanity from the pressures of his everyday work life. There’s a lot of implication that “Of Unknown Origin” is more about a man fighting against his inner self, with the rat serving more as a symbol. That’s then dashed by the second half when it becomes abundantly clear that Bart is battling an inexplicable force of nature.
There are a lot of weird dream sequences and moments of Bart battling the beast but never a ton of explanation why the giant rat is in his home. The rat is less a threat and more a symbolic manifestation of the hollow life Bart leads. It chews at every bit of livelihood, inspires him to fall apart, and even causes Bart to dream of his wife being clawed at by the monster. Beyond that on the nose bit of exposition, there’s also the idea that Bart is somewhat battling himself, and looking for a goal he can work toward. He just doesn’t know what he’s up against as the script is intent on reminding us time and time again that rats are cunning and vicious predators. It’s tough to find horror movies where rats are the cause of creeps. Despite the ick factor, “Of Unknown Origin” is merely an okay monster movie that dips in to silliness quite often.
“Of Unknown Origin” isn’t a special or collector’s edition, but it is available for folks in the mood for a giant rat movie or the very delicious Shannon Tweed. There’s the audio Commentary With Director George P. Cosmatos and Actor Peter Weller, and an interview With Writer Brian Taggert who discusses being typecast as the writer of “Of Unknown Origins,” as well as the changes he made to “The Visitor,” the book the movie is based on. There’s a fourteen minute Interview with Producer Pierre David who discusses discovering the book “The Visitor” and the process of turning it in to a movie. There’s also an Interview with Actor Louis Del Grande who discusses a lot of his past work. Finally there are original theatrical trailers, and an HD still gallery.