Peter Weller plays a successful businessman living in a New York brownstone. After he sends the wife and kid away for a week, he begins to suspect he's not alone in his apartment. He starts finding little clues of an unseen visitor here and there. Soon, an all-out battle for survival is being waged between him and a giant rat. Some may find this stuff silly, and maybe it is. But fear of rats is a genuine phobia, and this is by far the most serious movie to address that fear that I've ever seen. And it does it extremely well. Like "Jaws", you only get glimpses of the rat throughout the movie- but they sure are effective.
Revolting close-ups of real rats were used- beady eyes staring, yellowed teeth knawing, glistening, wet paws and slimy tails. POV camerawork is used to great effect in the movie as the rat silently slinks through the apartment and pipes of the building. "Of Unknown Origin" is a great little creature feature that will give you a serious case of the heebie-jeebies- especially those of you with rat phobias. Peter Weller does an inspired acting job as his character Bart slowly unravels into near-insanity.. His speech about rats at a dinner party is a delight, at the same time darkly funny yet disturbing. Stephen King has cited this as one of his favorite movies. A forgotten and fun little horror movie from 1983.
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