evanston_dad This man against rat story can I think be viewed two ways: straight up, as a horror film that will be as scary as the viewer's particular fear of rats makes it; or allegorically, as a driven, ambitious man's battle to maintain control over his life and environment.At the risk of being accused of reading too much into the film, I prefer the second option, not only because it makes a more interesting film, but because I think the film provides a lot of evidence that it wants to be taken this way. Peter Weller is sensational as the New York yuppie with the flawless brownstone that he rehabbed by hand, who begins to feel threatened at work just around the time that an icky little visitor starts wreaking havoc at home. I tend to have a rather obsessive personality, and more than once have let something fairly mundane, like a household project, or a minor physical symptom that I convince myself is cancer, become something that occupies my every waking thought. I thought this film nicely captured that specific mental state, and I could relate to the scenes of Weller poring over books about rats, getting some kind of grim satisfaction out of fueling his obsession. Now it would be the Internet providing the material, but the effect would be the same.The film becomes increasingly surreal, and darkly comic, as the man/rat standoff escalates to the point where Weller goes after it clad in homemade armor with a medieval-looking spear. Weller's performance shouldn't be under-appreciated -- it would take a considerable amount of talent to put over a film like this, and he does it admirably.If you like lots of point of view shots of rats spying on people from their vantage point behind furniture, this movie's for you. And rats have never seemed more disgusting to me than after watching the ones in this film in all their slimy, greasy glory.Grade: A-

Scott LeBrun "Of Unknown Origin" is an interesting item on the resume of the late director George P. Cosmatos. Better known for features such as "Rambo: First Blood Part II", "Cobra", and "Tombstone", he directs this man vs. nature thriller with a sure hand, creating some genuine suspense and some harrowing and disturbing moments. The animal action is first rate, and the shocks done with consummate skill (there's a wonderful jolt involving a toilet). The movie is pretty obvious about its themes - a man running the rat race at work must fight an actual monster rat at home, and must get in touch with his most primitive instincts - but that doesn't mean that they don't still work.The man in question is Wall Street yuppie Bart Hughes (Peter Weller, in his first lead role), who's temporarily left on his own after his wife Meg (scorching hot Shannon Tweed, in the role that officially "introduced" her) and son Peter (Leif Anderson) spend some time with Barts' in-laws. Bart has some important business to attend to at work, but he ends up distracted by the war he must wage with this infernal rodent that's threatening the peacefulness of his exquisitely refurbished brownstone. Just as there are co-workers (played by Kenneth Welsh and Maury Chaykin) who would like to see him take a fall, he's often undermined by the utter craftiness of this beast, who often proves to be a step ahead of him.The movie has a great look, with slick cinematography by Rene Verzier, and it also has an effective music score by Ken Wannberg. Weller is terrific in the lead, and is believable through the characters' whole arc. The exemplary supporting cast consists of such top notch Canadian character actors as Lawrence Dane, Welsh, Louis Del Grande (the guy whose head blew up REAL good in "Scanners"), Keith Knight, Chaykin, and Earl Pennington. Tweed supplies some delectable eye candy early on in a shower scene. Stephan Dupuis handles the makeup effects. The finale, when it comes down to a physical battle between human and rodent, is rousing stuff, with Weller carrying around one very MEAN looking custom made weapon.This is a good little story that does merit another look from dedicated genre fans.Eight out of 10.

JasparLamarCrabb A not completely lousy movie from George Cosmatos! That said, the promise this movie has is never fulfilled. What could have been a Lewtonesque study of a man's breakdown degenerates into a silly sub par horror film. Peter Weller plays a career obsessed banker who finds himself becoming even more obsessed with getting rid of a pesky rat that's invaded his swank brownstone (actually more of a mod pad with a castle-like facade). Director Cosmatos, never one known for showing much tact, keeps the game of cat and mouse interesting for a good while until it just gets boring. Frankly, this is the type of movie with a "less is more approach" would need a star far more compelling than Weller. He's not bad, but he is dull and his jokey dialog doesn't help. Shannon Tweed plays his wife and looks dynamite, but really has nothing to do. Jennifer Dale is OK as Weller's smitten co-worker. Judged next to other Cosmatos fare (anyone for COBRA?), it's a masterwork.

fedor8 This little movie is hardly a must-see. People who got excited by this forgettable mediocrity have probably seen far too few (good) horror films, or are huge Weller fans.I didn't have a problem with a mere rat being such a challenge for what seemed to be an intelligent man, i.e. the absurdity of the premise is acceptable because this is a horror film. However, the only way this film should have been done was to do it as an all-out comedy. Though, even then it would have probably gotten dull sooner rather than later due to its one-joke premise.Maybe if they had made the rat out to be much larger, or if they had gotten him to look like Martin Sheen... Though, admittedly, if we had a Sheen rat we could never believe that he could be that intelligent.Perhaps if it looked like Barbra Streisand...? A Barbra rat would be just as dull-witted as a Sheen rat but at least its nose would have scared everyone - including me. Brrrr!