Of Unknown Origin

Very funny. Really, even though the story is pretty insane and I wouldn’t like something similar happening to me, there were times when I laughed out loud, the war of people against mice is just funny. It’s a horror-lite Mousehunt with a monstrously disgusting and evil mouse. PS: The line “You'll regret you furry fucker" should be carved in stone :-D (2012.02.03)

Movies in the 80s pitted the human hero against an endlessly bizarre array of enemies, with the disproportionately pissed rat of this film being one of the fairly normal ones – and that's the main problem, too. The film is more or less okay in terms of craftsmanship and doesn't wallow in proudly intentional awkwardness, but is terribly restrained and unimaginative. The heroic and overwhelmingly black-humoured climax thankfully confirms that a genre classification of comedy would be appropriate, and does much to remedy previous lacklustre attempts at creating tension or generating psychological terror. Sorry, but the idea of a knife fight between a grown man and a rat is just a joke, which Cosmatos had time to realize. Weak 3*. (2018.06.05)

At first glance, the plot of the film "Evil of Unknown Origin" appears too simple to produce something truly great, something that could be considered a horror film and hold the viewer's interest throughout. However, it turns out that the creators had a real knack for it, and with the minimal material they decided to work with, they have created a film that is well-made and can evoke fear in you. (2016.07.31)

The animal horror film (or rather black-humour psychodrama) Of Unknown Origin is one of the greatest oddities in its subgenre. The protagonist is a typical 80s yuppie, whose desire to succeed financially at any cost is metaphorically reflected in a determined effort to eliminate an overgrown rat that has moved into his apartment, even at the cost of destroying his luxury home and his marriage in the process. The film hauntingly plays out the surreal disintegration of the protagonist's lifestyle and his cathartic return to the primal state of a man struggling for bare survival. If you want to see the live-action horror version of Tom and Jerry from the director of Rambo II, I highly recommend it. (2019.11.03)