OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
It's like an evil Mousehunt
It's probably easy to get a laugh out of this movie, since the premise so loudly echoes last year's Nathan Lane comedy Mousehunt - the proud owner (and by-hand refinisher) of a Manhattan brownstone becomes increasingly obsessed with ridding his home of an unwanted tenant, a big nasty rat. The kind of rat that'll cross the street just to bite your ass. But really, this is one heck of a little movie, and more than makes up in the Canadian film world for The Keeper.
Peter Weller stars as the Manhattan banker who tries everything - traps, poison, clubbing, you name it - everything short of blowing up his house to rid himself of this vicious vermin. His wife (Shannon Tweed, the second least sexy woman ever passed off as a sexy one) and son are out of town, so without any real anchor (his work in the - heh heh - rat race is as infuriating as anything), he becomes increasinly deranged in his attempts to deal with the little monster.
That it was directed by George Pan Cosmatos, the cinematic marvel who gave us Rambo, didn't exactly fill me with hope, but really, this is the only movie he ever did that came within a country mile of Tombstone. It's tense, thought- provoking, and loaded with all sorts of subtext, most of which is unsubtle enough to find its way onto the back of the box.
Killer movie. And you learn a little about rats, too.