Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 89 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Cast: Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane, Kenneth Welsh, Louis Del Grande, Shannon Tweed
Manhattan Wall Street exec Bart Hughes (Peter Weller, Robocop) is on the verge of a big promotion at his firm, which means he has to put off the family vacation he had planned with his wife Meg (former Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed, Hot Dog…The Movie) and their young son. While they head to her parent's place for a week he stays behind in their Manhattan brownstone working on a big project, occasionally going into he office where he is pushed-on by his boss Elliot (Lawrence Dane, Happy Birthday To Me), while also being undermined by his office-rivals, and supported by his overly-attentive assistant Lorrie (Jennifer Dale, Stone Cold Dead).
Already part of a corporate rat-race he becomes obsessed with a real rat which has taken up residence in the walls of his home. At first the rat just seems to be a bit of a nuisance, but soon the already stressed Hughes starts to slowly unravel as the rodent increasingly becomes an annoyance, chewing through electrical wires and causing a flood in his home. Hughes calls in an exterminator but the rat foils that plan in a highly implausible way, Hughes then goes for rat-poison, bringing in a stray cat, and setting-up a series of scary looking industrial rat traps which were comically brutal looking.
The rat vs. man story is rather engrossing if not particularly deep, with Hughes' amateur rat-exterminator home life starting to affect his professional life, his sanity slipping more and more as he battles the furry rodent. Eventually he goes all in on the rat, crafting a war-bat made from a Louisville slugger with spikes and medieval looking armaments, suited-up in a homemade body armor and tearing the walls and ceiling apart in an all-out declaration of war against the rat, basically fighting to hold into his sanity, becoming all-consumed by the rodent, willing to destroy the entirety of his home if necessary
The story is very straight forward, convincingly sold by Weller, with some stylish use of POV lensing, a sort of rat-vision as the rodent crawls through the walls, chews through wires, and seemingly spies on it's human host. There's some nice frights using puppets and a possum draped in a rat-costume, the rat popping out of a birthday cake in a dream and emerging from the toilet in reality, it's fun stuff and well-shot. Cosmatos and cinematographer Rene Verzier keep things visually interesting, even if some of the shots undermine the supposed size of unusually large rat.
The film has a few detours that don't seem to go anywhere, there's a hint of marital issues which might be informing his mental breakdown, there's an office fling that doesn't really go anywhere, and even the huge project at work seems to dissipate with no real consequences to his career, but the basic story and Weller's performance, along with the visual style, kept this one interesting to me. If you come into this one expecting a straight out rat-horror film you will be disappointed, this is more of a psychological thriller with some rat menace, a few bloody moments, but nothing to gory, come into this with tempered expectations and I think you'll enjoy it more.
Audio/Video: Of Unknown Origin (1983) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, licensed from Warner Bros (!!!), in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is a new 2018 2K restoration done my Warner Bros. and sourced from an archival interpostive, and it looks very good, the grain is finely managed, details are strong, shadow detail is good, and the colors are natural looking. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA stereo 2.0, it's a solid track that's well-balanced and clean sounding, optional English subtitles are provided.
We get some new extras, which is great. I have a feeling before Scream Factory inked a deal with them that WB would have released this at some point themselves through their Warner Archives distribution arm, but that would have been bare-bones aside from the already existing extras, as is their way. But through this new licensing deal with Scream Factory we get a Warner produced 2K scan and some new Scream Factory produced extras with Red Shirt Picture, so this is a win-win for us fans!
Onto the new extras we het three interviews, the first with Producer Pierre David who speaks about picking up the novel "The Visitor', which the film is an adaptation of, while at the airport and wanting to produce it, bringing in Visiting Hours screenwriter Brian Taggert to adapt it, and filming it in a studio. Talking about the combination of effects used to realize the intrusive rat in the film, from real rats to puppets and a possum in a rat-suit.
Screenwriter Brian Taggert shows up for an interview speaking about adapting the novel, and how he became know as "the rat movie" guy after it, mentioning that the film is Stephen King'as favorite rat-film. He goes into Peter Welling suggesting some good script changes, basing Weller's character on his own fastidious father, and admiring Weller's performance in the film.
Nut job/actor Louis Del Grande who plays a handyman in the movie, and who was the exploding head guy in Cronenberg's Scanners opens his interview with a #metoo joke about the rat in the film, he's strange charcter. He speaks About his early career, appearing in Scanners and not getting paid properly for being used in the promos for the movie, and the time a drug dealer recognized him from the Cronenberg's film. There's not a lot of talk about Of Unknown Origin, but he's a weird guy and has some good stories to tell.
We also get the vintage audio commentary with the late director George P. Cosmatos and actor Peter Weller, this is one of those commentaries with two guys who clearly aren't in the same room, recorded separately but the tracks are stitched together - it's a decent track, with Weller going into the motivation of his character while the director gives us a lot of insight into the production. The disc is buttoned up with also get a few theatrical trailers and a still gallery.
The single-disc Blu-ray comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a 2-sided sleeve, the a-side is the familiar looking key art of the family photo that's been clawed, the b-side features an image from the film with some text in the lower left hand corner detailing the transfer information from Warner Bros., the disc itself has an excerpt from the same key art as the cover.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan from the interpositive
- NEW The Origins of Unknown Origin – an interview with executive producer Pierre David (14 min) HD
- NEW That Rat Movie - an interview with writer Brian Taggert (18 min) HD
- NEW Hey, Weren’t You in Scanners? – an interview with actor Louis Del Grande (14 min) HD
- Audio Commentary with director George P. Cosmatos and actor Peter Weller
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min) HD
- Still Gallery (3 min) HD
Of Unknown Origin (1983) is a fun little rat-thriller, Weller does good work as a man driven over the edge by a rodent who has invaded his personal space and refuses to leave. At times it feels a bit stretched, and I could see this making an even better short film, but I still dig it quite a bit. Glad to see Scream Factory releasing another WB title following Larry Cohen's It's Alive Trilogy, I hope they're able to get in there and release more coveted genre titles, but for now this slice of Canadian rat-ploitation is a welcome addition to the collection.
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 89 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Cast: Peter Weller, Jennifer Dale, Lawrence Dane, Kenneth Welsh, Louis Del Grande, Shannon Tweed
Synopsis: When not mired in the corporate rat race, Wall Street executive Bart Hughes is king of his sleek Manhattan brownstone … until he finds his castle under siege by the most determined of home intruders. Forced to enter a rat race of an entirely different sort, Bart takes a stand, with his survival and sanity at stake. Making its Blu-ray debut May 22nd, 2018 from Scream Factory, Of Unknown Origin also includes a number of bonus features, including a new interview with executive producer Pierre David, a new interview with writer Brian Taggert, a new interview with actor Louis Del Grande and audio commentaries with director George P. Cosmatos and actor Peter Weller. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.com
Peter Weller (Robocop, Sons of Anarchy) stars in Of Unknown Origin, an eerie and nerve-tingling suspense thriller directed by George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone, Cobra) and the winner of Paris International Film Festival Awards for Best Picture and Actor. Cleverly and compellingly, the film draws you into a battle of wits, namely one with an intruder that's formidable, persistent and clever enough to lure Bart (Weller) along on an unwitting path to self-destruction. In the battle of man versus beast, push has come to scream.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan from the interpositive
- NEW The Origins of Unknown Origin – an interview with executive producer Pierre David
- NEW That Rat Movie - an interview with writer Brian Taggert
- NEW Hey, Weren’t You in Scanners? – an interview with actor Louis Del Grande
- Audio Commentary with director George P. Cosmatos and actor Peter Weller
- Theatrical Trailers
- Still Gallery
ROBOCOP 2 (1990)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 117 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Irvin Kershner
Cast: Gabriel Damon, Belinda Bauer, Dan O'Herlihy, Nancy Allen, Peter Weller, Tom Noonan
Synopsis: RoboCop 2 pits two unstoppable cyborgs against each other in a battle to the death! When Detroit's descent into chaos is further compounded by a police department strike and a new designer drug called "Nuke," only RoboCopTM can stop the mayhem. But in his way are an evil corporation that profits from Motor City crime and a bigger and tougher cyborg with a deadly directive: Take out RoboCop. Containing the latest gadgetry and weaponry as well as the mind of the madman who designed "Nuke," this new cyborg isn't just more sophisticated than his predecessor... he's psychotic and out of control! And it's going to take everything RoboCop has – maybe even his life – to save Detroit from complete and utter anarchy.
Thinking back on this one I realized it is the only Robocop film I caught first run in the cinema, I don't have the best memory of loving it at the time, and the movie has sort of languished in the back of my mind as a less than stellar sequel to an amazing, dark and violently satirical first film. Director Paul Verhoeven did not return for this sequel, he was making Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the time, so the producers brought in director Irvin Kershner, the guy who directed, in my opinion, the best sequels of all-time, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), but let's be real, he also directed one of the worst, the non-cannon 007 flick Never Say Never Again (1983), but he also directed The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), which I have a soft spot for. Producers also brought in comics writer Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City) as screenwriter, which again is both good and bad, I like a lot of Miller's work, but I don't think the he quite captured the satirical stuff I loved about the first Robocop for the sequel, his tone is dark, but different.
Again we have Robocop (Peter Weller, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) in Detroit battling the evils of the inner-city, Omni Consumer Products (OCP)are still trying to create a new Robocop, literally calling their creation Robocop 2! OCP are also out to build the city of the future, something called Delta City, and to that end they are out to force the city to default on their payments to OCP, which would somehow force them surrender control of the city to OCP. The Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy, Halloween III) returns as the OCP CEO, and he's turned into quite a corporate bastard since the first film, wherein he seemed alright, for a corporate guy. The idea of Detroit declaring bankruptcy probably seemed like such a oddly dystopian idea back in '90, but not these days, haha.
As OCP own the cops they make things worse for Detroit by cutting wages and pension plans for cops, causing a city wide police strike, leaving Robocop and his partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen, Carrie) as the only cops out on the streets, so as you can imagine the whole damn city is thick with crime. The movie opens with a fun neon-lit montage of a thief robbing a bag lady only to be roughed-up by some violent prostitutes, so it does have a bit of the Verhoeven satire to it, mixed in with some of Frank Miller's darkness, you see a lot of his vision bleeding through, including the commercials, one of which features actor John Glover (Gremlins 2) selling a lethal form of car alarm, it's good stuff but not on par with the first film, which was more biting. Sadly we do not get any of the infamous "Id buy that for a dollar!" lines peppered throughout.
One of the villains of this movie is a drug dealer named Cain (Tom Noonan, Manhunter)who peddles a new designer drug called Nuke. Cain is a weird cult-leader new age spiritualist, Noonan is nicely creepy in the role, but we don't get enough of him in my opinion. His right hand man is actually a young kid named Hobs (Gabriel Damon), a pint-sized killer with a shit attitude, and Cain's girlfriend Angie (Galyn Görg). Also working against Robocop are the corporate baddies at OCP who are looking to replace goodie-goodie Robocop with a new successor, after the failure of good old ED-209 from the first film.
OCP are still using fallen officers to create cyborg robocops, but the problem they're having is that their creations tend to go insane, shooting up the lab techs before committing suicide. Enter psycho-psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer) who aligns herself with The Old Man to create a new Robocop, unwisely using the criminal Cain as the brain inside the new armored Robocop 2! Great idea, what could go wrong? Perhaps the idea that you now have a drug addicted Robocop might pose a bit of a problem, which of course it does.
Faults aside I have to say the movie holds up better way than I remembered, which is not usually the case usually i remember older movie far more fondly than they deserve, but that is not the case with this one. Sure, it's not on par with the original (so few are), but the violence is good and strong, Miller does channel some of the same darkness and satire that Verhoeven brought, but it is toned down, and that was a huge part of what I loved about the first movie. It also touches on an area I thought could have given the character of Murphy/Robocop a bit of new life, like when we catch him stalking his ex wife, keeping tabs on her, but that tasty tidbit of a subplot evaporates before it can even begin to boil. Nancy Allen returns here as officer Lewis but she is awful, more fairly, she doesn't have a whole lot to do, and the character is poorly written. I love Allen in De Palma's movies, but watching her in this, the next sequel and Poltergeist III (1988) recently, she can be a bad actress when not given some proper direction, real bad.
What the sequel does right is keep the action coming, this is a violent movie, the gore is toned way down, but I love the stop-motion animation between Robocop and Robocop 2 at the end of the movie. With Cain's brain inside the armored R2 we sadly do not get enough of Noonan as Cain, who is relegated to a Lawnmower Man esque digital face on a TV screen once inside the steel-machine, so as much as I loved the R2 design, I wish somehow we would have had more of Noonan incorporated into it.
This would be the last time we would see Weller in the role of Murphy/Robocop, and already it's a case of diminishing returns, honestly they just don't explore his humanity enough to keep the personal story interesting, it's dropped in there but just disappears, wrapped up way to fast for my tastes. I will say I love the new Robocop suit this time out, it has a pearly blue/purple tone to it that looks great on film, and Weller is iconic in his own way, giving some distinct line readings, which will be sorely missed in the bland sequel to this one.
Robocop 2 is a fun watch, it's a lesser film but still maintains just enough of what I loved about the first to keep me plugged in right till the end credits. There's plenty of action, some watered down satire, Miller's dark humor and some bloody violence, unlike R3 this one maintains an R-rating and isn't aimed at the kiddies.
Audio/Video: Robocop 2 (1990) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a brand new 2K scan from the interpositive with a new color correction. The results are very pleasing, I own the MGM Trilogy Blu-ray set and this is a nice upgrade. Grain is nicely managed, the colors are more impressive, black levels are good and deep. The image is sharp, nicely detailed with some good depth, this is good stuff.
Audio on the disc includes English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1, the surround offers some good use of the surrounds when the action amps up, a solid surround track. The stereo track is also solid with good stereo separation. Optional english subtitles are included.
Extras on the disc are plentiful and nicely in-depth, beginning with the 32-minute making of doc with new and vintage interviews with director Irvin Kershner, producer Jon Davidson, cast members Tom Noonan, Nancy Allen, Galyn Görg, executive producer Patrick Crowley, associate producer Phil Tippett, cinematographer Mark Irwin and author/CG supervision Paul M. Sammon. A nice, honest, remembrance of the making of, including producer Jon Davidson speaking about the convoluted process of making the movie, the original story ideas including a Robocop love story!
There'a also a 32-min FX featurette with Phil Tippett, Peter Kuran, Craig Hayes, Jim Aupperle, Kirk Thatcher, Paul Gentry, Don Waller, Justin Kohn, Randal Dutra and Kevin Kutchaver, an 9-min interview with RoboCop armor fabricator James Belohovek, a 6-min interview with comic book writer Steven Grant on adapting Frank Millers screenplay for Robocop 2, plus 46-min of archival production and behind-the-scenes videos including interviews with director Irvin Kershner, actors Peter Weller, Dan O’Herlihy and a look at the filming of some deleted scene. Additionally we have trailers and a series of image galleries rounding out the extras. Almost forgot to mention the 3-min deleted scene gallery, which sadly is not actual deleted scenes but descriptions of some significant story elements that were left on the cutting room floor, I think if Scream had been able to unearth the actual deleted footage that would have certainly made this a much more sought after release, but as it stands this is a damn fine release.
The single disc release comes housed in a standard blue keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, featuring a new illustration by Paul Shipper, which sadly looks like a painted version of the usual floating head photoshop stuff, which I hated. The reverse side features the original one-sheet poster, which isn't much better< sadly, this is one of the ugliest packaging artworks I've seen from Scream Factory. There's also a slipcase (o-ring) featuring the Shipper artwork, groan.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan of the inter-positive
- NEW Audio Commentary with author/CG supervisor Paul M. Sammon
- NEW Audio Commentary with the makers of “RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop” documentary – Gary Smart, Chris Griffiths and Eastwood Allen
- NEW Corporate Wars: The Making of ROBOCOP 2 Рfeaturing new and vintage interviews with director Irvin Kershner, producer Jon Davidson, cast members Tom Noonan, Nancy Allen, Galyn G̦rg, executive producer Patrick Crowley, associate producer Phil Tippett, cinematographer Mark Irwin and author/CG supervision Paul M. Sammon (32 min)HD
- NEW Machine Parts: The FX of ROBOCOP 2 – featuring Phil Tippett, Peter Kuran, Craig Hayes, Jim Aupperle, Kirk Thatcher, Paul Gentry, Don Waller, Justin Kohn, Randal Dutra and Kevin Kutchaver (32 min)HD
- NEW Robo-Fabricator – an interview with RoboCop armor fabricator James Belohovek (9 min)HD
- NEW Adapting Frank Miller’s ROBOCOP 2 – an interview with comic book writer Steven Grant (6 min)HD
- NEW OCP Declassified – a collection of rare archival production and behind-the-scenes videos including interviews with director Irvin Kershner, actors Peter Weller, Dan O’Herlihy and a look at the filming of some deleted scene (46 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Teaser Trailers (2 min) HD
- TV Spots (1 min) HD
- Deleted Scenes (2 min) HD
- Still Gallery (1 min) HD
- Still Galleries (behind-the-scenes photos, stills, posters and lobby cards)(9 min)
I was surprised how much I enjoyed re watching this sequel, it holds up surprisingly well, way better than I remembered. Sure, it's got a few parts that are less than stellar, and the satire and humor aren't up to the standards of Verhoeven's original, but this is a fun watch and loaded with plenty of Robocop action. The new transfer looks top notch and the extras are fantastic. 3/5
Already part of a corporate rat-race he becomes obsessed with a real rat which has taken up residence in the walls of his home. At first the rat just seems to be a bit of a nuisance, but soon the already stressed Hughes starts to slowly unravel as the rodent increasingly becomes an annoyance, chewing through electrical wires and causing a flood in his home. Hughes calls in an exterminator but the rat foils that plan in a highly implausible way, Hughes then goes for rat-poison, bringing in a stray cat, and setting-up a series of scary looking industrial rat traps which were comically brutal looking.
Audio/Video: Of Unknown Origin (1983) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, licensed from Warner Bros (!!!), in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. This is a new 2018 2K restoration done my Warner Bros. and sourced from an archival interpostive, and it looks very good, the grain is finely managed, details are strong, shadow detail is good, and the colors are natural looking. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA stereo 2.0, it's a solid track that's well-balanced and clean sounding, optional English subtitles are provided. 
