Warner Bros released Of Unknown Origin on or about 24 November 1983. It’s confusing. Different sources provide different dates.
Neither critics nor audiences took to the film. Of course, the producers didn’t give audiences much of a chance. They distributed the film in spurts. But I think I know what the problem was. The film is a comedy. Sure, it’s also horror. And it is pretty scary at times. But a lot of this film is laugh-out-loud funny.
Of Unknown Origin is like a lot of lower budget films. Critics like it much more now at its release. Because critics are idiots.
The film started with Chauncey G Parker’s novel, The Visitor. Executive producer Pierre David optioned it. He had veteran TV writer Brian Taggert write the screenplay. Director George P Cosmatos was also interested in making a film based on the book. So he hooked up with David.
Cosmatos is an interesting guy. He had some success in Europe early on. This film had a similar budget to the films he had been making, despite being his first North American production.
Cosmatos follwed up the film with a series of big budget films. These included two Sylvester Stallone films: Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra.
Let’s watch Of Unknown Origin on its (more or less) 42nd anniversary!
Of Unknown Origin (1983) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
