OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN (1983)

NYC banking executive Peter Weller's family goes on vacation without him.  Why did the writers even give him a family, since they serve no purpose to the story, I don't know, but anyway, they go on vacation while he stays behind to focus on a project for work.  Things go well for one day, then (kinda like Catherine Deneuve in REPULSION) he starts hearing odd noises and seeing stuff.  Is it real or is it his imagination?  Could it be a ghost, a wookalar or maybe...a giant rat!?

Real rat or not, Peter goes so bonkers looking for this thing that it doesn't even make sense!  Broken water pipes, holes in the walls, holes in the ceiling, wrecked furniture...he'd almost be better off just letting the rat live!  Or even better yet: act like a normal human being, hire an exterminator, tell your employer you're going to be out for a few days to deal with some personal issues and problem solved.  Instead, he half-ass tries to get an exterminator (and fails) then loses his mind fighting the rat himself.  People at work, (rightfully?) believe that he's cracked under the pressure of the project and maybe he has.  The story is so illogical that, by the end of the film, I was seriously doubting the rat even existed.

OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN is best looked at as a dark comedy.  My favorite part of the movie was Peter's kid.  He's such an obnoxious fuck that during a dream sequence, he's still a little shit!

Double-feature with MOUSEHUNT or maybe even HOME ALONE.

SAVING GRACE (2000)

Grace is a moron. In the opening moments of the film, we learn that Grace's husband committed suicide and not only was he cheating on her, but he had also borrowed money against everything they own and left her over £300,000 in debt!  How exactly does a housewife with no job become so out of touch with reality that she doesn't even realize stuff like that?  Anyway, so I guess we're suppose to feel sympathy for this moron and then laugh along at her unfunny journey into big time weed dealing.  I didn't laugh once...

...but I did enjoy the film, because SAVING GRACE is the first time we ever see Martin Clunes as "Doc Martin".  I absolutely love the TV show Doc Martin and have watched it from beginning to end multiple times, so this film, while it was completely predictable and not funny in the least, was still interesting because we get to see Martin Clunes, Tristan Sturrock and the town of Port Isaac.  All three would go on to star in the television show.  It was very interesting to see just how wildly different the character of Dr. Martin was in this film compared to what he became in the show 4 years later.

Long story short: SAVING GRACE is a mildly entertaining film that is totally predictable, but it's worth a watch for Martin Clunes fans. As for me, I'll never watch it ever again, but I will continue to watch Doc Martin daily.

THE DIANE LINKLETTER STORY (1970)

Rumored to have been made by John Waters and a few fellow Dreamlanders (to test a new camera) the day after Diane Linkletter's suicide, THE DIANE LINKLETTER STORY was never intended for public consumption, but yet...here we are.

At only 10 minutes long, there's not a lot going on.  Mary Vivian Pearce and David Lochary star as two concerned parents, sitting on their living room sofa, talking about their daughter's wild life style.  After a few minutes, the daughter (Divine) walks in and announces that she's high on LSD.  They send her to her room upstairs.  She goes and almost immediately climbs out the window and jumps to her death.  The parents look at her bloody corpse in horror as the closing lines of Art Linkletter's tacky "We Love You, Call Collect" plays.  The End.

There's not a lot to say.  The dialogue seems to be completely improvised...at one point all three actors are talking at one time.  There's no attempt at professional-looking camera work...it simply pans around and zooms in and out, but not too fast.  The film is very watchable.

Honestly, THE DIANE LINKLETTER STORY isn't much to look at, but it is an interesting look into early Dreamlander stuff.  And I'm always happy to watch Divine, Mary and David!

LOVE LETTER TO EDIE (1975)

Very sweet 14-minute documentary by Robert Maier (who worked on five different John Waters movies) about the wonderful Edith Massey.  For those of you not fortunately to know who Edith Massey is, she (in real life) worked at a place in Baltimore called "Pete's Hotel" bar.  It was there that John Waters first saw her.  He was instantly smitten by her unique look and personality.  She ended up, over the next 10+ years, appearing in five of his films, including his masterpiece PINK FLAMINGOS.

Even at only 14-minutes, LOVE LETTER TO EDIE packs in a lot of interesting stuff.  My favorite being Edie telling her life story (who knows if it's even accurate) while we watch her and other Dreamlanders (Pat Moran, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce) reenacting those events or just walking around.  I thought that was really cool and very nice of them to help with this short film.

If you don't care about Edith Massey or John Waters, then LLTE will probably be a bore, but if you are a fan then it's mandatory.  Also, strangely enough, there's two different versions of the film out there.  One looked to be the original (with audio commentary by Pat Moran) and an updated version that tweaked some of the credit stuff and had a slightly better picture.  I personally like the original better.

Recommended.

[Update 09/02/2021: Watched the updated blu-ray. The picture on the main film is much improved. There is also a 15-minute segment with director Robert Maier talking to the camera about how he got started with John Waters and then meeting Edie. He talks about his documentary some, then talks about how after it came out, he moved down the street from Edie and would see her around and hang out with her. Eventually he ended up taking turns with John Waters in driving her to her doctor’s appointments. Overall, it was very informative and sweet. I love the idea of John Waters driving Edie around on errands. That would make a great movie in itself! I also enjoyed hearing about Edie’s cat Lovey who didn’t like to be petted. I hope Lovey had a good life.]