Under the Mountain (2009)

Title - Under the Mountain
Director - Jonathan King
Language - English
Genre - Sci-Fi/Fantasy


"It's just a creepy old house"
"Then why don't we check it out"
"Because it's a creepy old house"
Ricky & Theo







I remember watching a series when I was younger, it was called 'Under the Mountain' and I haven't met many people who remember it.  I didn't remember much about, just that there was a brother & sister who had glowing stones and they were fighting against thing's that looked like men but were something else, some type of slug i thought (I remember there being lots of slime).  I also remember that it creeped me out.
I decided to try and find the series and failed but what i did find was this, a modern remake in the form of a film.  I sat down to watch it, expecting to be disappointed, things are never as good as you remember them & this was a remake of the thing I remember.  Here's the review.

After the Death of their Mother, twins Theo & Rachel are sent to live with their Aunt & Uncle who live on the edge of a lake on a dormant volcano.  On the other side of the lake is rundown house where 7 members of the Wilberforce family live.  The Wilberforce's are seen watching the twins who go into the house to try and find out what is happening, they over hear the Wilberforce's say that if the twins find the 'Fire Bringer' then they will have to 'make them dead'.  Needless to say the twins meet the Fire Bringer, an man call Mr Jones (he has no first name & no ID) who tell them that he & the Wilberforce's are from different worlds and that the Wilberforce's are working with other creatures called Gargantuan's to feed off the world, he gives them a stone each which contains a power which can be used to defeat the Wilberforce's and there allies but they can only be used by twins who have a special connection.

Under the Mountain is a childrens film and covers such topic's as acceptance, Theo has trouble accepting his mother death & refuses to acknowledge the link he has with his sister.  It's also a film that says that it's OK to need help, the stones won't work fully until Theo & Rachel work together, they also need to get help from the Mr Jones & there cousin Ricky on a few occasions.  The film also looks at loss, Theo & Rachel are sent to their Aunts because their Dad has a break down after the death of their Mother, Theo has trouble coping with the death and over compensates by trying to keep Rachel out of danger by doing everything himself .  Mr Jones is also coping with the death of his own brother and of the lose of the Twins he had previously tried to get to defeat the Wilberforce's, this makes him under estimate Rachel & Theo.

The has a 12 rating because it is, like the original series very atmospheric, the Wilberforce family, when in human form move quietly and speak with a strange monotoned voice, the effects used when their human form slips or when they attack are CG but work well reminding me a bit of the T2000 from Terminator 2.  The Wilberforce's house & the cave's under the volcano have an orgainic feel similar to the H R Geiger inspired 'Alien' movies and the scenes where the Wilberforce's are slightly reminiscent of the Predator movies (althogh tamer, this is a children's movie after all)

So I found that I was pleasantly surprised, the film is as atmospheric as I remember the original series being and I would recommend giving it a watch.