It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Remake of the old 80s TV series isn't anywhere as creepy. The Mr Wilberforce of the original TV series cameos as an old man working in his backyard. The fact that it is movie length though, means that a lot of the less interesting scenes from the TV show have been omitted and there is more action.

I really liked this movie. It is thrilling, scary and has brilliant visual effects! I really liked the theme of this movie. Teenage fraternal twins Theo and Rachel who seem like ordinary teenagers but they turn out to be very significant. Also Theo and Rachel have recently suffered a terrible tragedy the death of their mother, which causes a rift in the bound between the twins. So throughout the film the twins not only have to discover their true destiny, they also have to rediscover themselves. Sam Neil is brilliant in his role as the mysterious and benevolent Mr Jones who becomes the twins mentor. Sam is brilliant in just about every role I've seen him in. Now the main antagonists of the film the Wilberforces, they are scary in every way; slimy, grotesque and terrifyingly powerful. They are something out of your worst nightmare!I liked the fact that this terrifying adventure takes place in the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand. It makes this movie look somewhat majestic in the scene of location. So overall this is a great movie. I don't see many Australian or New Zealand films that are this good.

Well, whatever else you might want to say about this New Zealand product, you've got to acknowledge one thing. In fantasy films where it's up to a young hero or heroes to save the day, it's fairly standard to give them an older or aged mentor to help them fulfill their destiny. Under The Mountain is the only such movie I know of which faces up to the pedophilic smell of such a relationship. I mean, an old guy pulling up in a van and telling a kid "Come with me. It's up to you to save the world" is probably how a lot of children go missing. The wizards and seers of fantasy look, in the clear light of day, like the molesters of the real world. This movie doesn't shy away from that, though I'm not sure it's a good thing.Rachel and Theo (Sophie McBride and Tom Cameron) are red headed twins who can communicate with a garbled telepathy. After their mom is killed in an accident, they're sent to live in the city with their aunt, uncle and cousin. Theo is hit hard by his mother's death, creating a rift between the twins as he pushes Rachel away every chance he can. But when Rachel and Theo discover the creepy people who live across the lake aren't really people, the seemingly immortal Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) reveals that the twins are the only ones who can save the world from alien invaders. Not by letting Mr. Jones take naked pictures of them, but by using their power of "twinness" to throw two magical stones into a volcano. As long as Theo continues to distance himself from Rachel, however, their "twinness" will never be strong enough to succeed.Under The Mountain is based on a novel but follows an entirely generic pattern for these kind of films. In the first half, we're introduced to our heroes and a bunch of foreshadowing and supposedly mysterious stuff happens. Then at the midway point, there's a huge info dump where literally everything is explained to the audience to the point where anyone with half a brain knows exactly what's going to happen in the second half of the movie, which is then nothing more than a dash to get to an obvious ending. As these things go, the first half is pretty good, the info dump is especially blatant and the second half is much lighter on plot than usual.The worst thing about the film is an extremely overbearing and intrusive soundtrack. In every scene where there's even the least bit of drama, tension or threat, dour and gloomy instrumental music is blared at the audience. It's like these filmmakers were so convinced viewers would not know when the film was supposed to be scary, they did the audio equivalent of flashing subtitles on the screen that say "This is frightening." Making it worse is that the musical cues are so strong from the very start, the audience is emotionally inured by the time the scary stuff actually happens. When the music is thundering at you while it's just a weird looking dude staring at our heroes, there's nowhere for the soundtrack to go when the genuine monsters attack.It's also a little odd that the heroes of Under The Mountain are both clearly teenagers while the tone and tenor of their adventure is as clearly geared for tweens. It feels like these kids should be 11 or 12 years old, not 15 or 16.All in all, this isn't a terrible piece of family entertainment but unless you're going to use it to teach your children about "stranger danger", Under The Mountain is not something your family needs to see.

I saw Under the Mountain at the cinema and recently purchased the DVD. My teenage sons loved the film as did I. New Zealand is on a roll lately and Under the Mountain shows what can be done with a load of kiwi talent and a cracker story.Sam Neill is fantastic, as always, but what really stood out for me were the two leads. Gone are the days of stage acting in our movies, a perfectly pitched performance from all. I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr King makes next, he is clearly an incredibly talented man.The visual effects are amazing, as expected from having WETA involved.I recommend this movie to anyone who loves to be entertained, suitable for the entire family. The DVD has a great making of as well.9 out of 10