“The goal is to have you sit back, relax and have one hell of a good time. Mission accomplished.” Unfortunately this reviewers comment isn't about Jonathan King's Under the Mountain, but rather Jonathan King's earlier venture Black Sheep. It's a shame it doesn't apply. King has proven himself in the past as a director with the ability to engage and entertain, however I just don't think children's fantasy is his forte. Even if it is from New Zealand.
Under the Mountain has a rich history behind it, as it's based on the popular novel by Maurice Gee and the children's series that ran on Nz's Kiwi TV under the same name starting back in 1981. For audiences familiar with the series (mainly those living in New Zealand), Under the Mountain may prove a nostalgic adventure, but for new audiences (mainly everyone else), it leaves us with way more questions than we started out with.
Under the Mountain has a rich history behind it, as it's based on the popular novel by Maurice Gee and the children's series that ran on Nz's Kiwi TV under the same name starting back in 1981. For audiences familiar with the series (mainly those living in New Zealand), Under the Mountain may prove a nostalgic adventure, but for new audiences (mainly everyone else), it leaves us with way more questions than we started out with.
- 8/21/2010
- by Simone Grant
- JustPressPlay.net
Redheaded wonder twin powers activate! The 1979 novel by New Zealand author Maurice Gee was adapted into a 1982 TV miniseries and now hits the big screen with Sam Neill and effects by Weta. Red-headed teenage twins Rachel (Sophie McBride) and Theo (Tom Cameron) have recently lost their mother to a car accident. Their distraught father sends them to Auckland, New Zealand to temporarily stay with their Uncle Cliff (Matthew Chamberlain), Aunt Kay (Micheala Rooney), and cousin Ricky (Leon Wadham). The twins have a seemingly psychic bond but Theo has become more headstrong and rejects this communication since the death of his mother. When they arrive at their Uncle.s modern house they notice a rundown house on...
- 8/12/2010
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Triage" (2009)
Directed by Danis Tanovic
Released by National Entertainment Media
Although a largely tepid reception at last year's Toronto Film Festival and a downer of a subject matter prevented "No Man's Land" director Danis Tanovic's English-language debut from getting American theatrical distribution, Colin Farrell delivers an award-worthy performance as a photojournalist recovering from the ravages of war and the loss of his friend and colleague in this direct-to-dvd drama. Even with Paz Vega to come home to, Farrell's photographer tries to make sense of the horrors he witnessed as his wife (Vega) and the wife of his dead friend (Kelly Reilly) try to get him to open up.
"Children of Invention" (2009)
Directed by Tze Chun
Released by Indieblitz Releasing
An alum of Sundance 2009, Chun's feature debut centers around a Chinese immgrant single mother's determination to give her children a better life...
"Triage" (2009)
Directed by Danis Tanovic
Released by National Entertainment Media
Although a largely tepid reception at last year's Toronto Film Festival and a downer of a subject matter prevented "No Man's Land" director Danis Tanovic's English-language debut from getting American theatrical distribution, Colin Farrell delivers an award-worthy performance as a photojournalist recovering from the ravages of war and the loss of his friend and colleague in this direct-to-dvd drama. Even with Paz Vega to come home to, Farrell's photographer tries to make sense of the horrors he witnessed as his wife (Vega) and the wife of his dead friend (Kelly Reilly) try to get him to open up.
"Children of Invention" (2009)
Directed by Tze Chun
Released by Indieblitz Releasing
An alum of Sundance 2009, Chun's feature debut centers around a Chinese immgrant single mother's determination to give her children a better life...
- 8/10/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Horror news site Bloody-Disgusting is announcing that Under the Mountain has been picked up by both Lightning Entertainment and Lionsgate Films for distribution in North America. The film involves two twins who discover "shape-shifting" creatures beneath a group of extinct volcanoes (Bloody). The trailer for the film, if you are unfamiliar, is below.
The synopsis for Under the Mountain here:
"Teenage twins Rachel and Theo investigate the creepy old house next door, they discover the Wilberforces - shape-shifting creatures that lurk beneath Auckland’s ring of extinct volcanoes. Guided by the mysterious Mr Jones and with the help of their older cousin Ricky, the twins must rekindle the unique powers they once shared if they are to destroy this ancient evil - before it destroys them" (Bloody).
Release Date: Unknown.
Director: Jonathan King.
Writers: Maurice Gee, and Matthew Grainger.
Cast: Tom Cameron, Matthew Chamberlain, Oliver Driver, Matt Gillanders, Sam Neill,...
The synopsis for Under the Mountain here:
"Teenage twins Rachel and Theo investigate the creepy old house next door, they discover the Wilberforces - shape-shifting creatures that lurk beneath Auckland’s ring of extinct volcanoes. Guided by the mysterious Mr Jones and with the help of their older cousin Ricky, the twins must rekindle the unique powers they once shared if they are to destroy this ancient evil - before it destroys them" (Bloody).
Release Date: Unknown.
Director: Jonathan King.
Writers: Maurice Gee, and Matthew Grainger.
Cast: Tom Cameron, Matthew Chamberlain, Oliver Driver, Matt Gillanders, Sam Neill,...
- 4/14/2010
- by Michael Ross Allen
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Flicks is hosting three featurette videos for Jonathan King's Under the Mountain, a kiwi fantasy adventure adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same name by New Zealand author Maurice Gee. The videos contains interviews with the director & cast on the main characters, Mr Jones (Sam Neill) and the Twins (Sophie Mcbride and Tom Cameron). There is also a behind-the-scenes look at Weta's involvement in the production on developing the creature design and special effects.
The film has already been released theatrically in New Zealand on December 10th while the distribution plans in North America has yet to be determined. You'll find all three featurette embedded below.
The film has already been released theatrically in New Zealand on December 10th while the distribution plans in North America has yet to be determined. You'll find all three featurette embedded below.
- 1/1/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Fantasy films are a tough genre for any but the biggest studios to produce. They're usually large in scope, require copious amounts of expensive CGI, and ideally stem from a well-known literary source to give the film a built-in audience on opening weekend. This is doubly true for children's fantasy as the wee little ones require enough spectacle and effects to keep them coming back to the theater again and again. So what do you do if you don't have a production deal with Walt Disney or Walden Media? What do you do if your film is based on a book with immense popularity... in New Zealand? You hire Weta Workshop for their special effects wizardry and Sam Neill for his general bad-assery. That's what. But will it be enough...? Theo (Tom Cameron) and Rachel (Sophie McBride) are twins living in New Zealand who share the gift of psychic ability and the curse of being red-heads. They've...
- 10/27/2009
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Sci-fi / horror films made for early adolescents are pretty rare. Half-decent ones are rarer still. But I know for a fact that a large portion of my movie-geek generation has a strong affection for old Disney chillers like Escape to Witch Mountain, The Watcher in the Woods, and Something Wicked This Way Comes -- and obviously I bring those films up because the recent New Zealand import Under the Mountain feels a lot like those movies. Not nearly as starchy and certainly not as corny, but clearly intended for a young (at heart) movie fan who doesn't mind a little family-friendliness mixed in with his magical adventures, mystical strangers, and massive monsters. Based on the award-winning 1979 novel by Maurice Gee (one of New...
- 9/18/2009
- FEARnet
242 feature length pics which 95 world premiers.. Wow, I wish I was going, but our lucky Toronto correspondent Rick McGrath will be there instead. (Very lucky Toronto correspondent) Among the standouts are:
Some serious Greek weirdness I'm dying to see in Dogtooth.
Lars Von Triers insanity leaks out in Antichrist. (review)
The long awaited scifi awesomeness starring Jared Leto, Mr. Nobody.
And Locarno winner from the hip UK firm Warp X, She, A Chinese.
List of remaining flicks after the break.
Special Presentations
Mr. Nobody Jaco Van Dormael, France/Germany/Canada/Belgium
North American Premiere
Mr. Nobody tells the story of Nemo (Jared Leto), the world's oldest man. In 2092, Mars has become a trendy vacation destination and humans have achieved immortality, thanks to advances in genetics. At the age of 120 years, Nemo is the last mortal left on Earth. His death is drawing near, and media from all over the world...
Some serious Greek weirdness I'm dying to see in Dogtooth.
Lars Von Triers insanity leaks out in Antichrist. (review)
The long awaited scifi awesomeness starring Jared Leto, Mr. Nobody.
And Locarno winner from the hip UK firm Warp X, She, A Chinese.
List of remaining flicks after the break.
Special Presentations
Mr. Nobody Jaco Van Dormael, France/Germany/Canada/Belgium
North American Premiere
Mr. Nobody tells the story of Nemo (Jared Leto), the world's oldest man. In 2092, Mars has become a trendy vacation destination and humans have achieved immortality, thanks to advances in genetics. At the age of 120 years, Nemo is the last mortal left on Earth. His death is drawing near, and media from all over the world...
- 8/20/2009
- QuietEarth.us
In 2006 New Zealand filmmaker Jonathan King wrote and directed a fun little horror/comedy called Black Sheep. King's been absent from the directorial chair for a while, but he's about to return with an adaptation of the Maurice Gee novel Under the Mountain. Starring Sam Neill and newcomers Tom Cameron and Sophie McBride, the film is about twins who encounter shape-shifting creatures who live under Aukland's extinct volcanos. Yahoo has debuted a trailer for the film, and a poster has appeared as well. See the goods, and a potentially spoilerish synopsis after the jump. The story has the air of some of the 1970s Disney live-action pictures like Escape From Witch Mountain, as the Matheson twins (Cameron and McBride) encounter an ancient alien war. The destructive Wilberforces, named for the house through which they're discovered, are actually manifestations of symbiotic alien slug-like creatures. Long ago they destroyed a world that...
- 7/13/2009
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Attendance was down by 30 percent at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Not surprising, considering the recession still biting and Euro exchange rates keeping prices along the Croisette at ridiculously expensive levels. Yet the number of high-profile genre films in the Official Competition was a bonus for those more used to finding the most controversial entries up for distributor grabs in the Market section. While Park Chan-wook’s Thirst and Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void certainly had their followers, with Terry Gilliam’s out-of-competition The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus a similar hot ticket, the two biggest stories were Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist.
Cinema saves the world in Tarantino’s disjointed, history-bending homage to war movies, which takes its misspelled name—but very little else—from Enzo Castellari’s 1978 Italian cult exploiter. Divided into chapters, each highlighting a movie style like Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns,...
Cinema saves the world in Tarantino’s disjointed, history-bending homage to war movies, which takes its misspelled name—but very little else—from Enzo Castellari’s 1978 Italian cult exploiter. Divided into chapters, each highlighting a movie style like Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns,...
- 5/29/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Alan Jones)
- Fangoria
Some good news regarding the next project from Kiwi director Jonathon King who brought us last year’s Midnight Madness treat the were-sheep film, Black Sheep. There has been a cast announcement and our friends over at BloodyDisgusting broke the news today.
Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, In the Mouth of Madness, The Omen III, Event Horizon), Sophie McBride, Tom Cameron, Leon Wadham and Oliver Driver (Black Sheep) have both be signed to topline in Jonathan King’s Under the Mountain, which is currently in production. When teenage twins investigate the creepy old house next door, they discover shape-shifting creatures that lurk beneath a ring of extinct volcanoes in a subterranean world.
Under the Mountain will be an adaptation of teen fantasy by the same name by author Maurice Gee.
Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, In the Mouth of Madness, The Omen III, Event Horizon), Sophie McBride, Tom Cameron, Leon Wadham and Oliver Driver (Black Sheep) have both be signed to topline in Jonathan King’s Under the Mountain, which is currently in production. When teenage twins investigate the creepy old house next door, they discover shape-shifting creatures that lurk beneath a ring of extinct volcanoes in a subterranean world.
Under the Mountain will be an adaptation of teen fantasy by the same name by author Maurice Gee.
- 9/10/2008
- by Mack
- Screen Anarchy
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