I understood this movie is a remake of an early 80's television series based in New Zealand. Under the Mountain was an eight-part television series based on the novel of the same name written by Maurice Gee and produced by Television New Zealand and first transmitted in 1981.

In this movie version, two teenage twin siblings, Rachel and Theo, on a summer vacation in Auckland visiting their aunt and uncle after trying to shake off the tragic death of their beloved mother in an accident. Two seemingly ordinary fraternal twins who lived in a rural New Zealand town. They also shared a telepathic link and could read each other's thoughts. The accident alienated Theo from his twin sister making their telepathic link weak.


Theo's fascination towards volcanoes brought him to meet Mr. Jones whom he recognize from a picture in his book about volcanoes. Mr. Jones is apparently the last surviving member of a benevolent alien race. He has the ability to teleport, communicate telepathically and project powerful beams of light from his physical self. He had journeyed to Earth with another member of his race with the intention of finding and stopping the Wilberforces. He previously guided another set of twins in his quest to destroy the Wilberforces to no avail. He has been searching for another set of twins ever since to complete his task.


The Twins task was simple, to throw a pair of white rock into one of volcanoes thus destroying the Wilberforces and the Gargantuas (a gigantic that looks like a dung beetle), lying underneath the volcanoes ready to come out and wreck havoc planet earth. In order to do defeat them, Theo must focus on strengthening his psychic bond with Rachel.

Truthfully, here is what I think about the movie... a very good plot but terribly executed. Tom Cameron who played Theo was slightly better actor than a walking stick. But as an anonymous actor, their acting was kinda acceptable and believable in a way. The only recognizable actor from this movie was Sam Neil (Mr. Jones) and I've seen him act better.