Search - Terror Peak on DVD

It Became the Holiday from Hell!

Mark Meader | WASHINGTON DC | 01/25/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Volcanic scientist Janet Fraser (Lynda Carter) and her new husband Kevin (Parker Stevenson) are off to New Zealand for their honeymoon. Along for the ride is Janet's daughter Melanie (Emily Barclay) whose approval for their new marriage Janet and Kevin are struggling to gain. Kevin is a travel agent who is looking for exciting new prospects for his clients, and when he hears of an adventure camp at the base of a long dormant volcano at the north end of the island called Mount Extreme, he takes his family there to try it out. Patrick, the owner of the camp, explains that the original natives of New Zealand, the Maori, still claim the land that the camp is on, and warn that the mountain, which in their ancient tongue is called Momatenamantico, or "Terror Peak", is a danger to all. When Janet, whose first husband was the victim of an earlier deadly eruption she ignored in the Phillippines, sees that the danger is real, she tries to get the camp evacuated and warn the neighboring towns, but is ignored by all. But when the volcano erupts, trapping her daughter Emily and a local guide Jason (Anthony Starr) in one of the volcano's caves, Kevin personally tries to save them while Janet organizes a larger hair-raising rescue attempt by helicopter.

This is a good family-orientated film that is exciting as well as shot in one of the most beautiful islands in the South Pacific. Lynda Carter, Parker Stevenson, and Emily Barclay do a fine job of acting in coming to grips with their personal demons including guilt, personal illness and jealousy to try to save their family and others whilst caught in one of the most terrifying kinds of natural disasters. There is also the aspect of the Maori culture, not well known in many parts of the world, that tries to show the respect due to the earth, and how the earth can sometimes threaten its'inhabitants."

Weak and disheveled

E. Brunelle | 04/14/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I am a disaster movie buff, and for a good disaster, I can forgive a lot. But Terror Peak doesn't make the cut, by a wide margin. The story is disheveled, with very little glimpse of good volcano activity, and too much running around scared and "human concern". There is only one really good scene, where three people are darting among small ground explosions caused by gaz bursts, trying to get to safety. The whole part of Melanie and the guide stuck in a cave, running up and down for an exit, with vapor and fumes amok, is laughably contrived, and drags on for much too long. See Dante's Peak for a much better volcano pic."