Search - Under The Mountain on DVD

Samuel K. (Solvanda)
Reviewed on 8/24/2018...

2009 movie based on the 1979 novel by New Zealand author Maurice Gee, heavily influenced by Lovecraft. IMO this was better as a miniseries. The 1981 New Zealand series is available on Region 0 Dvd, if you can find it. Otherwise, I see it is generally available on Youtube as well. Some of you may remember it airing on Nickelodeon as part of The Third Eye.

The main antagonist here is The Wilberforces: A race of symbiotic organisms consisting of a slug-like brain and aircraft carrier sized worm body. The Wilberforces originated millions of years ago on a world consisting of seas of mud which nourished the worm organisms. Threatened with extinction, the Wilberforces resolved themselves to conquering other worlds, using their technology to reform other planets' surfaces into mud in order to thrive and breed. Basically, these aliens resemble fecal matter, and seem to smell just as awful.

I'd also recommend seeking out the 1984 NZ series "Children of the Dog Star" You may be able to locate all six episodes on YouTube. On holiday Gretchen befriends Ronny, a troubled Maori boy, and Bevis, birdwatching son of a loathed developer. Tension is already high as the developer wants to buy and drain a local swamp for a housing estate. Something unnatural sleeps there that must not be awakened. Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, which was released three years later, has similarities to the story.

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