Tale riveted a nation

SCARY?: Under the Mountain.

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The film of Maurice Gee's Under the Mountain is about to hit our cinemas. Will it live up to the novel and the television series, asks Trevor Agnew.

Thirty years ago, a young Auckland librarian walking to work on a grey, misty morning, suddenly became aware of one of the city's many extinct volcanoes looming over him.

As he walked, it seemed to move: "I saw Mount Eden sink down and hide itself behind the houses. Then, at the end of the street, it suddenly sprang up and loomed over me, and I thought, 'I wonder what is hiding under there'. So I had my idea."

The librarian was Maurice Gee, just beginning the writing career that would make him the grand old man of New Zealand literature.

His idea about the mountain was the germ of a novel about symbiotic alien invaders burrowing beneath Auckland's volcanic peaks to turn the Earth's surface into a mud bath they could colonise.

Two unlikely heroes, 11-year-old twins from Taumaranui, Rachel and Theo, use their latent psychic powers to help defeat the aliens, but not without cost.

The novel was published in 1979 and has never been out of print since. Its initial reception was mixed. It was denounced by the National Library's Margaret Gallacher as "an unsatisfactory, self-conscious fantasy". She declared: "The author revels in darkness and slime at the climax and a claustrophobic, tense atmosphere is created, but really, the story lacks cohesiveness. It is superficial and of transitory interest."

Joy Cowley defended Gee's skilful mix of alien terror and suburban reality as "the best New Zealand book yet produced for readers nine years and over".

Readers voted with their wallets. Under the Mountain has has sold 70,000 copies and was turned into a popular television series, later reissued as a DVD. It has now been filmed with Sam Neill and is due for release on Thursday.

I borrowed the DVD from the public library (TVNZ, 2008, 194 minutes, PG) and was surprised to find it was in colour. In 1981, even though I was the television columnist for The Southland Times, I couldn't afford a colour television set. My daughters and I watched Under the Mountain on a black-and- white rental and were enthralled. It came second only to Doctor Who in scaring a generation of viewers.

It was also a quality series, typical of the fine family serials made in those days. Ken Catran's script tautened and compressed Gee's novel without weakening its integrity. The atmospheric music composed by Bernie Allan was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

The red-headed twins were well- acted and guest appearances were made by Billy T James and Ray Woolf. The special effects - giant slugs, weird tunnels, slimy monsters and exploding volcanoes - were amazing achievements for the time and budget.

The DVD may have slightly grainy pictures, but there isn't a scene that isn't fascinating to watch. The camera work is brilliant, especially when the monsters emerge from the sea. We're treated to a monster's-eye view of the scurry across the beach and into the car.

The Wilberforce family members in their various incarnations are terrifying, especially the policeman who melted under pressure, played by Roy Billing. These days Bill Johnson may be a charming old grocer in the Four Square TV ads, but as the waxen-faced leader of the Wilberforces, he struck terror into New Zealanders of all ages.

Watching all eight episodes, I was fascinated to see how much things have changed since 1981. Those were the days when a television episode ran for 27 minutes, with one break in the middle. Also to be seen are slide carousels, passenger trains, Union Jack aprons, stubbie shorts, instamatic cameras and traffic cops in jodhpurs. It was a tension-builder to see how long it takes to phone 111 with a rotary dial while a hostile alien is breaking down the door.

qTVNZ has no plans to air the TV series of Under the Mountain.

- © Fairfax NZ News