The music in THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS is definitely instrumental to the consummately creepy FEEL of this one: it harks back to (without borrowing from or in any way rehashing) the Goblin score from George Romero's 1978 classic, DAWN OF THE DEAD. Solid performances also lend this tale of Terror a plausibility often lacking in Fright Films, and the direction would be hard to top. Any similarities between this version of THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and the much later 28 DAYS LATER is no doubt purely coincidental (...). Yet another Find for Yours Truly in my ongoing quest for rare or forgotten Fright Films. VERY highly recommended.

This early 1980s adaptation of John Wyndham's 'Day of the Triffids' offers us global apocalypse on a shoestring budget: cue some decidedly unspectacular special effects and thin crowd scenes. The acting is also limited: the characters respond remarkably calmly to the near-end of everything. Yet the triffids themselves are surprisingly well done, with their venomous strings and menacing roots. And (especially knowing what was to come) I found the tension implicit in the opening episode, in which a temporarily blinded man comes to suspect that something in the world he can't see isn't what it's supposed to be, utterly unbearable. At the end of the day, a good story trumps special effects, and there's something in the believable human tragedy of this one that makes it more horrifying than any horror story. Indeed, some of the scenes had stayed with me since first watching it over thirty years before. It's proof you don't need exploding galaxies or evil geniuses to unsettle a complacent audience.

This BBC miniseries has much going for it, so let me get the flaws out of the way first. The acting is good but not great as some have tried to credit it. It is very workmanlike with John Duttine as protagonist Bill Masen, Emma Relph as Josella Playton, and Maurice Colbourne as Jack Coker(he is the best). The supporting players are all very solid as well. The budget is, shall we say, limited. Yes, the plants are done almost realistically, yet other budgetary concerns are obvious particularly in the post-apocalyptic world shown in London. These; however, are minor concerns. For the best reason to see this is to read the novel first as I did and then watch this innovative yet faithful adaptation of the classic novel by a much under-appreciated John Wyndham. The 1962 movie was for me a nostalgic highlight. I then have read the book and realized what a piece of bastardized trash it is. It makes wholesale, unnecessary changes and dilutes the entire meaning and message of the book. What a shame, as the novel certainly has much to say about the world man lives in, has created for his future generations, and why he is ever so likely to destroy all of it over greed, envy, and warfare. This mini-series touches on much of this in a very subtle way. It doesn't stray much from the novel and even incorporates actual dialog throughout. The book and mini-series do indeed follow each other until Episode 4 or 5 when some characters are cut out - there are those budgetary concerns again. All in all for gritty story-telling, a science fiction story with entertainment value AND a real message for our day, The Day of the Triffids should not be missed. The 1962 film is fine for those perhaps who have not read the book. Read the book and any opinion you had of it is sure to change.

In 1962 came one of the worst film adaptations of a book in history. The plot was drastically changed, characters were eliminated, changed and new ones were added in altogether!And then, like a holy beacon of light, came the faithful, 1981 TV series by the BBC. Yes, even though they did change a few minor details, the plot was left intact, the story followed the same route as the novel, and the actors really got into their roles.Bill Masen awakes in hospital, with his eyes bandaged up to find that the majority of the population of the world has been rendered helpless when they blinded overnight by a spectacular comet shower. And, to make matters worse, a fairly new species of dangerous, carnivorous plants that have been kept under lock and key until now, are now free to roam, kill and eat to their own pleasure. You see, these plants aren't like your average, potter plants, that sit in a pot, grow, and die. These plants walk, they grow to great heights, they have ten-foot long poison whips, and feed on decayed human flesh. Surely we've seen the demise of the human population of Earth as the Triffids multiply their numbers with every year that passes...