User reviews

This is a well-told film that lacks post-1994 incredible special effects expenditures and massive overspending. What it has is a very solid story line, a number of memorable scenes and a feel of realism about it that adds a great deal I suggest to its eerie sci-fi atmosphere. Its central character, Bill, a career seaman played expertly by Howard Keel, is a man facing an nightmare. The film begins in a small typical and beautifully-presented small London hospital where he has to wait one more day before removing bandages to ensure that his vision will return to normal. Banter with a lovely nurse and his doctor turn into a prescient strangeness the next morning--when Keel awakes to find the hospital abandoned, all floors silent amid signs of damage and swift departure...Telephones are not working either. He removes his bandages to find a world without people. We learn, through his adventures and those of a couple in an isolated lighthouse off the coast, where the husband does scientific experiments and drinks too much, that a shower of meteors watched by billions, have destroyed their optic nerves and thus rendered nearly everyone blind. We soon learn that this is a worldwide phenomenon. In addition, a species of plants called triffids have developed from being small insect eating plants into towering and motile monstrosities that can sting and paralyze then absorb human beings as food. They spray small spores to propagate, are reproducing in millions and thus threaten all remaining human life. Keel picks up a young girl who can also see; and after escaping a crowd of the desperate in London and witnessing an attempt at an airliner landing turning into a massive explosion, they escapes from the city. Thereafter, their adventures deal with the plants' attacks, attempts to reach the continent and a rendezvous in Paris and then one in Spain; but the bulk of the film involves the couples' lonely battle with the triffids on their isolated island, and Keel's final escape from a doomed French haven with Nicole Maurey and the young girls as they make for a submarine pickup, the last scheduled for Europe's remaining sighted persons. The great task that everyone faces during the film is striving against all odds to find some way of defeating the plants as well simply escaping. The piece's screenplay by veteran Philip Yordan, adapted from a good John Wyndham novel, I find to be rather satisfying. Steve Sekely directed in swift-paced and intelligent style. The competent cast besides Keel, a most underrated leading man, include strong Kieron More and Janette Scott as the couple in the lighthouse, Mervyn Johns, Alison Leggatt, Geoffrey Mathews, Ewan Roberts, Janina Faye as the young girl picked up by Keel, Gilgi Hauser, pretty Carol Ann Ford, Colette Wild as the lovely nurse and Victor Brooks, among others. This estimable film was produced by Yordan, with George Pitcher as line producer assisted by Bernard Glasser. Rod Goodwin's musical score is powerful and well-above-average at all points. the cinematography by Ted Moore and Cedric Dawe's gritty art direction are also noteworthy. The film looks back I suggest to previous 1950s color sci-fi efforts; but its plants also became the model for the Star Trek "This Side of Paradise" spore-producing vegetation.. And its generally serious feel was copied many times thereafter, both the lighthouse sequence and the cross-country adventures of keep and his companions. But these achievements have seldom been approached let alone bettered. Anyone viewing the film today I assert should respond to its unusual realism; complaints about a lack of multi-million dollar graphics are undoubtedly more than misplaced. The storyline was a difficult one to capture in a brief film even in the 1960s. I suggest that the makers have done this exacting task rather admirably. Scenes such as the surrounding of an electrified yard by the carnivorous plants, the airliner's approach and crash, and the escape of Keel, Faye and Maurey from her house when it is taken over by convicts deserve critical acclaim. I judge this effort to be one of the most underrated of sci-fi films of all time.

A meteorite shower lights up the sky and blinds all that watches it. Most of the world population must also deal with some rather weird plant life that can uproot itself and seek human nourishment.

Howard Keel plays a sailor recovering from an eye operation, thus not being blinded by the mysterious glowing display. He finds a young girl that slept through the starry shower. Together they seek out help and a solution to this very weird problem. A couple of marine biologist, stranded in a lighthouse, get a 'hands on' encounter with the rampaging stalks of terror.

An evenly paced movie considering the slow moving menace. This makes you ponder watering your plants. Very good movie.

Also in the cast are Janina Faye, Nicole Maurey and Janette Scott.

A intensely colourful and bright meteor shower covered the sky one night blinding most of the world's population and making people defenseless to man eating plants called "Triffidus Celestus'' that were grown from meteor-borne spores. Though, there are some people that can see. An American seaman whose eyes were bandaged during the meteor shower is battling his way through triffids and helping out people. While, a couple in a lighthouse are fending off Triffids and trying to find a way to stop them.

John Wyndham's novel was brought to the big screen in this classic Sci-Fi with an A-grade story with b-grade effects, but it holds up fairly well. This is incredibly engaging kitsch with a nice idea that's very imaginative and it gives us a thrilling enough adventure. The film might be rough around the edges, but still it's rather effective because of a riveting story that we don't know what to expect and a solid lead performance by Howard Keel.

It's a film of two halves making it fairly uneven. The opening half creates such a grand apocalyptic feel, becoming quite unsettling at times with good location photography of an eerie London that captures such a mysterious vibe. It's indeed very atmospheric. While the second half slows down a bit and kinda goes berserk with its stars "The Triffids". It's rather amusing when they're moving about and springing out of nowhere, but because of that it drifts away from the edginess of the opening half and becomes rather padded.

Throughout the story we follow an American seaman trying to get to safety and helping blind people on his way and then there's a couple stranded in a lighthouse. While the first of the two is definitely the most interesting, but after a while it starts to fizzle out and leads to anticlimax. While the sequences with the couple (there weren't many) were mostly dull because of the bland dialogue and her constantly screaming and him constantly yelling, but the set-up for them was interesting enough. However, the climax involving the lighthouse couple is tense and exciting.

The special effects were rather ordinary, cheap and shoddy. Visually wise it was quite stunning and vibrant, with the lights in the sky as the meteor shower were fairly hypnotizing. There was good composition with colour and lighting. Though, the plants don't look terribly great and will cause a chuckle, but still they are a sight to see, as they look wicked and rather horrendous in nature or maybe just plain ridiculous. Most of the violence happened off screen/implied. The music score was rather enforcing and good in keeping such downbeat mood. There are some incredibly well staged sequences and there are scenarios in the story that lacked logic and cohesion, but it didn't bother me too much.

Howard Keel was fairly spirited and witty in his role. There are some fair if mundane support roles from Nicole Maurey, Alison Leggatt, Mervyn Jones and Janina Faye. While Kieron Moore and Janette Scott as the couple were rather shallow in their portrayals and that's mostly because they aren't given much screen time.

The mysterious opening 45-minutes is engrossing and builds tension and uneasiness nicely. The pretty routine mid-section gets bogged down and is far less involving. Some interesting sub-plots add some life and another dimension in the slow mid-section. While leading up to the ending it has some bizarre visuals of the triffids and some entertaining moments. Though, when it came to the ending for me it just came across forced and hard to swallow.

It's really nothing fancy, but overall it's an entertaining effort with ordinary special effects and cheesy dialogue that seem to add a lot of charm too it all.

Another film-role immortalised in the line above, from the soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Show! Bit of a misnomer actually, SHE didn't fight the triffid, Kieron Moore did! All poor Janette did was to stand there shoving her hand in her mouth and screaming!

Well here's another sci-fi flick seems to have struck a sour note with many viewers. Yeah, there HAVE been many liberties taken with John Wyndham's original tale, doesn't mean though "Hey, three strikes you're out! Derided and laughed-at, much like RAISE THE TITANIC, many aspects of this film are clearly socially responsible and relevant today. How would YOU handle yourself in the situation Howard Keel finds himself in after the majority of the world's population is blinded by the light emanated from a meteor shower? The film was made for a 1960's outlook and acceptance, not new millennium desensitised and pseudo-enlightened audiences. Maybe the triffids WERE men in suits, they were damn good ones though. The fx where the triffids were seeking to gain entry to the lighthouse I thought were exceptionally good for their age. OK, so the film DOES also offer what is probably the WORST train pile up ever filmed (you never actually see it!) but give the makers a break. What did you EXPECT them to do? close Charing Cross station and have an eight coach steam train from Watford ram the buffers at 100 mph?

Many wonderful images from this film stick in the mind. That great scene where Mervyn Johns and Howard Keel stand on the edge of the quarry, watching the triffid spores becoming airborne. The triffid, as it lashes the back window of the Humber as Keel shepherds the little girl to safety. The stock-standard British stiff upper lip when the blinded crew of the airplane know they are doomed. The panorama of burning triffids when Keel rigs up the elctric fence then has to torch them before they break through. Even now so many years since I saw it, I can still hear that ice-cream truck as the triffids are led in pied-piper fashion away to their ultimate fate.

I can forgive 'Tommythek' his less than relevant comments. He at least admits to being "illiterate" and functioning at the lowest level. Others though are stupefyingly brittle and short-sighted. THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS is top sci-fi entertainment, not quite a fully-fledged classic I agree, but I'll watch it anyday before I ever sit through CAST AWAY again!

When a meteor shower leaves most of the world's population blind, a US Navy officer (Howard Keel) has to discover a way to fight the Triffids, dangerous plants that are capable of movement and killing humans.

This low-budget 1962 version of John Wyndham's famous novel pales in comparison with the much better 1981 BBC miniseries.

The main benefit of the film is Howard Keel. He acquits himself surprisingly well in the dramatic part, but I wonder what would have happened if he started singing a duet with a Triffid!

The special effects are passable, but there's a silly sub-plot about two marine biologists that seems shoehorned in. Veteran British character actor Mervyn Johns appears briefly, and it was fun seeing a pre-Doctor Who Carole Ann Ford as a French girl (her accent is terrible).

Overall, cheesy fun.

I recommend everyone read Howard Keel's somewhat rollicking posthumous memoirs and read what he has to say about his participation in this science fiction cult classic.

Keel's career was at sea when he signed for this film. A big budget biblical spectacle, The Big Fisherman, was crowded out of existence by the bigger budgeted Ben-Hur. There went Keel's hope for a post musical career. He signed to do this British production and got the money up front so he did it.

He knew he was in a stinkarooney about a meteor shower that blinds nearly all the world's population. At the same time the meteors bring the spores of these carnivorous plants which when they grow can uproot themselves and move about, something like the Daleks in Doctor Who. They're doing a grand job destructing all life about them, especially human life. They spray a deadly poison, fatal on contact.

Howard Keel was in hospital having eye surgery as it turns out the night of the fateful meteor shower. Next morning when he's scheduled to have the bandages removed, he finds he's one of the few people who can see in all London. He saves another sighted person, Janina Faye, and moves on to France, where they in turn pick up Nicole Maurey.

Always meeting up with the giant size Triffids who are just pigging out on sightless humankind. Eventually they end up in Spain.

One day, the producers simply announced the film was over. The money people had taken a powder. Keel and the rest of the cast left the film. A year and a half later, money was found so another story line was filmed involving Kieron Moore and Janette Scott who discover how to destroy the Triffids. Keel was in fact supposed to do it. They integrated the Moore/Scott footage into the film and released it.

The Day of the Triffids became a cult science fiction classic, but not a favorite experience of Howard Keel. I can't say and spoil how the Triffids are destroyed, but in his memoirs Keel says the producers could have saved a lot of money if they had simply let him perform a biological function on them.

Now that would REALLY have been a cult classic.

Last night I watched an episode of the old "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". In "The Price of Doom", you had a decent story and some very good actors...and a creature that looked like it cost $3.48 to make...at the most. Because the 'monster' was so ridiculously bad, it was hard to enjoy the show. It was so bad that famed sci-fi author Harlan Ellison disavowed responsibility for this episode and he asked his name be stricken from the show!!

I mention all this because "Day of the Triffids" is pretty much the same experience as watching "The Price of Doom". It had a neat script, very good acting and monsters that were so laughably bad...even by 1960s standards. As a result it seriously took me out of the experience and made the film quite silly.

In this near future film, meteorites strike the Earth and inexplicably make plants, triffids, turn into malevolent flesh- eating monsters. At the same time, most of the folks on the planet go blind...so it's up to a few to figure out how to survive and fight off the incredibly ridiculous creatures!

Good script, good acting, dopey monsters...nuff said about this one.

When I got my driver's license, I headed off to a nearby town to see a movie. This was it. I loved it. It has really received a bad rap. The story begins with a city full of blind people--Stricken by a meteor shower which has also brought spores to earth--the spawn of Triffids--flesh eating plants. While the plants are not sighted or masterfully created, the quest by Howard Kiel and his young counterpart, and the horror they encounter, is quite good. I found it anything but boring. It speaks to the realities of the created situation, and the acting is good. There is a nice subplot of a depressed lighthouse keeper and marine biologist and his wife/associate who seek an answer. It was quite suspenseful and well paced. Some real questions are asked and answered. It's not a masterpiece, but it holds up very well after all these years.

John Wyndham has always been one my favorite of the 'classic science-fiction' writers. And 'The Day of the Triffids' is a classic in itself both as the original book and this film version. The story is very simple, yet effective with many great 'what if' situations. So, what if most of the population goes blind? Well, if it's caused by a psychedelic meteor storm and giant plants on roller skates the situations can be very hairy. And also fun to watch. Just like H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds was, to which Triffids owe more than a little. If you also happened to like the original 50's versions of 'The Blob' or 'The Thing from Another World' and haven't seen this one yet you're in for a big treat.

Everything is as it should be in these movies. The acting is average but solid enough and the mutants are on wires, wheels and who knows what. The triffids aren't seen very clearly most of the time, which thankfully adds some mystery into them and lets watcher's own imagination fill the gaps for a menace.

The action is cleverly divided to a couple of different places and groups of people allowing some nice variation on the danger and mood. Usually some sort of deeper metaphoric level can be found even in the silliest of old SF-flicks, be it fighting against communism or what ever. This story almost feels like some sort of a tribute to the British during difficult times of WW2, lightly entertaining but warm hearted. A charming classic and free of pessimism of the later times.

John Wyndham's novel "Day of the Triffids" becomes low-budget British-made monster movie without the proper finance to really sort out what promises to be a good mystery. The morning after a colorful meteor shower has lit up the evening skies over London, a high percentage of the population wakes up completely blinded; even worse, the landscape has been littered with a type of carnivorous flower seed--Triffidus Celestus--which makes The Venus Fly Trap look like child's play. A band of survivors with their sight still intact fight back against the man-eating plants, which apparently have the knowledge and the strength to break down barricades and crash through windows. Unfortunately, even with a handful of scientists featured in the scenario, we learn very little about the Triffids beyond their appetite for flesh and blood. Instead, we get macho heroics from sailor Howard Keel, and an antagonistic romance-on-the-rocks between an unhappy couple in their laboratory. Still, for fans of the genre, the framework of the plot is an intriguing one, and the sound and visual effects are both good. ** from ****

Reading the previous reviews for this film were like watching a tennis match. One reviewer made a valid negative point(or serve) whilst another made a positive point. Back and forth....back and forth. Those people that read the book seemed to be in general much less happy with the film than those who had never read the book. I can understand that, but looking at films and their adaptations of books must sometimes be done with a more discerning eye. And, of course, sometimes the adaptations of books are so horribly done that nothing but a feeling of resentment, disappointment, and hate can be achieved from the viewer. I have not read the John Wyndham novel..yet. I will. But as sci-fi films and horror films go, The Day of the Triffids is an enjoyable flawed..very flawed film. I have such concrete memories of seeing this as a child and after watching it again after at least twenty years, scene after scene came back to my consciousness. The vivid, colorful meteorite showers over a London backdrop, the night watchman working in the greenhouse, the crowds of sightless people begging for help from those that could see, and the battle between life and death on a remote lighthouse island. The special effects are not very good, the plants look...well..a bit preposterous. The acting is not very grand either. C'mon, what did you expect with Howard Keel in the lead...Shakespeare? Actually Keel is decent as is the cast for the most part. The biggest flaw in the film for me is the script....which has little cohesion as it jumps from one thing to another and then another. The ending was vastly unsatisfactory as it really abruptly ends. Maybe there was no money or good thoughts left. But notwithstanding all of this, The Day of the Triffids is a fun film and a trip down Memory Lane for me.

This movie was a favorite of mine as a child, mainly due to the killer plants. However, it had the other interesting plot point of nearly everyone going blind as well that made this one rather interesting if not really dated at this point in time. Still nothing like a good monster movie from the early 1960's to really make for enjoyable popcorn cinema. I am not sure exactly how all the mess started in this movie, but I do remember it having sort of the same type of catalyst as the movie "Night of the Comet" and other science fiction horror movies of a meteor shower or comet cutting through the sky and leaving behind zombies, dried up humans in search of blood, or in the case of this movie blind humans and killer plants. The plant monsters look okay, not great, but better than the computer generated ones from the movie "The Ruins" anyway. There are survivors of this nightmare who were able to retain their sight. I think they just did not watch the event that caused the mess in the first place and they must try to avoid the plant monsters and sometimes the panic stricken blind people who are pretty much going to be plant food. Interesting movie, and good old school science fiction horror.

Bill Masen wakes up in hospital, to find that most of England has gone blind following a meteor shower, worse, a hoard of flesh eating plants have taken over.

It's certainly atmospheric, it's a lot of kitsch fun, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but it was actually a pretty fun watch. If you're into the horror genre, you may find it a little tame, but it really does have a degree of charm.

Initially, I thought it was going to be an American B Movie, visually it has that feel, coupled with the early voiceover, I was surprised to see it was British.

I thought it was quite well paced, it actually moves by quite rapidly, there are very few long drawn out scenes.

There are some interesting scenes, the shots of a half empty London look pretty good. I know the special effects look shocking now, but at the time I imagine they worked a treat, the triffids look pretty decent in some shots.

Howard Keel, Kieron Moore and Nicole Maurey were all good, I think I spotted a going Carole Anne Ford too.

7/10.

"Plants! Green things that live in the soil. Some are carnivorous. That means they eat meat - the flesh of dead creatures. Meat, I tell you. Meat! Plants that eat meat! We don't know how. We don't know why. Elsewhere, Howard Keel is wearing a blindfold. Let's zoom in on it now. A blindfold, I tell you. A blindfold!..."

I may be paraphrasing the film's narration a little - but not much. Honestly, it's that bad! This was a film very much of its time, and it has dated horrendously. In another review, of either Clash of the Titans or Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, I can't remember which, I waxed lyrical about the glories of the "good old days" of moviemaking before the advent of CGI. I expressed scorn and contempt for modern audiences who are unable to appreciate and enjoy old movies, particularly those featuring the best that special effects had to offer in a pre-computerised age - because those are what I grew up on. I have immense respect for the early pioneers of SFX, and their work still has a special place in my film-buff-soul.

But although I remember enjoying Day of the Triffids as child, I am honestly appalled at how bad it is by today's standards - and I'm not talking about the clunky and embarrassing effects. I'm talking about the god-awful script, heinously bad acting, and all-round-abysmal storytelling. What a dire movie! I couldn't stick with it longer than 20 minutes before giving up in disgust.

My love and nostalgia for old movies has finally found its limit, and it's called Day of the Triffids.

Note: Enjoyment not helped by the worst quality transfer I've ever seen, which was grainy, washed-out, faded, and distorted due to not being presented in the correct aspect ratio. The audio also sounded like a 19th century wax cylinder!

Glad it was free on Amazon.

The reason I'm now watching this British horror movie from the early '60s is because since I've been reviewing films and TV appearances of the original "Dallas" stars in chronological order for the last two months, I'm presently at 1962 with this, Howard Keel's contribution to my list that I've just mentioned. He plays an American Navy man in England with bandages in his eyes when a meteor shower blinds many of the public wandering outside the European countries which includes France and Spain as well. He eventually also finds a pre-teen English girl and a French woman who also managed to avoid the blindness of that night. Oh, and yes, there are monster plants of the title killing anyone they encounter abounding around. I'll stop there and just say that despite the pretty ridiculous premise I've just described, I found myself liking the acting and therefore somewhat caring for the characters. That also includes a married couple in a lighthouse tower who are scientists that have no contact at all with the other characters. One of whom, Janette Scott, is quite luminous in her beauty and does some great screaming when the occasion is provided. As for those plants, well, I thought when shown at night some effective chills were provided but when shown in the daytime, the cheesiness was in abundance. So when I watched this on YouTube, it was on a program called Cinema Insomnia hosted by a Mr. Lobo who did plenty of sketches that were amateurishly funny and had also some vintage commercials, and various trailers that also provided some enjoyment for me. So in summary, I enjoyed The Day of the Triffids for some scares and unintentional humor which was good enough for me.

Fantastic, frightening and entirely creepy film dealing with people around the world are treated to a spectacular meteor shower resulting in most of the world blinded and the dangerous carnivorous Triffids set loose . In fact , they were called Triffids because they had a three-pronged root . They fall upon a group of scattered survivors (Janette Scott ,Kieron Moore) to fight this plant invasion and the madness following , while the Triffids are now growing rapidly and consuming more and more humans . In London, Bill Masen (Howard Keel) misses the show as he is in hospital with his eyes bandaged . He removes the bandages himself and soon realizes that he one of the few people with sight as everyone who observed the meteor shower is now blind . Bill finds himself in a nightmarish world where he believes himself to be the only sighted person left . Along the way the Triffids have discovered a taste for rotting, human flesh. The remaining blind are helpless and many fall prey to the Triffids' lethal whipping sting. The Triffids are on their way - devouring humans, and most off the planet thinks it's a joke - but is not . To help stop the invasion, a group of hold outs fight this invasion of killer plants . But it's not just the plants which need to be eradicated! . Instead they are space aliens whose spores have arrived in an earlier meteor shower. Society has broken down and Bill rescues a young sighted girl . Their challenge is not only to survive in this new world but to survive the onslaught of triffids , flesh eating plants that are coming to devour the human race . Man eating plants! Spine chilling terror!The triffids are coming! The triffids are growing! The triffids are killing!Beware the triffids... they grow... know... walk... talk... stalk... and kill! ... suddenly the hideous crawling things are everywhere... and no one can escape!

From one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time about a meteor shower causing permanent eye damage and suddenly appearing the feared Triffids . This is John Wyndham's famous story well adapted by Steve Sekely concerning a world dominated by monstrous , as a terrible catastrophe has struck the population of Earth by stinging plants catching the imagination like the best of HG Wells . In the footprints of ¨Invasion of the Bodysnatchers¨ and ¨The Thing¨ comes this piece of kitsch filmmaking from 1962 . From the nightmare novel that made the world shudder was shot this acceptable movie , though with dated special effects . It displays tense , suspenseful , and terrifying scenes when the starving Triffids attack . As well as a moving and thrilling musical score by Ron Goodwin and supported with "additional music" by composer Johnny Douglas who actually supplied more music than the main composer . The motion picture was professionally directed by Steve Sekely (Lake Placid Serenade , Waterfront , Lady in the Death House , Women in Bondage , Revenge of the Zombies , Behind Prison Walls) and uncredited Freddie Francis .

There are other version about this story as ¨The Day of the Triffids¨ (1981) series by Ken Hannam with John Duttine , Jonathan Newth . ¨Day of Triffids¨ series (2009) by Nick Copus woth Dougray Scott , Joely Richardson, Eddie Izzard , Brian Cox.