NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

l_rawjalaurence Stylistically speaking, Ken Hannam's production of the classic SF text is very much of its time, with studio-bound sequences alternating with film inserts. The triffids themselves are ingeniously made and cleverly photographed, with the emphasis on their stinging centers and their lengthy stalks. With the accompaniment of creepy music (by Christopher Gunning), they help to create an ambiance that is truly frightening, a dystopian world whose citizens are unable to see, either physically or emotionally.As Bill, John Duttine is both angst-ridden yet determined to ensure that the world should be rid of these threatening plants. His face remains set in an expression of grim determination, contrasting with that of Emma Relph's Jo. There are other actors in the cast, but director Hannam deliberately focuses on the protagonists, thereby emphasizing the importance of Bill's task; as one of the few people still possessed with sight, he has to work mostly independently relying on a combination of native cunning and animal intelligence to succeed in his task.The half-hour episode format works splendidly, helping to provide viewers with a series of climaxes that sustains their attention. If nothing else, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS proves the old adage that directors and production designers need minimal props in order to create suspense and sustain our attention. If the script is good, and the filming technique cleverly accomplished, our attention can be readily maintained.

BaronBl00d 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.

jan-erik-wahlberg-1 This series, being a rip-off from the 1962 movie with the same catchy title, made interesting viewing because it's very hard to determine whether it was made with a tongue-in-cheek attitude or not. The plot is obviously completely crazy - it contains the perplexing phenomena of 99% of the population going blind in the glow of a meteor shower and disregards the fact that roughly half the population has daylight. The glow also causes a vicious breed of plants called triffids to go berserk and in doing so they have the poor blind people for snacks. This of course leads to a number of chases and a survival story which rates among the most arbitrary in the history of movie or television fiction. So if you like to keep your viewing on a serious or artistic level don't watch this one. However, if you can digest a bit of kitch together with perhaps a trifle mediocre acting, you will find it entertaining.

firehouse44 Being a keen fan of John Wyndham's books, and the earlier 1962 screen adaptation of "Day Of The Triffids", I purchased this DVD based purely on the strength of the votes on the IMDb site. ( This six part mini series was released on DVD in Australia / Region 4 about a year ago ) This 1981 BBC mini-series is far more faithful to the original book than was the 1962 film starring Howard Keel, both in story and characters. The three lead actors : John Duttine, Emma Relph and Maurice Colbourne are all very capable in their roles, and come across convincingly as average people thrown into a maelstrom of lawless society and predatory flesh eating plants. The series has an unsettling and eerie atmosphere and has been well directed by Ken Hannam to hold viewer interest throughout the 160 minute running time.My only real gripe about the series is the obvious low budget that was afforded to it's production by the BBC. Many of the shots are clearly on studio sets, and for the subsequent days after the entire populace of London is blinded by the meteorite shower, their is minimal footage of any type of mob chaos, crashed vehicles, rioting, fires etc. Strangely, out of a population of over six million Londoners, most of them not only go blind, but they seem to have subsequently disappeared, as the city streets are strangely deserted ? ( I can only guess it was cheaper to film deserted streets, as opposed to filming hundreds of extras stumbling around feigning vision loss ! ) Never to mind, for these few faults, this is still an entertaining and captivating piece of sci-fi that demonstrates a good, strong story is central to making solid entertainment.