Per Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Long before M. Night Shyamalan turned plants into killers Happeningand a few years before George Romero turned horror on its head with Night of the living deadthe British sci-fi horror classic introduced the world to the Triffids. Adaptation of the hit book of the same name, Day of the Triffidsmaybe about aliens instead of zombies, but it left a lasting impression on zombie horror for 60 years. Especially, 28 days later and The living dead were heavily influenced by the 1963 film.
People are real monsters
Day of the Triffids begins with a strange meteor shower that blinds all who see it, sparing Bill, a naval officer who was recovering in the hospital when it happened. The sequence of Bill wandering out of the hospital into the empty city streets is one of those scenes that you probably never realized was an homage. Danny Boyle took care of the shot Cillian Murphy in exactly the same way when making 28 days laterbut that is not the only scene that is common to the two films.
“Humans are the real monster” has become the expected message in most horror films, and 28 days later he conveys this with the third act, the arrival of soldiers stationed in an abandoned house. It is similar to the same sequence in the 1951 novel, Day of the Triffids, down to the use of zombies/triffids as weapons. The film made significant changes from the novel to change the ending to something more hopeful, but between the two, you can see the DNA 28 days later.
While the film version Day of the Triffids it has little in common with the novel, nor does it clarify where exactly the Triffids came from. There is an implication in the novel that they are the result of Soviet experiments, but then the film includes spores spread by a mysterious meteor shower, making it seem like they are an invasion stranger type. What both versions include is a young girl, Susan, whom Bill befriends and defends as they roam the countryside looking for a safe haven.
60 years later
Day of the Triffids it’s not a traditional zombie film, but it still helped establish the template for the genre to follow. The 1963 film currently enjoys a 78 percent fresh critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to a lackluster 51 percent audience rating, but that’s with more than 5,000 reviews for a 61-year-old film, and that’s still a better rating than most other films. science fiction films released in 2024. Later adaptations would be more faithful to the original novel, including a 2009 miniseries starring Jason Priestly, Brian CoxVanessa Redgrave and Eddie Izzard, but none had the lasting but underrated impact of the original.
George Romero Night of the living deadthe most influential zombie film of all time, debuted five years later Day of the Triffidsbut together the two films helped launch the horror subgenre that is still popular today. Over the past 20 years, zombie films that deconstruct the genre and turn tropes on their head have grown in popularity, from Shaun of the Dead to The dead don’t diewith mixed results. But through it all, the 1963 British sci-fi horror film has quietly influenced countless films and novels.
Before watching again 28 days later prepare for 28 years laterdo yourself a favor and stream Day of the Triffids free on Pipes, Philor Cracklingand see if you can spot the tributes and references.