What do you get when you combine a zombie movie like "Dawn of the Dead"/"28 Days Later",and replace the zombies with plants kinda like the plants in "The Ruins"? Well you get "Day of the Triffids". And actually to be fair the novel that this recent BBC miniseries that's been released on dvd recently is based on,is a famous sci fi novel from the 1950's that has been made into two other prior British efforts.One a motion picture in the 50's and a different mini series in the 1960's.
Now what the hell is a triffid?? Good fricking question?? To be honest it looks like the kind of crap your trying to kill with Weed Be Gone in the backyard....except about eight feet tall and can move and is carnivorous. Sounds kinda silly doesn't it?? That's what I thought,but its an acknowledged classic that's evidently loved by lots of people,so that's the whole reason I checked it out.Plus Joely "Hot Legs" Richardson is in it and its cast for a mini series was pretty decent.
So is "Day of the Triffids" any good? Yes it is. The story is set in the near future where these damn killer weeds have been harvested to make a new type of oil that has saved Earth from the greenhouse effect.One of the head honchos is Dougray " I Was Supposed To Be A Fucking Huge Star After MI II....Fuck Tom Cruise!!" Scott,who plays a scientist who lost his mom to the weeds back in the day,and since that crap,has been trying to get a handle on these fuckers. Anyways,these weeds are on these farms all over the world,and are being contained by electricity.
Well Mr. Wanna Be A Star has an incident at one of these farms and is rushed to the hospital,and has his eyes bandaged up. (Evidently these fucking weeds have poison in their vines that kill within seconds if its from an adult weed,but can lead to only blindness from a youngun weed) well dude gets a money shot in the eye,and is drugged up and passes out.Well its a good thing he passes out,because it just so happens to be the night where these shots of light or whatever the hell,from the Sun are supposed to put on a once in a lifetime light show.So of course the dude with the money shot in the eye misses out on it.
Well just as in that epic 80's classic "Night of the Comet" hehe ...you know the shit is gonna hit the fan.Well these shots of light cause anyone and everyone who looks at them to go blind.Now there are a few lucky souls who avoid this...Hot Legs included...also included is the main villain played by Eddie " What Do Ya Mean I Cant Wear These Stilettos While I'm Shooting My Shotgun" Izzard. He plays a total prick who was on a flight to London when the light show hit,but was sleeping so of course he's the only one on the flight that can see. Dickhead wakes up on the plane realizes whats going on and grabs all the life preservers he can and hides in the bathroom of the plane as it is going down. HMMM gotta remember that one...mental note...anyways he survives and ends up wanting to take advantage of the whole "yeah everyone cant see shit,cept me "situation and wants to be something like king of England (of course being Mr. Izzard,maybe more like the Queen) anyways he's an asshole.
So basically Dougray"What The Fuck Is A Dougray?" Scott wakes up can see,runs into Hot Legs,and bonds with her....but tries to play it cool,like he doesn't want to butt uglies with her...anyways they realize that triffids have gotten loose and they want their baby back,baby back ribs...
This is when its kinda like a zombie movie with weeds. With Queen Izzard trying to manipulate situations to his advantage and make everyone else kill the weeds,also he's got the hots for Hot Legs also,so he's trying to get rid of Dougray "No Seriously WTF Is A Dougray???" Scott.
This is an entertaining miniseries.And I'll say this,our network tv peeps need to learn from the British...yeah I know they've stolen several show ideas or even shows from them,including Idol,The Office and other stuff...but seriously tv movies here in the states have gone the way of the dinosaurs....just sad,hell this country created the fuckers in the 70's with excellent stuff like "Duel" (a Steven Spielberg Classic before he was famous),and many,many,other epic flicks all through the 70's-90's then seemed to fade into nothing but Hallmark bullshit and Lifetime chicks in distress because they've married serial killer movies....just sad....seriously the British know how to do these things right.The FX in this is pretty damn decent for tv.The acting is above average....this could have been trimmed down a bit and been a theatrical release basically....
I mean if this had been done in the states,it would have been a God Awful Sci Fi movie starring Bruce Boxleitner in the Scott role,Krista Allen in Hot Legs part,and one of the non talented Baldwins (theres a lot of them,take your pick,Daniel,Stephen,or William) in the Izzard role.The FX would have looked cheap,and it would have just been awful....
If Sci Fi flicks are your thing and you haven't seen any of the versions of this story,give it a shot.Its a pretty decent way to spend a few hours...and thank goodness it was done by the British (they actually give a shit and try)...
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