Product Details

• Actors: Howard Keel, Nicole Maurey, Janette Scott, Kieron Moore, Mervyn Johns
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Aae Films
• VHS Release Date: April 4, 1998
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304963181
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,458 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1962 version of The Day of the Triffids has been a TV staple for many years, more probably because of a lasting affection for John Wyndham's original novel than any high regard for the film itself. The premise--a meteor shower blinds almost all of humanity, just as a space-borne strain of ambulatory killer plants begins to proliferate--is so strong that it's easy to overlook the frankly messy realization of it. The film opens well, sticking close to the book, as Howard Keel awakens in a London hospital after an eye operation and takes off the bandages to discover that he can see but most of the rest of the population can't. There are unsettling, effective bits with a plane literally flying blind and the beginnings of panic among the fumbling survivors, and one good Triffid encounter in a fog.

Then the film is strangely compelled to stray all over the map, with trips to France and Spain that have no discernible purpose. Director Steve Sekely's original cut was adjudged so disastrous that an uncredited Freddie Francis was brought in to shoot a whole new subplot, featuring Keiron Moore and Janette Scott in a vine-besieged lighthouse, to thread through the old footage. The results are less satisfying than the later BBC serial adaptation, but it still has some irresistible end-of-the-world and killer-plant material. --Kim Newman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 201 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A truly horrific transfer!, January 28, 2003

By 

Richard A. Kappele (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Day of the Triffids (DVD)

Yes, I am yet another "Triffid" lover fooled into buying this DVD. The Cinemascope (2.35:1) film is cropped down to 4:3 so the title of the movie barely fits on the screen, the picture is grainy and out of focus, and the color is drastically shifted to the right! Allied Artists' idea of digitally mastering is copying an Nth generation VHS tape to a hard drive and burning a DVD! I have the widescreen PAL version of this movie on DVD and even with PAL to NTSC conversion it is 1000 times better than this miserable excuse for a DVD! Hopefully the Second Sight Films version of "Day of the Triffids" will make it to the US. Until then, don't fear the Triffids, fear this DVD!!

129 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER ANGRY FAN...., December 29, 2002

By 

Mark Norvell (HOUSTON) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Day of the Triffids (DVD)

I was already waiting for this DVD to arrive when I read the other reviews. Otherwise I would have cancelled my order. This is a fine British sci-fi horror shocker that is well done in color and capably acted. It's one of my favorites. What this Allied Artists company has done with it is astonishingly awful....I'm just sick over their utter gall to release this neglected gem in such terrible condition. It's so faded and poorly reproduced that you can't even enjoy it....

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Day of the Triffids Marketing A Bad Copy, April 8, 2003

By 

Russell C. Longmire (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Day of the Triffids (DVD)

I've bought two dvd's of Day of the Triffids (wonderful movie and follows original story reasonably close) and both have flakey video. My vhs copy bought 20 years ago is better than the one advertised above. This is a great film but needs to be remastered. I also have the pal version which is better than the one above. Just saw a new version on e-bay and I am wondering if I will get hammered again if I buy it. If these companies are going to reissue a great film how about a first generation copy taken from the master and not from an old vhs copy. Artisian and Criterdon remaster great oldies. I wish they would pick this one up too. So, I'll give this copy a D+ at best. Wonderful film. Too bad its a bad copy.