60s Sci-Fi Horror Classic Responsible For Genre-Breaking Zombie Franchise

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 1 minute ago

Long before M. Nos Shyamalan turned plants into killers The Happeningand a few years before George Romero turned horror on its head with Night of the Living DeadBritish sci-fi horror classic introduced the world to the Triffids. Adapting the popular book of the same name, Day of the Triffidsmaybe about aliens instead of zombies, but it had a lasting impression on zombie horror for 60 years. Specifically, 28 Days later a The Walking Dead were heavily influenced by the 1963 film.

Humans Are The Real Monster

Day of the Triffids begins with a strange meteor shower that blinds all who see it, save Bill, a Navy officer who was recovering in hospital when it happened. The sequence of Bill wandering out of the hospital into the empty city streets is one of those scenes you probably never realized was a tribute. Danny Boyle made sure to shoot Cillian Murphy in exactly the same way when doing 28 Days laterbut that is not the only scene that the two films have in common.

“Humans are the real monster” has become an expected message in most horror films, and 28 Days later conveys this with the third act, the arrival of the soldiers established in an abandoned home. It is similar to the same sequence in the 1951 novel, The Day of the Triffids, down to the use of the zombies/triffids as a weapon. The film made significant changes from the novel down to changing the ending to something more hopeful, but between the two, you can see the DNA of 28 Days later.

Although the film version of Day of the Triffids little in common with the novel, nor does it make it clear where exactly the Triffids came from. There is an implication in the novel that they are the fruit of Soviet experiments, but then the film includes spores spread by the mysterious meteor shower, making it seem like they are invaders alien species. What both versions contain is a young woman, Susan, whom Bill befriends and protects as she wanders the countryside in search of a safe haven.

60 Years later

Day of the Triffids It’s not a traditional zombie film, yet it helped establish the template that the genre would follow. The 1963 film currently enjoys a fresh critic rating of 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to a lackluster audience rating of 51 percent, but that’s with over 5,000 audience reviews of a 61-year-old film, and it’ n still a better score than most of the films. sci-fi films released in 2024. Later adaptations would be more faithful to the original novel, including a 2009 miniseries with Jason Priestly, Brian CoxVanessa Redgrave, and Eddie Izzard, but none of them have had the lasting but understated impact of the original.

George Romero Night of the Living Deadthe most influential zombie film of all time, which premiered five years later Day of the Triffidsbut together, the two films helped launch a horror subgenre that is still popular today. In the last 20 years, zombie films that deconstruct the genre and turn tropes sideways have grown in popularity, from Shaun of the Dead i The Dead Don’t Diewith mixed results. But through it all, the 1963 British sci-fi horror film has quietly been influencing countless films and novels.

Before you rewatch 28 Days later to prepare for 28 Years laterdo yourself a favor and stream Day of the Triffids free on Pipes, Philoor crackleand see if you can spot the tributes and references.