RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £10.03 (subject to change)
giant broccoli
Review date: 2006-02-03 Rating: 4 out of 10
i remember seeing this series on t.v. when i was just a kid and it scared the living beejaysus outta me.i cant see what all the fuss was about now.you can see many similarites in the opening scenen with other horror films such as 28 days later, the stand,the crazies etc. there aren't any jump out of your seat moments but the atmosphere and exposure of a selfish human nature in a "survival of the fittest" setting is dark and is in itself a horror. the triffids themselves are a new species of plant that came to earth via a comet and are like big lumps of broccoli who poison and then eat their victims.99% of the population of the world is blind after a comet burned out an optical nerve in the eye, and therefore the human race is being hunted down by plants (who move at 2mph!!). i think it would take an ingenious scriptwriter to modernise the triffids story as it would probably look more like a comedy.get the bbc version instead!!
It bears little to no resemblance to the original. The triffids look completely different from all the book's descriptions and illustrations, the plot doesn't take place in the same setting as the book and the only thing which is constant is the explanation of the blindness of most of the population. As ever, the abiding memory is the ending. While not wishing to give spoilers, suffice to say it is typical of Hollywood and completely misrepresents the point of Wyndham's original novel.
As an example of the influence of Hollywood on classic sci fi it stands alone. Unfortunately, that comment is not intended to be positive.
I do want to discuss this DVD though. I have almost 600 DVD's, from movies made on a shoestring to big budget. And they ALL look better than this DVD. VHS tape far outperforms what we have here. It's a disgrace this one was released. I don't know where they got the transfer from - but this does not even make a good coaster. Seriously, it's is unwatchable.
The guy who gave it three stars must not have seen this DVD. Screw the extras, I want to be able to se the film! You can't here. Forget this!
The sound quality is very poor. Muffled and muddy, it's very hard to hear what is being said sometimes. The quite bits are too quiet and the loud bits are far too loud. You are constantly reaching for the volume control to try to balance this out.
There is a lot of noise on the soundtrack with very many audible clicks and pops, especially when the reels change. These are LOUD! Throughout the entire film, these loud noises interupt the flow of the film and become very irritating after a while. Rather than draw you in, this positively pushes you away.
The video quality is very poor also. The entire film looks out of focus and the colours are very faded and wishy-washy. The film looks like it was shot in black and white in places the colours are so bland. The dark shadows are very gray and lack detail. There is one scene where the quality is so poor, it looks like it's raining indoors!
Add to this the lack of extras on the dvd only the trailer being added,(chapter stops and interactive menus are not extras in my opinion) this is a poor release.
This is a great shame as this is a good film, maybe one of the best British sci-fi films ever. I can only warn you NOT to buy this. If you've never seen the film, try the vhs video version instead.
If you love the film as much as I do, you'll buy this dvd anyway, but you will be disappointed as I was.
I rate the film 5 stars.
I rate the Video quality 2 stars (it's in widescreen)
I rate the Sound quality 1 star.