Sam Raimi wants to direct a new take on
'Day of The Triffids', the late post-apocalyptic author John Wyndham's ambitious story about a meteor shower that not only births giant, man-eating and fast moving viscous plants, but also leaves 99% of the world's population blind. Mandate Pictures won the bidding war over rivals Warner Bros yesterday in a seven-figure deal, 'the most they have ever spent on a property' it's said. Yup, Raimi wants to direct a new take on the 58 year old novel just that much, so don't be surprised if this becomes a priority for him. WB had hoped to buy the property for 'Harry Potter' helmer David Yates. I've only ever seen the 1980's BBC series, and only then in the last ten years, so the story's not had the effect on me that it have had on a previous, cold-war paranoid generation. Though I do wonder, if this could have ever been that terrifying? I haven't seen the Vincent Price version from 1962 (the one Raimi likes, apparently) or the recent BBC revival. But I did see 'The Happening' and 'Blindess' and a blending of the two isn't something I'm desperate to see. However I'm liking Raimi's recent desire to return to his horror roots. I gushed over his gloriously unapologetic and high energy B-movie
'Drag Me To Hell' and if he can recapture that magic and make this at both sickening, absurd and entertaining, then he might be onto something here. I mean no matter how you dress it up, it's a killer plant movie - so it has to be fun/tongue-in-cheek. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eCmqWDx5A4 At the end of the day, I'd rather see this than
'The Great and Powerful Oz' he is supposedly contracted to make next. Even if it might star
Robert Downey Jr.