Day # 15 of the 30 Days of Halloween Challenge

[shadowkat]

This is Day #15 of the 30 Days of Halloween Challenge.

The prompt is A horror film that features an animal or insects or plants in either the title or as the main threat.

One rule: DO NOT PICK A FILM WITH SPIDERS! I don't want to see it or know about it. You can pick anything else with animals, insects, or plants. I'm an arachnophobe. Please be mindful of my high blood pressure, thank you.

Mine is Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. It's adapted from a short story by Daphne Du Maurier. She did another one that was adapted into a film...but I won't list it in case someone else picks it.

Watch on YouTube

I love this film. And it's close to the short story, but in some respects far more disturbing. Hitchcock was a bit like Kubrick, everyone thought he was brilliant, but he drove actors nuts. The man liked to torture his actors.

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

Animal, eh?
It's Spiders in Brooklyn no, Ping Pong no, King Kong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zct1tPK1Zk0

[shadowkat]

Ah, the original with Fay Ray! I got to see the remake with Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange and Charles Grodin in the movie theater. My best buddy at the time (we were about 11? It was in 1976), thought it was better than Star Wars. (What can I say? She adored monster movies. Personally, I prefer the original - no spiders, the 1976 version had a giant spider in a cave.)

[cactuswatcher]

It's been a long time since I've seen the one from the 70s. I mostly remember it for being far from Jessica Lange's best work.

[shadowkat]

It was far from anyone's best work. I only remember Jeff Bridges in it. And the aforementioned Giant Spider in the cave. It was as if the writers felt the need to combine King Kong with Fantastic Island or island of giant insects and animals.

[wendelah1]

Cat People. The 1982 version. It's the only film that qualifies that I've actually seen--and I didn't like it. If the requirement is to rec one, I cannot.

[shadowkat]

It works. Besides it has a great song, and Malcolm McDowel is cool in it - also responsible for the character Spike in Buffy's cat walk. Marsters copied it from Malcolm McDowell in Cat People.

It's not a good movie. But I'll allow. Only rule is not post anything on spiders.

[cjlasky7]

All these birds, apes, and cats.... I immediately wanted to post a killer plant movie, just to shake things up a little.

I thought of three: one genuinely great, one a lot of fun, and one absolutely awful.

The great one:

Day of the Triffids (1962), directed by Steve Sekely

A (very) loose adaptation of John Wyndham's novel, the movie nevertheless delivers a unique and terrifying monster: tall, venomous weeds capable of organized attack and--more importantly--locomotion. The screenwriters pull out a last minute, War of the Worlds-type miracle save that doesn't quite feel earned, but the Triffids' assault on the scattered remains of humanity is chillingly efficient:

https://youtu.be/QHWA_bk7a4Q

Anybody want to guess my other two choices?

[atpo_onm]

Might one just possibly, maybe, perhaps be...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfcPnul77T8

"Feed me!"

[cactuswatcher]

Is the awful one Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clqDkCJs19s

I've never seen it, but it seems to fit your criteria.

[cjlasky7]

Nope. I enjoyed AotKT. Stoopid fun.

Hint: the movie in question is relatively recent--and from a big name director.

[shadowkat]

The awful one is kind of impossible to guess - since I don't like any of the evil plant movies.

I'm trying to think of one I did like...drawing a blank. You're going to have to provide some more clues.

[cjlasky7]

Ok, one more clue:

"Night"

(And it's not referring to the time of day.)

[shadowkat]

Well, according to the internet there's a movie entitled "Nightshade" that the critics couldn't stand. I never heard of it though..

[cjlasky7]

Since you've gone on to next day's challenges, it's time to stop teasing you:

The Happening (written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan)

I think I called this movie a "retro scifi suspense thriller," except:

-- it's not retro enough
-- it's only minimally scifi
-- it's not suspenseful (or thrilling)

It's The Birds, only with plants. That don't move.

Yeah.

[shadowkat]

Oh, I've never seen it - and didn't know the threat was plants..that don't move. How can they be threatening, if they don't move?

[cjlasky7]

They emit a hallucinogenic spore that makes people kill themselves.

[atpo_onm]

Look, up in the... wait, no...

Look! Over in the swamp! ... It's a plant! It's a man! It's a man-plant!! ...

It's...

SWAMP THING!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIiZFa4xw5w

[petzipellepingo]

How about a plant? Feed me! .

[cjlasky7]

Yep! That's the fun one I was thinking of! The musical remake is amazing, but there's nothing like the original...

[petzipellepingo]

And it was on TCM this morning.