The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids (1963) is a British end-of-the-world sci-fi you can watch online on iFILM. Earth drifts through a swarm of comet fragments, crowds gather to watch the fiery shower light up the sky, and by morning nearly everyone has gone blind.

Merchant seaman Bill Masen misses the show — he's in a hospital bed, eyes bandaged after surgery. He unwraps them to find London silent, sightless and frozen. Then the second disaster lands: the triffids, carnivorous plants that walk and hunt, spread across the planet and start picking off the helpless.

Adapted from John Wyndham's 1951 novel and directed by Steve Sekely, it stars Howard Keel and Janette Scott. The effects look quaint now; the central nightmare doesn't — a premise that later echoes through 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead. Stream The Day of the Triffids online on iFILM.