In the imaginative realm of horror cinema the world of plants provides fertile ground (literally in this case) for a lot of terrifying concepts. For a bit of fun and as Halloween is nearly here, we’ve collected together a few of the times when plants made us scream in movies and gave us cause to fear our seemingly harmless pot plants or rose gardens.
The Day of the Triffids
If you’ve ever worried about man eating plants then this may not be the film for you. The titular triffids of the film are large carnivorous alien plants with a taste for human flesh. Unlike their more docile earth-based cousins the triffids are also able to walk on their roots and seem to show a knack for intelligent behaviour. As if that weren’t bad enough they possess a deadly poison sting allowing them to quickly dispatch the film’s characters before feasting on their remains.
Troll 2
This film is famous for all the wrong reasons with its low budget effects and questionable acting. It does however have a rather sinister concept involving goblins (not trolls you may notice) that capture people and turn them into plants, which they then eat. As a result there’s a lot of body horror involving people slowly degenerating into plants. Sadly, the film had a famously farcical production leading to a film that looked cheap and has, as a result, been called one of the worst movies ever made.
Little Shop of Horrors
There are actually two versions of this movie although the second and more recent film is probably best remembered. Both however have broadly the same premise as each other, telling the story of a financially struggling florists, which starts to exhibit a bizarre new plant with a big mouth and equally big personality. This is another man eating plant story although this time thankfully the plant doesn’t have legs, although that doesn’t stop him from manipulating his keepers into feeding him people. The killer sapling in this is named Audrey II and depending on the version of the film you watch is either a crossbreed of a venus flytrap and butterwort or an alien. Audrey II relies on human blood to grow bigger which escalates to eating grown men whole and terrorising the city.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
A horror classic, which has also been subject to multiple remakes. The premise is simple. Plant-like aliens land on earth, make emotionless copies of the planet’s inhabitants and then take over. Of course in practice the premise was a lot more sinister, with the aliens copying sleeping victims with gigantic plant pods that replicated the originals exactly and caused them to turn to dust. In the second version of the movie made in 1978 this was made even more tense as the so-called pod people would draw attention to non-replicated people by pointing at them with a piercing inhuman scream so that they could be captured and assimilated.
The Happening
This was a good idea although it could have been better realised. This M Night. Shyalaman horror film famously delivered the twist that trees were releasing a neurotoxin that caused people to commit suicide. The trees had turned to this deadly measure as a way to protect the planet from humanity’s destructive tendencies. However, the twist and the way that the film was written led less to horror and more to amusement and bewilderment from audiences. A case in point example is one ridiculous scene when the star Mark Wahlberg starts to talk to a tree with a predictably mute response.
Poltergeist
Amongst the telekinetic flying objects, scary clown dolls and ghostly hands coming out of televisions this film also features an old knarled tree that comes to life. Whilst the Freeling family are being terrorised by super natural happenings in their home, the tree smashes through a bedroom window and tries to steal of one of the children before being fought off by the rest of the family. Surely the worst film to watch for anyone who’s ever wondered if the tree branches outside their window were like hands.
Whilst not all of these films are terrifying throughout they all prove that the idea of killer plants is a popular horror concept that can (if done properly) send shivers down your spine. Try not to have nightmares this Halloween.
At FloraQueen we have plants and flowers which fortunately will not eat you. If you want to celebrate Halloween with a difference send flowers to your loved ones, or to help decorate a party. We deliver to over 100 countries worldwide so it doesn’t matter how far away you are from your special someone. It’s simple and just takes a few clicks.