Ghost House to adapt the horror novel Day of the Triffids with Luther creator

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert’s Ghost House production company has lined up Neil Cross, the creator of the BBC series Luther, to adapt the 1951 horror novel DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS by John Wyndham.

The novel was adapted into the 1962 film of the same name and again as a mini-series for British television, starring Dougray Scott. 

Here’s a detailed synopsis of the book:

Bill Masen, bandages over his wounded eyes, misses the most spectacular meteorite shower England has ever seen. Removing his bandages the next morning, he finds masses of sightless people wandering the city. He soon meets Josella, another lucky person who has retained her sight, and together they leave the city, aware that the safe, familiar world they knew a mere twenty-four hours before is gone forever.

But to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, one must survive the Triffids, strange plants that years before began appearing all over the world. The Triffids can grow to over seven feet tall, pull their roots from the ground to walk, and kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers. With society in shambles, they are now poised to prey on humankind. Wyndham chillingly anticipates bio-warfare and mass destruction, fifty years before their realization, in this prescient account of Cold War paranoia.

With the right director and cast this could be a lot of fun.  Guillermo Del Toro keeps popping into my head as the perfect choice, but he’s tied up with way too many projects to tackle this one.  I mean, the guy can’t direct everything.  More as this develops.