A while ago, the BBC News had an article about our enduring love-affair with man-eating plants. I'm ashamed to say that, despite having some absolutely terrifying plants in Jurassic Park, I have never read The Day Of The Triffids. Perhaps someone will be kind to me for my birthday in six weeks' time... Hubster has read it and seen the film, and as a result was terrified of his father's rhubarb patch, and even gave my Gunnera a wide berth before I managed to overwater it to death.
I have also never seen either of the films of The Little Shop Of Horrors, although I am very familiar with the song "Feed Me"...
At the moment I think my Tetrapanax "Rex" has a fight on its hands for the title of "largest plant in Jurassic Park" next summer, as the Geranium maderense, which looked so sweet and innocent when I was given it in a 4" pot back in May, has leaves as big as my head...
The BBC reckons the fascination is there because of genetically modified foods and bio-engineering. But I think it's more basic than that. Now, the Hubster may have his own ideas about horror, writing the genre himself (after a fashion), but I've always found that the most terrifying things are either the mundane and day-to-day or the totally alien. Looking at the IMDB's top 50 horror films, for example, "Psycho" is based on a little country motel that could be anywhere in America. Almost anyone who has been on a US roadtrip has stayed somewhere they have darkly referred to as "The Bates Motel" (there's a motel near the bus station in Cheyenne, WY...). But "Alien" is completely unfamiliar - it's away from all home comforts, and the monster has a strange Bauplan and physiology.
Where do plants come into it? Probably the perfect combination of both extremes. There are plants all over the place. Unless you live in an inner city you can probably look out of your window right now and see a plant, and probably more plants than animals (at least visible to the naked eye). We see plants every day - what could be more terrifying than those plants uprooting and going on the rampage? But as familiar as plants are, their anatomy is almost as far away from our own as we see among multi-celled organisms on this planet.
Personally, I'm freaked out by Mimosa pudica.
There's a whole load of them at the local Wyevale at the moment, and a brush of the hand across the display causes them all to recoil. Frankly, any plant that can shy away from me is true horror film material. But I'm sure I'm not the only gardener who has one plant they just can't cope with. What's your secret triffid?
I have also never seen either of the films of The Little Shop Of Horrors, although I am very familiar with the song "Feed Me"...
At the moment I think my Tetrapanax "Rex" has a fight on its hands for the title of "largest plant in Jurassic Park" next summer, as the Geranium maderense, which looked so sweet and innocent when I was given it in a 4" pot back in May, has leaves as big as my head...
The BBC reckons the fascination is there because of genetically modified foods and bio-engineering. But I think it's more basic than that. Now, the Hubster may have his own ideas about horror, writing the genre himself (after a fashion), but I've always found that the most terrifying things are either the mundane and day-to-day or the totally alien. Looking at the IMDB's top 50 horror films, for example, "Psycho" is based on a little country motel that could be anywhere in America. Almost anyone who has been on a US roadtrip has stayed somewhere they have darkly referred to as "The Bates Motel" (there's a motel near the bus station in Cheyenne, WY...). But "Alien" is completely unfamiliar - it's away from all home comforts, and the monster has a strange Bauplan and physiology.
Where do plants come into it? Probably the perfect combination of both extremes. There are plants all over the place. Unless you live in an inner city you can probably look out of your window right now and see a plant, and probably more plants than animals (at least visible to the naked eye). We see plants every day - what could be more terrifying than those plants uprooting and going on the rampage? But as familiar as plants are, their anatomy is almost as far away from our own as we see among multi-celled organisms on this planet.
Personally, I'm freaked out by Mimosa pudica.
There's a whole load of them at the local Wyevale at the moment, and a brush of the hand across the display causes them all to recoil. Frankly, any plant that can shy away from me is true horror film material. But I'm sure I'm not the only gardener who has one plant they just can't cope with. What's your secret triffid?
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