A Vine Romance - Top 14 Plant-Based Horrors [Short Film: In Nature]

Orchis soperifera.

The sleepy orchid.

Dr Matthias Dressler and Dr Faye Cazaban, biologists at the top of their game, are on the hunt for the mysterious, legendary plant at the heart of my short film In Nature. 

After studying a single leaf dropped by a passing eagle, they have journeyed to the Baja desert hoping to find an intact specimen in the wild, believing it could yield powerful new antibiotics and make their names in the scientific community.

Orchis soperifera is my contribution to the popular vegetable horror subgenre. You can see it at Horror-On-Sea in Southend, Essex, on 24th January 2027, at 10am when it hits the screens for the world premiere. Meanwhile for vegetable horror fans (and who isn't one of those!) here's a list of the top 14 dangerous or predatory plants, taken from books, movies and the real world. 

14. The Red Weed (War Of The Worlds, H.G. Wells book 1898)

As portrayed here in the 2005 movie, the Martians spread the Red Weed, a toxic and invasive Martian plant, as part of their plans to invade and terraform (areform?) Earth. The Red Weed is first mentioned in the 1898 novel.

War Of The Worlds is one of the most adapted novels ever, with the movies in 1953  (George Pal) and 2005 (Steven Spielberg) but many other movies, the classic Orson Welles radio play in 1938, the 1978 concept album and stage show by Jeff Wayne which is still touring and has had its own adaptations including video games and an immersive theatre experience, and TV series including the BBC miniseries from 2019.

Meanwhile the original author still had time to play a major role in the origins of the League of Nations, the Labour Party and Warhammer 40000.

13. The Killer Tomatoes (Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes, 1978)

First in a series of classic low-budget horrors - if you've only seen the first one then there's still time to ketchup. Only for the most purée horror fans - everyone else should give this a hard passata.

12. Vervoids (Doctor Who, The Trial Of A Time Lord, 1986)

Trial Of A Time Lord divides fans but I remember enjoying it at the time. In this story-within-a-story the court is shown a future version of Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor fighting vegetable enemies that are not at all phallic.

11. Poison Ivy (Batman and Robin, 1997)

Played by Uma Thurman in the 1997 movie, admittedly Ivy is plant-adjacent but she is still "Nature's arm, her spirit, her will." Powers include a poisonous kiss and the ability to control vines.

10. Trees (The Happening, 2008)

Some have criticised this film on the basis that it's hard to root for protagonists that appear so wooden - but enough about Mark Wahlberg.

9. Pods (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, 1956 and 1978)

Straight out of the Cold War. The seed pods of an alien plant arrive on Earth, opening to reveal clones of humans that kill and replace their originals. "They're here already! You're next!"

8. Audrey II (Little Shop Of Horrors, movies 1960 and 1986, musical 1982)

Everyone's favourite strange and exotic plant first appeared as Audrey Jr in the 1960 Roger Corman movie, alongside Jack Nicholson, a poorly thought out script and some unconvincing paper flowers. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman turned the film into a musical, rewriting and massively improving the script, and re-naming the plant Audrey II. This is my all-time favourite stage show. It was later made into a Disney movie, with perfect casting (Rick Moranis as Seymour! Steve Martin as Orin!) but a cop-out ending. As the movie was directed by Frank Oz, Audrey II is canonically a Muppet.

7. Sarlaac (Return Of The Jedi, 1983)

Foreshadowing the future partnership between Disney and Lucasfilm, it's pretty obvious that the Sarlaac seen in Return Of The Jedi is the fully grown adult form of Audrey II.

6. Christmas Trees (Treevenge, 2008)

In this gleeful joyride of a short horror film, Christmas trees take revenge on the humans who chop them down. The Happening wishes it was this film.

5. The Heavy Plant

HEED THE SIGNS.

IT IS CROSSING.

4. Vines (The Ruins, 2008)

Two American couples hiking in Mexico meet a German tourist looking for his brother, an archaeologist who went missing while investigating a Mayan temple. The temple turns out to have a quite invasive vine problem, while locals are afraid of the vines and attack anyone who has touched them. This is a great horror movie with both human and vegetable drama.

3. Triffids (Day Of The Triffids, book 1951, movie 1963, TV 1981 and 2009)

The OG vegetable horror. In John Wyndham's book, triffids are giant artificially bred plants, who can walk, communicate and kill at a distance with poisonous stingers. They're kept in farms and cultivated for oil, but when almost all of humanity is literally blindsided by green lights in the sky, the triffids have their day.

2. Everything on Vesta (Scavenger's Reign, 2023)

The starship Demeter 227 crashes into planet Vesta in this anime-style American animated series. Only a small number of survivors make it to the surface in escape pods. They discover a world with a complex and dangerous ecosystem, where every plant or animal has surprising and potentially deadly qualities. It's like Australia but less dangerous.

1. Brussels Sprouts

This mutant plant was first bred by Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin as a tool of assassination, and was developed further as a potent bioweapon during World War I. Spores were released into the wild in an attempt to change the course of the War but due to blowback there were equally deadly consequences for Axis and Allies. Banned under the UN Biological Weapons Convention, Brussels Sprouts are almost unknown today but small numbers are rumoured to exist in secret US and Russian laboratories, while conspiracy theorists report occasional, unverified sightings at Christmas dinners. There is no vaccine and no cure for the Brussels Sprout.

Now finish your greens or there'll be no pudding for you.