Threads

In Sheffield, ordinary people from the working class live their lives while the television news report the escalation of the tension between United States of America and Soviet Union after the invasion of Iran by the soviets. People in general do not pay much attention until the day they realize that a nuclear attack may happen and affect the mankind.

"Threads" is a realistic film still impressive in 2021. In 1984 it was scarier with the Cold War, but in the present days it is still frightening since unstable Powers that Be may press the feared button. The effects of the nuclear holocaust in the population of Sheffield is dreadful. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Catástrofe Nuclear" ("Nuclear Catastrophe")

I've always said that no film can really scare you as an adult as films scared you when you were a kid. My benchmark for that being watching 'The Omen' on video when i was about 13, nothing has ever quite lived up to it in the effect it had on me.

Rewatching 'Threads' a while back makes me change my mind.

I remember first seeing it in Ireland on the BBC when I guess i was about 14. Even in Ireland, a neutral country, anxiety about nuclear war was a big thing when we were kids in the 80's.

'Threads' does really get to you, its very unsettling and disturbing. Unlike fictional horror films, 'Threads' is hugely different in one respect - it's real. This is what would happen, you can't distance yourself by saying it's make believe. There are still thousands of nuclear weapons armed and primed to be launched within minutes, 24 hours a day, everyday. Now we even have a country, the US, that says it's ready to use them, even if no one else does first.

Rewatching it, the dated production values don't detract from the film's power. It seems to bring the film even closer to the ordinary and the everyday. It's the film's ordinariness that makes it so viscerally disturbing - Hollywood special effects would at least have allowed you to distance yourself from it somewhat. In fact the film is more realistic for not having them. Someone else mentioned the scene of the woman in the shopping centre urinating where she stood out of pure terror as she sees the bomb go off a mile or two away from her - thats the scene that stayed with me the most too.

Its depressing to think in 2004 we are living in a world where politicians are again talking about 'winnable' wars using nuclear weapons. In many things in life you get a second chance if you make mistakes, I don't think nuclear weapons use will give us the luxury of finding out afterwards was it all worth it. Watch "Threads' and see if you think 'winnable' nuclear war is something you want to give yourself or your children.

The 80's were a different time. Everybody was making money, everybody was having a great time, things never looked better. Except there was always the threat of nuclear war hanging above our heads. This was more than just an idea. We felt it. It was always there just at the edges of your awareness and you could never really ignore it.

Enter "The Day After" which was an American made for TV movie showing what would happen. It was scary and it was effective but it showed an undercurrent of hope. That even in such a tragedy we could survive, pull together and win. Threads has no such message. It shows that even in a limited strike we are well and truly boned. No hope. No chance of a better world. The lucky ones would be the ones that died in the initial blast or that died shortly afterwards. The unlucky ones are the ones that would go on living and slowly get sick before dying.

This movie gave a detailed version of what would happen. From the initial blast to the radiation sickness to the lack of any kind of support or infrastructure afterwards. The worst part showing the long term effects of it. The birth defects, the lack of medicine and aid, the fact that suddenly food and clean water, things we take for granted becoming the most precious resources around.

This movie is a punch to the gut followed by a slow but deliberate beating until you are left spent on the ground quivering in fear. This needs to be required viewing by anybody in the East or West that might even consider that a nuclear strike is a good idea.

It's not. It would literally mean the end of life as we know it.

I first saw "Threads" in high school, and saw it again recently as a grown adult. It does make a measure how old you are when viewing this movie; you take the actions on screen more seriously.

"Threads" plays like BBC documentary about a catastrophic nuclear war, interjecting live scenes with a bland monologue and various statistics, although one wonders what audience would be viewing this documentary.

Since it does play like a documentary, it feels no need to either overplay events or sugarcoat things for our sensibilities. There's no speeches or heroic actions, everything occurs as it happens, no matter how horrifying.

The gore is moderate (it was a TV movie after all) but is unsettling because it's taken to be real. Throughout you look for some hopeful thought to intrude, even comic relief, but "Threads" stares you down, making you watch the horror and woe to the bitter end. There is no hope or salvation, only despair.

It's worth seeing a movie like this as a reminder of the horrors of nuclear war; the threat of a mututal destruction by superpowers seems to be fast fading, but there's always the possibility of terrorists or new enemies.

"Threads" is to nuclear war what "Saving Private Ryan" is to war movies, a landmark film that delivers a strong political message without ever really mentioning it.

Every zombie and vampire movie ever made are Disney cartoons compared to Threads. One begins to realize the complete impotence of Hollywood crap like The Walking Dead and 100 variations of Vampire films. There is absolutely no need to see a horror film after viewing this piece; no horror film ever made could even have a tenth of its impact. The ghastly scenes are too numerous to mention; the horror all too real and unspeakable. The lucky ones are those who were killed instantly. A fable about a nuclear attack in England hits the bullseye for horror. Mr. Hines has created a horror masterpiece. The only thing is that vampires and zombies are fantasies; these survivors of a nuclear holocaust are real-life people. Well, I would not exactly call them people, but lower life forms of animals, as the human race would no longer exist as we know it. Only subhuman animals seeking water, food, shelter and clothing. This is the Rolls Royce of Nuclear Holocaust films. And now we have the US-Russia crisis over Ukraine. How much different is that from the one portrayed in the film? Not much. Might be time to stock up on bottled water, canned foods, a first aid kit, a supply of generic drugs, and a 38 with lots of cartridges and head for that remote cabin at the lake.