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Put simply, THREADS takes every disaster movie you've ever seen - even the huge budget offerings from Hollywood - and unceremoniously skewers them on a rusty skewer. Very few films have the ability to suck the life out of a viewer and leave them feeling drained and shaken in quite the same way that this does. The world may have moved on since 1984, but the central message of THREADS - that politicians have the power to pretty much destroy the whole world and wipe out life as we know it in a matter of minutes - remains horribly relevant. So, if you're looking for shocks and jolts, where to start? Burning cats, dead kids, dogs buried in rubble, incinerated babies, mutants, synchronised vomiting, hospital floors awash with excrement, blood and urine, point-blank shootings, stillbirths, characters we've come to know and care about starving to death or slowly dying before our eyes, extreme incompetence on the part of government-appointed officials, radioactive sheep...the list is endless. If you find the scene where the bomb is dropped on Sheffield city centre on a bustling weekday morning upsetting, then I strongly advise you to switch off, because the rest of the film is unremittingly bleak, nauseating and devoid of hope. It will give you nightmares for weeks. THREADS is not a film to be watched, it's a film to be endured, and if you feel you don't have the stomach for it, go with your first instinct and give it a very wide berth. It makes the so-called 'video nasties' look like a frivolous waste of time.

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.

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.

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.

This is easily the best TV movie I've ever seen, and honestly, it might just be one of the best movies full stop I've ever seen.

It's hard to imagine the premise of a country falling apart after a nuclear attack being executed more effectively than this. The reduced budget works to the film's favour, as many of the settings look very real, the acting is naturalistic, and the blend of stock footage with limited special effects is far more convincing and genuine-feeling than high budget 80s, 90s, or even 2000s effects could produce.

There's nothing Hollywood, here. There's a sense of unflinching brutality and honesty that makes the already terrifying premise that much more devastating.

You might think the film's age and TV movie nature would make the disturbing content more manageable and less real, but that doesn't happen at all. The acting is almost 100% raw and believable. The effects never look cheesy. The violence and horrific imagery isn't at all toned down. It's remarkable and horrifying in equal measure.

Threads is without a doubt one of the bleakest and most distressing films I've ever seen, but two hours flew past, and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. There was no part of me that wanted to scroll through Facebook or multitask with some household chores while watching this. I was glued to the screen.

The most effective moment is when the sound goes out for a moment or two during the sequence where the bombs are being dropped. Also worth noting is that shot with the lady staring into the camera, which will haunt me, and the manner in which the last half hour or so is done with almost no dialogue, and for good reason. It's mesmerising.

The voiceover and documentary-ish presentation could make this cheesy, but they don't. It adds to the believability, and such techniques weren't overused at all.

Nuclear weapons don't discriminate against their victims in the same way this movie doesn't discriminate against its characters. You could be rich, poor, a child, or even a cute household pet- it doesn't matter. This movie isn't afraid to show the deaths of anyone, and even more chilling is the way some main characters just disappear after the bombs fall, with the audience being left almost certain that whatever happened, their fates were not positive.

I can't say enough good things about this, and I am shocked by just how effective it was. A must watch, although be prepared to feel pretty rotten afterwards...