Threads (1984)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ever since the first atom bomb was detonated in 1945, the world has lived in fear of the possibility of nuclear war and the annihilation of civilization. Naturally, such a scenario has formed the basis of more than one film, some going for a more sci-fi take where radiation created mutants and monsters roam the earth in the aftermath, others going for a more darker, realistic take. Those of the latter can be some of the most horrific films ever made, but few of those films reach the level of realism and abject terror that 1984's "Threads" does. Produced by the BBC for television, it came out during a time of renewed tensions in the Cold War and fears that a nuclear confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States was imminent. The American landmark TV movie "The Day After" had come out one year earlier, now it would be the British's turn, and while "The Day After" was a frighteningly realistic movie, "Threads" went one step further in becoming the most horrific film of its kind.Made in a quasi-documentary style with occasional narration by Paul Vaughan, it takes place in the northern England town of Sheffield, where two young lovers Ruth and Jimmy are just starting out in life and planning on getting married, having a baby, and blissfully unaware of the news of a growing crisis unfolding in Iran. The Soviets have invaded Iran due to a American backed coup that has overthrown the government there, America calls for the Soviets to leave, they refuse, and the situation escalates when the United States sends troops of their own. Slowly but surely, the residents can't help but notice the situation as tensions mount, and panic gradually ensues. You can feel the feeling of dread increase as the film progresses, and things reach a boiling point when tactical nuclear weapons are used by both the Russians and Americans in Iran. Tensions and protests increase, until finally the unthinkable happens: The bombs come for Sheffield, and all hell breaks loose when the demonic mushroom cloud looms over the land, but as we will soon learn the bomb is only the beginning, for what follows makes even the most horrific tale of fire and brimstone hell seem trite in comparison. If you seek even the remotest resemblance of hope, joy, or happiness, look someplace else, for "Threads" has none to offer. The scene where the bomb drops is the most realistic and disturbing of any such scene I have ever seen, for we see sheer terror on a primal scale as buildings are turned instantly into rubble, a woman wets herself in terror, milk bottles are melted, still moving human bodies are roasted alive among the fires, cats are suffocated from the heat, and life as we know it ends forever. All of this still holds over thirty years later, despite being a made for TV production. But if the bomb is bad, the aftermath is worse. There is no electricity, no running water, infrastructure is reduced to rubble and hospitals are useless as the narrator dryly tells us that with out the basic necessities of water and electricity, a doctor is no longer able to provide basic care, and is no more valuable than the next survivor, having instead to resort to primitive measures of the past, all shown in horrific detail. Fall out covers the sky, causing a nuclear winter, radiation rains down, causing sickness and misery undreamed of, the soil contaminates, and crops are no more. I can unequivocally say this is the most hopeless movie I ever seen of any genre, for "Threads" pulls zero punches, permeates your soul, and utterly rips it apart. I ended up watching this on a small screen my phone, which I normally don't do as I prefer big screens. At first I didn't know if I'd be able to watch it all the way because of that, but as the film progressed the size of the screen no longer mattered, for "Threads" pulled me in and would not let go, right up until the final moment where we find out what the future of mankind is; there isn't one. For fifteen to twenty minutes after the ending I was barely able to move or speak, as my mind couldn't completely grasp what I had seen. Even now I'm not sure it can. "Threads" shows what could have easily happened if the cold war had ever gone hot (as it almost did, many times, a lot more than most people realize), and what could still happen if God forbid a day comes when things between the west and Russia or some other nuclear power come to blows over some international incident. After all, folks, the cold war might have ended, but that doesn't mean Russia and the U.S. stopped aiming missiles at one another. This film is hard to come by in the United States, and I was only able to see it through a link on you tube, but if you get the chance and have the stamina to witness the closest thing to real nuclear war without actually experiencing it, watch "Threads", and while you're at it, whether you're a believer or not, pray this isn't the future of mankind.

There's not really a lot of insight you can offer into this infamous TV movie that depicts the aftermath of a nuclear attack on a British city. It's a superficial film, made without subtext, purely designed to present a 'what if?' scenario and then play it out to its ultimate, nihilistic climax. I found it to be utterly grim and depressing, a warning shout against the ultimate in evil: the nuclear bomb.The film is low budget and cast with unfamiliar actors who play normal people, without any kind of fancy acting. It's just as if they're playing themselves. The first half sets up the inevitable and the second half shows what happens to the various survivors. The special effects are absolutely EXCELLENT; this must have been made on a relatively low budget, and yet the nuclear attack is utterly convincing. I really appreciate the way the barren, devastated landscape is brought to life, full of ruined buildings and mutilated corpses.Events that play out are realistic in the extreme; be warned there's no happy ending in sight here, just a ruthless devotion to showing 'what is'. I found it completely upsetting and affecting, full of images (melting bodies and milk bottles) that will stay in my mind for a long time to come. Imagine the nuclear bomb nightmare in TERMINATOR 2 increased to filmic length: that's THREADS in a nutshell.

The film starts out with radio news in the background as a family gets ready for the day. The family members are hardly paying attention, probably unconcerned because everything that is being discussed seems so remote, with little relevance to their lives. The news items sound like so much of what we see and hear on a daily basis, which I found absolutely horrifying; the news gets progressively worse, and still no-one is concerned - until it is too late. What affected me so profoundly was that it could so easily be true. I always thought this film was infinitely superior to "The Day After", in part because it was so understated.

We've all seen those horror films where hazardous radiation/chemicals give humans super powers or turn them into zombies, and we've all seen those public service announcements from the seventies where after a nuclear war, eventually everyone is okay if they follow the rules.Threads is unique in the fact that it doesn't lie or even mix up the truth at all. In the event of a nuclear war, we'd all be doomed to a fate worse than death.Does it sound scary or depressing? Well, the film seemed innocent enough to me until I actually watched it on youtube one night. When a bomb is dropped, people all follow the rules, a few panic, one woman even wets her pants on the sidewalk, and some hide under objects like the government suggested... then the wave of the bomb hits and people collapse, vaporized, in the streets. Animals suffer the same horrible fate, and many of the humans hidden under vehicles and in homes are either crushed, burned alive or left to survive the long suffering of radiation sickness. The film stretches on for years until finally we learn, that when a bomb is dropped, there's no turning back to the way modern society was. Books, films, news broadcasts, music, all the things that we think are important, it all becomes so trivial in a post-apocalyptic environment....But what really makes this film stand out from others in its genre is that the scenario presented in the film is not only possible, the wrong hands could make this film a reality at any second.This is not a horror film, but it's the most disturbing, melancholy and frightening film I've ever seen, hands down. The poor people in it are so realistic, it makes you feel as though you're experiencing their suffering. Don't pass it up to go watch My Little Pony or Criminal Minds, because it's a film you can't afford to miss.