Threads

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
DL'd and watched this recently. Powerful stuff. A stark, documentary-style look at what might happen in the event of a nuclear war. Haven't seen it since it was first shown on British TV around 1984 - and no wonder it scared the hell out of me at the time (although there was a lot of nuclear fear around then anyway). I'm sure it affected me for years. Was it ever been shown on TV in the UK again? Was it ever seen in the US? Directed by the guy that did Kes, innit.

I'm sure lots of criticism could be levelled at this movie but I think it does a really good job of not pulling its punches and the message hits home.
 

rewch

Well-known member
holy batshit

i remember threads... damn scary at the time... wasn't there another one called edge of darkness that dealt more with the aftermath or perhaps it was a nuclear accident scenario... deep in the heart of cold war paranoia scaring the pants off the civilians... bit like the recent bbc thing dirty war but a fearful population is a well behaved one
sorry... didn't mean to start drawing conclusions about programming... so yes threads... don't go outside... in fact pray that you are annihalated i suppose
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
Threads also heavily implies that "The Russians" are the main aggressors in that particular scenario.

edge of darkness - used to have the theme music on 12" - eric clapton! with machael kamen whose son nick went on to star in a hugely successful ad campaign for Levi's jeans ;)

was it about terrorists nicking some radioactive material or something?
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
Another thing I wanted to say about it was that somehow Total World Destruction was (and still kind of is) a hugely exciting and appealing idea, especially to a teenager. Not really in an "I Hate The World" sort of way, it's more that it just seems cooooool. Or maybe it's more "I Told You It Was all Fucked You Idiots". Dunno, the dark-side can be very seductive I guess. Of course it's the last thing I really want and is the total opposite of my hopes and dreams. Sick thrills maybe. Like with a lot of these things (The Power of Nightmares, Fahrenheit 911) - confirmation that the situation may be as bad as (or worse than) you think it is can be oddly comforting.

That's probably going to come across all wrong - nuclear war is a motherfucker, dontcha know? Just trying to get at something there in the young man's psyche.

Watching film's like this as a kid can make you feel hopeless and impotent. Now I hope that it strengthen's my sense that we have a HUGE responsibility to......well, this is OUR world isn't it? The potential is amazing, let's stop these ignorant, greedy, stupid, unevolved, visionless bastards.
 

h-crimm

Well-known member
does anyone have a link to a bit torrent seed? or some other way to download it? i reeeealy want to see it.
yep i have a bit of a "how bad can it get when the pigs in suits get out of control" media fetish...
it is strange how exciting and interesting and even appealing seeing the worst thing possible happen is... i used to think about it quite abit when i was a kid... "ohh no i hope it doesnt happen... but what would i do if it did? that would be cool..." i think part of it was a wanted to live in an improvised ewok village which would obviously happen - just look at 'beyon the thunderdome' (nice... this is the quality films thread) .
but also its kind of exciting assuming all your friends survived and then most of the world was just cleaned out a bit, for a yute its a cool idea cos then theres no problem with the system and the history, you can just build your own society however you want. it is depressing that the bosses are apparently unshakably entrenched, but if they pressed the button? woooooh! i would be in charge.. and i'd sort it out... post meltdown.
seriously tho its just funny fantasy
 

KaBuT

Member
Don't know of a torrent but I can post a DVD to anyone who wants to see this. (Just send me a PM)

It is relentlessly harsh and bleak, and makes for very uncomfortable viewing.

After I watched it I started collecting Cold War bits and bobs of from Ebay and second hand shops.
 

don_quixote

Trent End
sorry to up this, but i was cruising through the back pages and i absolutely adore threads and i have a friend who hates all films and it's the only film he actually likes as it kept him gripped all the way through.

i saw this late on bbc4 (i think?) whilst i was at sixth form, was told it was essential by said friend and couldnt bear to watch at most points. i have since bought it on dvd and havent got past half an hour, i simply cannot force myself to watch it past that point, it's too scary.

amazingly, my friend was shown this in school (?!) and as most of the amazon reviews show, this was the case for an incredibly large amount of people (or possibly more likely that it was shown to an small amount of people who were obviously affected).

however, the perverse fascination with total destruction has stayed with me, and those tapes from 1975 released recently only served to heighten this obsession.

are protect and survive videos impossible to get hold of?

(oh and the actress giving birth at the end has fillings in her teeth...)
 

blunt

shot by both sides
I remember going into school the day after "Threads" was first aired, and all the girls in my class being huddled at the the back of the room, crying uncontrollably. That freaked me out more than anything (even tho I think I pretended to laugh at them at the time).

Personally, I think I prefer The War Game by Peter Watkins. I remember watching it with my dad as a teenager, and even tho the Cold War must have been over by then, it was still proper fucking horrible. I'm a massive Watkins fan, so maybe I'm biased. But when I saw it again at the ICA last year, it still got to me. The moment when the bomb detonates is incredibly well realised, and is so much more effective than any apocalyptic CGI-fest you could care to mention.

Recommended!
 

alo

Well-known member
Wow! One from the recesses!

Yeah, one of those black hole memories from school days, absolutely shit me up for years. Really horrendous, bleak stuff.

When I was at school (first half of the 90's) I remember, in general, a lot of paraphrenalia lurking around from the previous decade that I found morbidly fascinating. Even down to old Don't Sniff Glue posters featuring the classic sub-Punk/Early Grange Hill character fucked up in an abandoned bedsit, or dead at the end of an alleyway in some bins. That, and of course, Threads, as well as Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Buddy, and all those early 80's novels about kids stealing money from their widowed mums to fuel Space Invaders addictions.

All slightly paranoid/desperate/desolate in tone if I remember. Lots of UK Subs graffiti and glue.
 

jasonh

Newbie
God, I remember watching Threads when I was at school. Scared the crap out of me. I believe it is widely available now on DVD - I'm going to have to buy it and scare myself again.

I honestly don't think many films have got to me in such a visceral way, either before or since. Makes most horror films look exceptionally weedy!
 
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