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Threads

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1984

Drama, Sci-fi

TV Movie

1h 52m

A dramatization of the probable consequences of a full scale nuclear war on an English community. (imdb)

Directed by:

Writer:

Starring:

Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove, Anne Sellors

Genres:

Drama, Sci-fi, War

Countries:

Australia, UK, USA

Language:

Suggest an edit

Threads

1984

Drama, Sci-fi

TV Movie

1h 52m

Your probable score

Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Average Percentile: 70.99%

Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

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Average Percentile: 70.99%

20 Jun 2010

Shockingly bleak without being sensationalistic or melodramatic. Shot in a very flat style and has a monotone narration that makes it feel almost like a documentary, which adds to the feeling of realism. The sequence when England gets nuked is particularly disturbing, with long lingering shots of corpses burning among the rubble. It's amazingly dark, and offers zero hope at the end, I can't believe they showed this on British TV in primetime...it must've scared the shit out of people.

20 Jun 2010

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31 Mar 2008

Depressed, scared and messed me up for a few days. Exactly as was intended. The fact that the movie is a bit older only added to the surreal vibe of this nightmarish scenario. If you like unending bleakness, you'll love Threads. I know I did.

31 Mar 2008

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29 Jan 2018

And this was actually shown on TV? Damn... About as bleak & horrifying as any fiction film ever. The rudimentary but ferociously well implemented docudrama style works to hammer home this severely nihilistic & miserable narrative about the utter colapse of society. Although generally well made it has some issues mostly inherent to the TV docudrama format itself. None of them really hinder its immediate power though & I can pretty much guarantee it will make you feel profoundly upset & insecure.

29 Jan 2018

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13 Aug 2007

Anyone who secretly harbors a desire to live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland à la Mad Max should watch this and come to their senses. Threads is grim, but alas, extremely realistic. And it doesn't matter that the acting, direction or special effects aren't much to speak of, for you won't think about them for as much as a second once the bomb explodes (which, admittedly, is perhaps a bit too far into the movie).

13 Aug 2007

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21 Dec 2008

A great, grim and utterly nightmarish post-nuclear strike dramatization that left me scarred for eternity. It's something everybody should see at least once.

21 Dec 2008

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14 Oct 2011

Pulls no punches. There are no happy Hollywood reunions between separated lovers, mothers and sons. There's no false hope. There's no '10 years later and society is back on its feet' wrap up. Petty squabbles between power-hungry egomaniacs with small members and large missiles result in death, destruction, and a shortage of can openers. I will repeat what other reviewers have said: if every 12 year old kid was made to watch this, the world would probably be a safer place.

14 Oct 2011

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04 Jan 2011

Bleak beyond anything I've ever seen. Its realism, deliberate pacing, and strong emphasis on characterization combine to make it as harrowing as it is incredibly sad. The film's unremitting hopelessness and grim atmosphere may turn off some viewers, but for those of you who brave the emotional scars, you'll be rewarded with a devastatingly powerful film. Watch it together with Fail-Safe.

04 Jan 2011

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05 Feb 2010

Claustrophobic, horrifying, unsettling, really good

05 Feb 2010

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12 Oct 2008

Stands, together with Spoorloos and Night and Fog, as one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. The subject matter is one to ponder and the imagery is horrifying, with some of the images still lingering in my mind. Essential viewing.

12 Oct 2008

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05 Aug 2022

Glad we don't live in the Cold War Era anymore and tensions between the United States and Russia have gotten better ... I've played thousands of hours of Fallout games, if a nuclear war were to erupt I would simply wash the radiation away with my radaway while popping all the buffout so I can safely carry 37 desk fans to harvest for screws I will turn into power armor.

05 Aug 2022

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20 Mar 2020

Profoundly upsetting and panic attack inducing. Made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach. Ever since researching nuclear deterrence theory a few years ago I find myself thinking of mutually assured destruction often. It's such a mad game of chicken that global powers are playing.

20 Mar 2020

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11 Oct 2012

When it started, I thought to myself: how bad can it be? Well, I was mistaken, to say at the least. Very dark and depressing, and to think this really did somewhat happen in the past (Hiroshima, Nagasaki). Not as devistating (but it was terrible) as the bombs used in this movie, but to see humans are capable of something like this. I just hope it will never ever happen..

11 Oct 2012

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26 Sep 2010

Very well done, and appropriately bleak and depressing as hell. I'm pretty grateful that I never had to live with the specter of nuclear armageddon hanging over my head.

26 Sep 2010

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23 May 2020

j. walter weatherman voice: ...and that's why you don't have sex before marriage. unsure how this plays to non-UK audiences but the soapy TV miserablism and the casual, startling revelation that the second bomb we didn't see was dropped on my place of work sure lends some intimacy to the horror for me. not that crewe would look much different after being nuked if i'm honest, most of the populace has three eyes already.

23 May 2020

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23 Dec 2019

Well that was depressing. Just kept getting worse with every intertitle. Many quiet scenes. Fav scene: the "rebuilt" civilization trying to teach kids but left with useless videos discussing animal skeletons.

23 Dec 2019

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18 Oct 2015

This is some impressive fear-mongering, but that's not really something I'm a fan of. I find it exploitative and distancing the more it hammers home its bleak and hopeless perspective. The characters are given too much focus to let us concentrate on the big picture, but not enough to make it a personal film. That said, It has, underneath the hysteria, some pointed criticisms of war, government preparedness and human psychology. But they're better as conversation starters than as film content.

18 Oct 2015

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25 Dec 2014

Like The Day After, Threads charts an array of everyday people. Threads is set in the industrial city of Sheffield in northern England, in the swelling toward a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. But unlike The Day After, it detonates all charades of movie refinement or sugar-coating, and it puts a documentary-style weight on all the civic arrangements for war, and gives the film a special sort of horror.

25 Dec 2014

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14 Feb 2013

A blunt portrayal of what could have happened to our mankind back in the days and can happen STILL TODAY. Intertitles create an enduring and documentary-like effect on the viewer. Depressive and pessimistic in an appropriate manner as it displays how we are capable of destroying our own civilization by pushing some buttons.

14 Feb 2013

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06 Nov 2011

Dark, depressing, horrible vision of what would be the consequences of nuclear attack. No Mad Max or Book of Eli bullshit, but rather a disturbing look at what would truly happen. Not for those of weak tummy.

06 Nov 2011

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08 Oct 2011

Jesus christ, I'm not sure if I should build a bomb shelter or just go ahead and kill myself. I'm probably better off dead anyway, right?

08 Oct 2011

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16 May 2011

Whereas a film like "Night and Fog" looks at the horror mankind has already caused, "Threads" looks at what horrors mankind might cause. I think the looser connection to reality makes it somewhat less emotionally effective, especially having grown up after the Cold War. However, I might have been traumatized for life if I watched it as a British teen in the 1980s.

16 May 2011

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14 Dec 2007

The world would a better place if every kid of, say, 15 were forced to watch "Threads". There is nothing to review here, actually. This is not a film. It is a devastatingly powerful experience. If you have not seen it, please, do, but be warned. It leaves scars.

14 Dec 2007

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14 Oct 2024

Added to my experience by playing this on my CRT TV at the dead of night. Absolutely hopeless, and the gritty kitchen sink realism to it ties it all together.

14 Oct 2024

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20 Oct 2021

Brutal filthy horror. Can you imagine being told to build a shelter out of mattresses and old doors and thinking that might be enough?

20 Oct 2021

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16 Dec 2020

It's been called by some the scariest movie of all time.

16 Dec 2020

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29 Aug 2020

Crazy that something this fraught and grim was produced for and aired on TV by the BBC at all, much less during the actual Cold War.

29 Aug 2020

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17 Mar 2020

Well I guess these quarantine days aren't so bad after all...

17 Mar 2020

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14 Apr 2014

I'm really, really unhappy that I watched this. It took me days to feel better.

14 Apr 2014

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18 Feb 2014

Doesn't have a big budget but what it lacks in production values it makes up for in the depressing realism of a complete nuclear war and the destruction of civilization.

18 Feb 2014

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05 Jan 2012

Depressing depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear war. I wish more films ended the way this did.

05 Jan 2012

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07 Aug 2011

Depressing, grim, and heart-breaking film about the true effects of nuclear war, shown through the eyes of 'average' British citizens. I thought the visuals, acting, and general progression of events leading up to and after the bombs fall to be very high quality for a TV-movie from the mid 80s.

07 Aug 2011

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28 Oct 2010

Seriously disturbing. I love the way it starts very low-key; just a few news bulletins in the background as everyone goes about their normal life. Once the bomb drops, it gets very grim very fast, but even then the focus on normal everyday people is what makes it so scary. Some of the special effects look a bit dated, and there are a few moments of dodgy acting, but that doesn't detract much from the overall horror portrayed in this film.

28 Oct 2010

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30 Jan 2010

Kind of the British version of "The Day After", from the point of view that they both scared the bejeezus out of everyone. This one is much more documentary-like though instead of dramatic. Both well-worth seeing.

30 Jan 2010

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26 May 2008

Scary stuff. Well researched, well crafted. Some people need to watch this as a reality check, because we tend to underestimate the effects of a possible nuclear holocaust. Today it would be even worse, as the population density is much higher and there are more powerful nuclear bombs.

26 May 2008

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25 Apr 2008

Genuinely traumatizing.

25 Apr 2008

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16 Oct 2007

A sobering cry against nuclear war, this is a message film that really does get its message across, but does much more, being a bleak, powerful and heart-chilling experience.

16 Oct 2007

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20 Dec 2006

Britain's answer to The Day After and Testament. It out-bleaks both of them, but the voice-over narration doesn't work very well.

20 Dec 2006

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14 Aug 2025

What makes this movie so biting is that it's not tying itself to any conventional narrative on any individual or group as much as it is functioning as a pseudo-documentary. It's a pure world building story, but does so with as little exposition as possible. But what sells it is how unrelentingly raw it is, that the consequences of nuclear war is not presented with any grandiose or flavorful fantasy we see in most post-apocalyptic works but as a dire indictment of how tragically humanity falls.

14 Aug 2025

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04 Aug 2025

Truly horrific and bleak. The lack of polished visuals means the build up and attack are conveyed by still images and a cold, documentary style that is highly effective. The aftermath is almost crushing, showing the horrors the survivors go through.

04 Aug 2025

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12 Apr 2025

Harrowing and pitiless depiction of the lead-up to (and aftermath) of a nuclear attack is quite extraordinary in the ugly and painful mid-section detailing the immediate effects of the attack – Jackson and his collaborators never sensationalise their material, but don’t let their audience off the hook: a stare down the camera into societal corrosion and destruction, that of course remains timely and relevant in 2025 for self evident reasons. A worthy companion piece to THE WAR GAME.

12 Apr 2025

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04 Mar 2025

Grim and realistic take on nuclear war, showing how society collapses after an attack. The documentary style makes it feel authentic, and while it’s bleak, it’s not too hard to watch. Some parts drag a bit, and the acting feels dated, but it still delivers a strong message. A solid, if slightly slow, look at the consequences of war.

04 Mar 2025

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09 Nov 2024

Yeah, so we watched this on the dawn of a second Trump rule, it kinda hit home having a man-baby back in charge of the nuclear button! I was impressed how a contemporary viewing had us shift horrifically from 80s northern nostalgia to a medieval mad-max dark age in one generation.

09 Nov 2024

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18 Oct 2024

Considering it's essentially a TV movie from the 80s, it's a properly astonishing achievement in film making. The fancy visual effects you'd have nowadays just didn't exist then, but the choices the director made are so effective. It's so powerful because it's all happening to ordinary people. The "war" takes place via title cards and snippets of news reports. The attack is played out using a collage of still images, sometimes silently. And the aftermath is the grimmest hour I've ever seen.

18 Oct 2024

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03 Apr 2024

Excellently done, powerful, frighteningly plausible depiction of the leadup to nuclear Armageddon, the actual bombing itself, and the aftermath. It's in the same vein as The War Game and equally depressing films like Letters from a Dead Man. This might even be bleaker than Dead Man, which is really saying something.

03 Apr 2024

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14 Jan 2024

can not begin to explain how under prepared i was for this. like yea, nuclear apocalypse, i figured it would be rough. i didnt know it went THERE. when you make an anti war film you must hope its the last one that needs to be made

14 Jan 2024

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29 Oct 2023

Wascoolthenkeptlosinmeforawhilelol

29 Oct 2023

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20 Nov 2022

The weirdest infomercial i've seen so far.

20 Nov 2022

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26 Sep 2021

Hard one to rate cause on one hand it's pretty realistic and does a good job of painting a thoroughly bleak and harrowing picture, but on the other hand I don't think I ever wanna watch this film again

26 Sep 2021

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14 Aug 2020

A

14 Aug 2020

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18 Jul 2018

jeeesus christ.

18 Jul 2018

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12 Jun 2016

Sad, very dark but necessary look at what nuclear war could looks like. Though this movie is quite dated, and production value is low, the message will resonate through the ages. My biggest complaint is that this is perhaps too optimistic, as an all out nuclear war and the resulting nuclear winter would likely devastate the entire planet and has the potential to kill every living thing. As grim as this movie portrays events in England, it would likely be much worse.

12 Jun 2016

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10 Feb 2015

As Threads uses modern day 1984 as a T-00 point to show an authentic retelling of a nuclear strike on Britain, the Wham song 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go' would have been one of the last releases of proper pop music. Almost certainly imbuing the song with a reputation as the theme for better times & survivors cheekily adopting it for their plight. Jackson could have had his char's whistling the tune ad-hoc or even dropping the track at varying tempo's over the nuclear horror. Top final shot too.

10 Feb 2015

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29 Aug 2014

Comparable to The Day After and it's certainly superior. Although the effects aren't as good, it's build-up is as intense and the characters are more interesting and their stories feel far less stocky. Disturbing stuff, and it really escalates right up to the ending.

29 Aug 2014

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06 Dec 2011

Very bleak but I think I prefer the conceptually similar The War Game by Watkins or the more personal When the Wind Blows.

06 Dec 2011

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28 Nov 2011

While I've certainly never enjoyed watching this one, (though I have a morbid obsession with bleak movies, and have an annual re-watch session) it does what it's supposed to do more effectively than anything I've ever seen. It will leave you in a black hole worm tunnel of despair and fear for days after.

28 Nov 2011

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15 Aug 2010

I'm glad I didn't see this when I was 10 or somethin

15 Aug 2010

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11 Apr 2010

Deeply disturbing and depressing in every possible way. Unfortunately because of that, this film can only be seen once.

11 Apr 2010

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31 Jul 2009

Enough to put you off H-bombs for life.

31 Jul 2009

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26 Apr 2009

Very suspenseful, very effective piece of work, even all these years later when nuclear holocaust is so much less likely. That being said, I respectfully disagree with what folks have said about how realistic this all is. For one thing, all the "ordinary" people are far less stupid and far less sinless than I've known real ordinary people to be. For another, there's not a single word about cannibalism even though people have turned to it under less dire circumstances than depicted here

26 Apr 2009

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29 Sep 2008

THIS is what "The day after" should have been

29 Sep 2008

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06 Aug 2008

I think this film manages to portray what the utter destruction of everything civilized would feel like. All the stories stop and fear rushes in to fill the void left behind. Stunning and awful. I saw it in 1984 and have wished ever since I could unsee it.

06 Aug 2008

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23 Sep 2007

Scary! And depressing.

23 Sep 2007

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13 Aug 2007

Terrifying account of a post-nuclear-strike Britain. Beats "The Day After" in spades.

13 Aug 2007

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01 Mar 2007

I remember this was screened on british television heavily cut but still terrifying.Great film.

01 Mar 2007

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Cast & Info

Directed by:

Writer:

Starring:

Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove, Anne Sellors

Genres:

Drama, Sci-fi, War

Countries:

Australia, UK, USA

Language:

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