"Threads"- and other Cold War dramas

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Feeling too cheerful? That can be changed. This Wednesday, on BBC4, there's a rare screening of "Threads".

If you've not heard of it, this was a landmark TV movie made by the BBC in about 1986 when the Cold War was still raging. It's a dramatised documentary about the effects of a major nuclear attack on Britain, based in and around Sheffield. It follows events from a few weeks beforehand, up to 13 years after the war.

There was a bit of a trend to these productions at the time. The US produced "The morning after" which was a big-budget affair- it was pretty good and had some memorable images in it. It also had some hope that, even though a nuclear war would be a catastrophe, there would still be hope and a new future.

"Threads", on the other hand, was a low-budget production. It was also so harrowing that it could traumatise a rock. There was one clear message- while dying in a nuclear stike would be horrible, surviving it would be far, far, worse. I have watched many horror films, and many bleak dramas, but I have still seen nothing anywhere near as relentlessly grim as "Threads".

It's essential viewing. If you want to know why us Cold War kids were so ****ed-up, just watch it.

[chequita guevara]

Sounds fun. I should love to relive my Reagan-rea paranoia and teen expectation of nuclear holocaust.

[Dis]

I heard about this. I would like to see it.

we were discussing this in a thread. Or was that over on the interplay boards. I post in too many boards. I can't keep them straight.

I don't have BBC4- or BBC1 for that matter. I wonder if I can find this movie on a p2p thingy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/

[Japher]

I remember "The Morning After", never saw Threads though I have heard about it... I remember an "Amazing Stories" (Speilberg or Lucas produced TV show that was comprised of 'shorts', really good) episode about a lady who found a stop watch in her garden that could stop time, and she stopped time right before a nuke hit her house, that was pretty scary...

Cold War flicks about the end and everything always riled me. Never really scared me, more or less got me mad about the abuse of power. Edward Teller is (or rather "was" as he is dead) my idol, but even I feel that using such power as a tool to threaten and terrorize is absurd and disgusting. Shame on us.

On another note, but equally as grim. I watched "28 Days Later" this weekend. Pretty cool "end of the world" scenerio, to another good British movie, as we know there aren't many... Though they are making more and more these days

[Dis]

I remember that Amazing stories. That was a good show. She stopped time and it showed the nuclear missile just above the city. Pretty cool.

[Dis]

Anyone see Damnation Alley? That was kind of cheesy though. But I loved the vehicle they drove.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/usercomments

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004U3VW/ref=ed_ra_of_dp/026-2285420-4966835

[Dis]

With comments like the most terrifying movie ever made, I almost have to watch it.

[germanos]

Horrid movie.
When the girl gave birth to this lump of flesh I felt really sick.

Wasn't this movie aired soon after the Chernobyl-disaster?

I was pretty scared during the cold-war, and I made sure I stayed out of the fall-out from Chernobyl.


Are we really so ****ed-up Lazerus?

[Japher]

I'm not Laz is...

I loved the cold war... It was much more pleasant than all the sheit that has happened since...IMO

[Dis]

yes- long live the cold war!

I might post this over in the interplay forums. the fallout guys might be interested in this. We like to talk about the end of the world

[Edan]

(wouldn't all of these be hot war dramas, given that a nuclear war already happened?)

A couple of good End of the World dramas include:

When the Wind Blows (an animated movie in Britain right after a nuclear war)

Survivors (a tv series about a bunch of survivors of a plague that wipes out 99% of mankind, and they have to deal with the sociatal implications)

The Day The Earth Caught Fire might be worth a mention, too.

For a good cold war series, check out Sandbaggers, an excellent spy series made in the late 70s.

[Japher]

What about Costner's The Postman

[JohnT]

I have watched many horror films, and many bleak dramas, but I have still seen nothing anywhere near as relentlessly grim as "Threads".

I invite you to grab a copy of Jane Alexanders' Testament, a made for TV movie that was so affecting that they released it as a theatrical film. Unlike Threads (another fine film, far better than The Day After), there is little gore or horror rather an unrelenting building sense of doom and despair - do not expect to watch this movie unaffected.

The story is simple: Jane Alexander is a woman who lives in the mountains north of San Francisco (somewhere like Santa Rosa) with her children and husband. He goes off to work on a trip to Frisco, and later that afternoon a nuclear exchange occurs devastating the US, with a bomb or two hitting Frisco near the beginning of the movie.

The rest of the film is spent watching the town die, first of shock and a breakdown of services, then of radiation sickness, lastly of despair and apathy as mothers bury their children and little ones are a very scarce resource. It is a quiet movie, with no jarring or shocking scenes ala "lump of flesh." Totally different from, but as effective as Threads: I guarantee it.