Threads [VHS] [1984]: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove, Henry Moxon, June Broughton, Sylvia Stoker, Harry Beety, Ruth Holden, Ashley Barker, Andrew Dunn, Paul Morris, Mick Jackson, Graham Massey, John Purdie, Peter Wolfes, Barry Hines: Amazon.co.uk: Video

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hideously plausible when first broadcast in 1984, this BBC TV docu-drama now seems like a terrifying might-have-been, although a great deal of what it says about the probable aftermath of a nuclear attack remains horribly pertinent. Scripted by Barry Hines (author of the novel on which Ken Loach's Kes was based) and directed by Mick Jackson (who later went to Hollywood with The Bodyguard and Volcano), at the time Threads seemed like a response to the American TV movie The Day After although it stands nobly on its own. Showing the after-effects of World War III on the United Kingdom by concentrating on two Sheffield families linked by an unplanned pregnancy, it illustrates the scientific, political, medical and social consequences of the severing of the many vital connective "threads" that support a Western society. Grim in a particularly 1980s way, this is a compulsive if uncomfortable watch and accomplishes a great deal without the distraction of spectacle, picking through all the melted milk bottles and firing squad traffic wardens to find the human horror at the heart of it all. --Kim Newman

Synopsis
Critically acclaimed but chilling story of a nuclear strike on Britain. Through the eyes of two Sheffield families we witness the immediate after-effects of the attack...the shock, grief, radiation sickness, hypothermia and starvation...

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Customer Reviews

123 Reviews

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (123 customer reviews)

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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating Television, 4 April 2006

By	Techie Glenn (Leicestershire, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Threads [DVD] [1984] (DVD)

Threads....set in Sheffield in the early 80's this film depicts the build-up to nuclear war, a strike on Sheffield itself and the aftermath.

Words can barely describe how profoundly disturbing this film is, especially if you lived through the era as the events preceding the attack are eerily familiar and once again have relevance given the various troubling political situations that we find the world in today. What was a film about a certain time in history has now become a timely warning about what could possibly be again.

I revisited this film when studying film at university and was actually reluctant to watch it again because of the impact it had on me the first time around (I'd have been about 9 or 10 years old then). The effect was as massive on me 20 years later and I found myself transfixed with horror. The brutal effects of mankind's most indiscriminately destructive and dirty weaponry are shown with no sparing of the audiences feelings, there is no happy ending, no hope and no winners, how this ever got to be aired on television, especially in the 80's, is remarkable.

The nearest comparison I can give to this would probably be the BBC docudrama 'The War Game' and although this is more obviously a dramatization rather than a documentary style recreation it is still highly effective and absolutely chilling.

I recommend this film wholeheartedly; it is shocking and disturbing for the right reasons.

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61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most moving and disturbing film of all time, 28 Jan 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Threads [DVD] [1984] (DVD)

Threads is a no-holds barred, no punches pulled account of the horror of nuclear war. There are scenes still burned into my mind, despite the fact that I last saw it over a year ago. The milk bottles melting on the doorstep when the fireball hits, the woman peeing in terror at the sight of the mushroom cloud, and the devastated hospital full of dead and dying babies hit you for six.

Threads is not a slick, polished Hollywood producton, but a narrated documentary style "play" which depicts the human tragedy of nuclear war in the most horrifying, and presumably realistic way possible.

The government, police, armed forces, schools, hospitals, power, food and any resemblance of organised society are wiped out with the blast. In the shattered remains, people kill each other for scraps of food. Babies are stillborn and deformed. Bodies lie charred in what remains of the streets, and kids grow up unable to speak in a non-existent society. The ruling authorities are gone, and 13 years on, the city looks the same as it did 10 minutes after the Bomb. It's terrifying and numbing, yet holds a grim fascination.

This film doles out shock after shock, yet despite the sheer unadulterated horror, it is not gratuitous gore and violence in the Hollywood sense. Instead, it's the work of a film-maker depicting one of the most horrible subjects known to man, in a way that leaves the audience under no illusion as to the realities.

The most powerful, gripping and shocking film ever made. Everyone should see it at least once.

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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still relevant, 10 Nov 2005

By	Mr. R. Jordan (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Threads [DVD] [1984] (DVD)

The original screening of this TV film terrified any number of viewers and reviewers (and even traumatised - look at what other Amazonians say!!) back in the mid 1980s. It is so thoroughly realistic in its suburban English setting (naturally mildly dating it), and in its realisation of the underlying emotion of 'real people', that it's impossible to feel detached.
I personally (in my teens) couldn't stomach it all, and only watched the full film on a worn video in 1998. It brought back the full horror, the pessimism, the complete sense of insecurity of growing up under threat in the 1980s. The political climate may have changed (or has it? Look at the fictional news reports in the film . . .) but the 'Threads' of society are what the film is really about. Are they stronger now, or weaker? What would happen if such a thing happened in the 2000s? This is why the film is still relevant.
I watch this film occasionally, at the very least because the feeling of suspense is so skillful. Ordinary, domestic, things are going on - and then a teleprinter will chatter a fragment of doom over the top. At first matter-of-fact, and gradually more chill sets in. Characters can't sleep (neither will you!), and when the mushroom cloud finally appears, you can only feel the awe voiced by one of the characters, frozen to the spot: '. . . they've done it . . .'
I suspect a lot of people were haunted by that phrase. You care for all the different characters, empathise with them. And then . . . the world we know vanishes (even dear old Woolworths) and hope goes with it, forever. The grating roar of poison wind sets in. This packs a punch, and when the film finishes, you'll want to open the window and breath fresh air, quite honestly. Back in the 1980s, I'd already turned off. Watch it now - as history lesson, science fiction, or powerful drama.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Television - Threads
Even after 25 years this is still an excellent piece of television. Chilling as it was first time around. Read more

Published 11 hours ago by Mr. D. P. Thomson

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but...
...NOT for the squeamish. This film makes "The Day After" seem like a Bugs Bunny cartoon in comparison.

Published 4 months ago by A. J. Stavsky

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifyingly honest depiction of nuclear apocalypse

Unremittingly grim but hugely compelling, Threads is one of the bravest TV dramas ever created. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Cartimand

5.0 out of 5 stars More timely than ever
I moved to Sheffield just before this film was made but reluctantly missed it when it was screened on TV. Read more

Published 4 months ago by S. Lewis

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and educational but not a classic film!
I'd worry if someone says this is one of their favourite films - it works well as a docudrama but judged as a movie it is clunky to say the least (and very morbid too of course! Read more

Published 5 months ago by Man Without a Soul

5.0 out of 5 stars The scareist thing I ever watched
This piece of telly frightened the life out of me back in 84 /85 watching it 2 years ago aged 32 I was no less frightened infact ending up behind the sofa more than once. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Christine Morris

5.0 out of 5 stars IS THIS HOW THE WORLD WILL END...
THIS FILM SCARED ME WHEN IT WAS SHOWN AT MY SCHOOL WAS I WAS ABOUT 14,IT
PLAYED ON MY MIND....WATCHING IT SOME 25 YEARS LATER....IT STILL PLAYED ON MY MIND... Read more

Published 6 months ago by RONNIE REDBRIDGE

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating 'authentic' take on 'Survivors.'
I was in the car today trying to explain to my daughter why the BBC's new 'Survivors' series is a load of old conkers because a real Holocaust would be far more messy and far more... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Kentspur

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless warning (unfortunately), and not entertainment material
Apocolypse lovers, exit stage left; this really will not entertain you. This is a docu-drama, not a film, and the material is intended to shock, distress, and educate on the... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Paul Mattis

5.0 out of 5 stars Still As Shocking in the 21st Century
I first saw Threads as a 13 year old in 1985 and was affected and haunted by it then, without really understanding why. Read more

Published 7 months ago by J. Williamson-Cotton

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	85% buy the item featured on this page: Threads [VHS] [1984] 4.8 out of 5 stars (123)
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Threads [VHS] [1984]

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