11 used & new from £9.98
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Threads [DVD] [1984]
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images

Threads [DVD] [1984]

DVD ~ Karen Meagher
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


4 new from £39.72 7 used from £9.98
Christmas Offers--Up to 70% Off DVD and Blu-ray
Christmas Offers--Up to 70% Off DVD and Blu-ray
Low-priced gift ideas, TV box sets, Blu-ray documentaries and recent drama, action and sci-fi hits. Go easy on your wallet this Christmas. Shop now
Learn about Lovefilm
Amazon's choice for DVD rental.
With a 14 day FREE trial. Learn more

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Threads [DVD] [1984]
84% buy the item featured on this page:
Threads [DVD] [1984] 4.8 out of 5 stars (127)
Survivors - Series 1-3 - Complete [DVD] [1975]
6% buy
Survivors - Series 1-3 - Complete [DVD] [1975] 4.6 out of 5 stars (15)
£24.88
The Day Of The Triffids [DVD] [1981]
5% buy
The Day Of The Triffids [DVD] [1981] 4.4 out of 5 stars (33)
£4.88
The Day After [DVD] [1983]
3% buy
The Day After [DVD] [1983]
£5.99
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Actors: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly, Rita May, Nicholas Lane
  • Directors: Mick Jackson
  • Writers: Barry Hines
  • Producers: Mick Jackson, Graham Massey, John Purdie, Peter Wolfes
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Meridian Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 10 Jul 2000
  • Run Time: 112 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004U409
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 74,585 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Reviews

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


Special Features

English
Region 2
Dolby AC-3 Stereo English
Dolby AC-3 Stereo
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
See all Reviews

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Day After [DVD] [1983]

The Day After [DVD] [1983]

DVD ~ Jason Robards
£5.99
When The Wind Blows [DVD]

When The Wind Blows [DVD]

DVD ~ Peggy Ashcroft
4.9 out of 5 stars (24)  £4.98
Fail Safe [DVD] [2000]

Fail Safe [DVD] [2000]

DVD ~ Walter Cronkite
4.1 out of 5 stars (14)  £3.38
By Dawn's Early Light (HBO) [1990] [DVD]

By Dawn's Early Light (HBO) [1990] [DVD]

DVD ~ Powers Boothe
3.3 out of 5 stars (10)  £4.28
Protect and Survive [DVD]

Protect and Survive [DVD]

4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £9.58
› Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(15)
(10)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(5)
(5)
(4)
(3)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

127 Reviews
5 star:
 (109)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (127 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
41 of 41 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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
35 of 35 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.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
64 of 65 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
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.

Comment Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing
I first saw this film when I was a kid and it was so terrifying it gave me nightmares.

I saw it again as an adult and it freaked me out for days... Read more
Published 11 days ago by Mr. Julian W. Gibson

5.0 out of 5 stars A film to make one feel fortunate
That I first watched this low-budget BBC TV film 25 years after its initial airing and still found it utterly shocking and mind-numbing is testament to its power - and, more... Read more
Published 26 days ago by R. J. Harvey

5.0 out of 5 stars GRITTY TERRIFYING REAL
We were MADE to watch this at school at 11 YEARS OLD as part of a humanties class. We were watching it in 2 parts but I only ever saw the 1st one (up to just after where the bomb... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Michelle-Conchita

5.0 out of 5 stars not for the faint hearted
interesting portrayal of the effect of a nuclear exchange based upon sheffield,a town of limited tourist potential and therefore not known by as many people as london or... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. A. Gorton

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 4 months 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 8 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 8 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 8 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 9 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 10 months ago by Christine Morris

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject







i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.