Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Scott LeBrun The year after the U.S.A. aired 'The Day After', England followed suit with this BBC movie that details the chilling after-effects of a nuclear strike.America and Russia get locked into an escalating battle that ends with a series of nuclear attacks, and the working-class English city of Sheffield is one of those burgs that are victimized. The story is personalized by focusing on a young couple, Jimmy (Reece Dinsdale) and Ruth (Karen Meagher), who are expecting a child and decide to get married. But they are never able to realize their plans."Sobering" doesn't begin to describe 'Threads'. It's one of the most gut-punching, honest, believable, and gloomy tales to touch upon the subject of living in a post-holocaust world. In the hands of writer Barry Hines and producer / director Mick Jackson (who went on to make Hollywood movies such as "Volcano" and "The Bodyguard"), there is no room for melodrama here. Everything is played in a strict matter-of-fact fashion. And the devastation that we witness here makes for an interesting sort of entertainment. One doesn't really "enjoy" it, but it's as fascinating as it is bleak. Part of the impact comes from a documentary-style approach, with a narrator (Paul Vaughan) who is heard on a fairly regular basis. We see many victims struggling mightily to survive, and doing whatever they have to do. We are also shown the efforts of emergency personnel to deal with this untenable situation, and given all pertinent scientific facts (giving 'Threads' a bit of an edge over 'The Day After').Ruth remains a focal point as we are taken on this sombre journey. The movie is also a real triumph in production design, atmosphere, and gritty cinematography. It doesn't go overboard in covering actors in grotesque makeup in order to make its point; here, a little goes a long, long way.'Threads' is the kind of experience that doesn't leave one unaffected.10 out of 10.

nekosensei Having lived through both the initial cold war era of "Dr. Strangelove," "Fail Safe" and "On The Beach" and the Reagan-inspired panic that produced "The Day After," "Testament" and "Threads," and having watched them all in the sociopolitical context in which they were made, I'd say "Threads" is the only one worth watching now in terms of what it has to offer on the subject of nuclear war. Kubrick's pop art masterpiece is still the go-to classic for purposes of entertainment and cinematic appreciation, but this is the film that will graphically illustrate to you what the actual sight of a mushroom cloud going off in your vicinity will do to you (you'll pee your pants) and what the actual effects will be on you and your community (hint: it will NOT provide opportunities for tour de force performances by Jason Robards, Jane Alexander or Peter Sellers.) I went back and watched this again after seeing some vintage British documentaries and PSAs about civil defense during nuclear war on Youtube (particularly the eerie "Protect And Survive" TV spots with their scary little jingle, which are used with frightening effect in this film.) The film's scriptwriter Barry Hines is clearly pointing out what a steaming load the public has been given about the survivability of nuclear war. Without the grand dramatic gestures of the other epics mentioned above, this modest film demonstrates with much more dramatic power how unfathomably inhuman the people at the top are to subject their fellow human beings to this ultimate in sadistic threats.One other thing that I think makes this film more effective than the others mentioned above and more worth watching is its universal dimension, applicable not only to the nuclear scenario but to modern warfare in general with its monstrous emphasis on mass destruction. Hines was speaking to a British audience to which the horrors of the Blitzkrieg were still vivid living memories, and this film, even with its frugal Thatcher-era BBC special effects budget, succeeds in making you feel the trauma of being trapped in a landscape reduced to chunks of concrete and rotting corpses, where survival means literally living like a rat. See it, and the next time you hear someone saying we should bomb the daylights out of this or that country, you might point out to them that bombing a civilian population entails crimes against humanity that they might want to think twice about involving themselves in, even on a purely moral level.The film is introduced with footage of a spider spinning silk from its abdomen, while a narrator compares the structure of human civilization to the interconnected threads of a spider's web. We then see the finished web. It's a pretty thing, but from our perspective fragile. Also a trap.

andrewjeff Everybody needs to see this once in their lives (politicians especially).It demonstrates vividly, brutally, and with no punches pulled- that no one gains from nuclear war, and that the consequences are devastating for decades, if not centuries afterwards. It is also the first film ever, I believe, to show the impact of a "nuclear winter".The film is very unlike the American offering of the time (The Day After), as it adopts a semi-documentary approach, which gives it realism and authenticity.I was genuinely unnerved by this film, and I am sure it played its part in stalling nuclear proliferation internationally. Nobody could watch this and seriously wish to continue thinking that there is anything to be gained by a nuclear strike.Brilliant. 10/10 in every department. The use of "neo-real" casting (i.e. unknown actors) made this all the more chilling.

TheBlueHairedLawyer We've all seen those horror films where hazardous radiation/chemicals give humans super powers or turn them into zombies, and we've all seen those public service announcements from the seventies where after a nuclear war, eventually everyone is okay if they follow the rules.Threads is unique in the fact that it doesn't lie or even mix up the truth at all. In the event of a nuclear war, we'd all be doomed to a fate worse than death.Does it sound scary or depressing? Well, the film seemed innocent enough to me until I actually watched it on youtube one night. When a bomb is dropped, people all follow the rules, a few panic, one woman even wets her pants on the sidewalk, and some hide under objects like the government suggested... then the wave of the bomb hits and people collapse, vaporized, in the streets. Animals suffer the same horrible fate, and many of the humans hidden under vehicles and in homes are either crushed, burned alive or left to survive the long suffering of radiation sickness. The film stretches on for years until finally we learn, that when a bomb is dropped, there's no turning back to the way modern society was. Books, films, news broadcasts, music, all the things that we think are important, it all becomes so trivial in a post-apocalyptic environment....But what really makes this film stand out from others in its genre is that the scenario presented in the film is not only possible, the wrong hands could make this film a reality at any second.This is not a horror film, but it's the most disturbing, melancholy and frightening film I've ever seen, hands down. The poor people in it are so realistic, it makes you feel as though you're experiencing their suffering. Don't pass it up to go watch My Little Pony or Criminal Minds, because it's a film you can't afford to miss.