Threads

Name: Threads
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, War
Released: September 23, 1984
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 92
Cast: David Brierly, Harry Beety, Henry Moxon, Jane Hazlegrove, June Broughton

1984

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 5 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	Your Score
7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Ratings

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Threads

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Movie Details & Credits

2 Entertain | Release Date: September 23, 1984

Starring: David Brierly, Harry Beety, Henry Moxon, Jane Hazlegrove, June Broughton, Karen Meagher, Nicholas Lane, Reece Dinsdale, Rita May, Sylvia Stoker

Summary: Documentary-style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England, and the eventual long-term effects of nuclear war on civilization.

Director: Mick Jackson

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, War

Runtime: 112 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

It wasn’t until I saw Threads that I found that something on screen could make me break out in a cold, shivering sweat and keep me in that condition for 20 minutes, followed by weeks of depression and anxiety. Read full review

100

Empire Sam Toy

Horrifying, moving and powerful. Watch it by yourself, late at night and never sleep again. Not a good date movie. Read full review

John J. O'Connor

Clearly, Threads is not a balanced discussion about the pros and cons of nuclear armaments. It is a candidly biased warning. And it is, as calculated, unsettlingly powerful. [12 Feb 1985, p.42]

Rick Groen

The British crew here, headed by writer Barry Hines and producer/director Mick Jackson, accomplish what would seem to be an impossible task: depicting the carnage without distancing the viewer, without once letting him retreat behind the safe wall of fictitious play. Formidable and foreboding, Threads leaves nothing to our imagination, and Nothingness to our conscience. [02 Mar 1985]

Sean O'Neal

Nuclear war is brutal, ugly, and piss-yourself terrifying, Threads argues. Why should its movie depiction be anything different? Read full review

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User Reviews

djnicey

Apr 28, 2020

I'd say its one of the most powerful and gripping films of all time. Its filmed documentary style and not given a hollywood war-time story or larger than life characters. I think its the down-to-earth story and low budget 'fly on the wall' style filming about how life would change thatI'd say its one of the most powerful and gripping films of all time. Its filmed documentary style and not given a hollywood war-time story or larger than life characters. I think its the down-to-earth story and low budget 'fly on the wall' style filming about how life would change that brings the horror home. Its not a horror film in the modern sense but it is very moving.

This film will stay with you for years after watching.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

HellHoleHorror

Mar 9, 2022

Powerful, moving and tragic. This is very difficult to watch. There is this sense of doom as world events clash. This film not only shows the human cost of catastrophic nuclear attacks but also touches on rebuilding afterwards. This goes into far more detail than any similar film. There is aPowerful, moving and tragic. This is very difficult to watch. There is this sense of doom as world events clash. This film not only shows the human cost of catastrophic nuclear attacks but also touches on rebuilding afterwards. This goes into far more detail than any similar film. There is a greater fear coming about from this kind of film than any conventional horror film. It didn't make you jump but it made you sit up and take notice. This is a very effective chiller. Probably the scariest of its type that I have seen. I didn't get how the title fitted in until the end. The factual commentary is important although still slightly annoying. I didn't sleep very well after viewing.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLuis_001

Jul 14, 2018

This is the kind of film that hype around it increases its quality for many people when in fact they're not so good and if there is something that should be stressed about Threads is that it's not a great film.
Beyond its harrowing portrait on the consequences of a nuclear war and nuclearThis is the kind of film that hype around it increases its quality for many people when in fact they're not so good and if there is something that should be stressed about Threads is that it's not a great film.
Beyond its harrowing portrait on the consequences of a nuclear war and nuclear fallout the film offers very little of anything that could be called narrative. Evidently its documentary style is largely to blame for that because the film only passes from one point to another without anything sustaining it more than the consequences of the nuclear attack, there's really nothing more, the ending is the best proof because the horror stop out of the blue but it could easily go on and on.

The film itself after the attack is horrible, despairing, bitter, painful and not only because the images are graphic but because they represent a very possible reality. Here you cannot finish the film and then turn on the lights knowing the disaster or the killer are just fiction.

Nuclear war has always been a terrible possibility for humanity since those weapons were conceived, today it would probably be worse and in spite of everything, the teaching of the horrors that could be unchained never seem to be enough, because as we saw recently, it was downplayed to see who had the biggest button.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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