Surviving Threads: Why Are People Drawn to the World's Most Harrowing Film? | Hacker News Reader

Surviving Threads: Why Are People Drawn to the World's Most Harrowing Film?

thequietus.com

47 pointsmellosouls16 comments

It was a sort of spin-off from an episode of the BBC pop-sci documentary strand QED. A few years before Threads they did an edition called "A Guide to Armageddon" in which they descibed in detail what would happen to London if a bomb was dropped over St Paul Cathederal. They also used make-up to show the sorts of injuries people would receive. A lot of the people involved in the documentary went on to work on Threads.

It's on YouTube if you want to check it out.

I watched Threads for the first time recently and it really did ruin the rest of my day. I still think about it regularly. It influenced my thinking on the threat of nuclear annihilation a lot.

If you don't feel like watching the whole film (and you definitely should, the first third is all lead-up and it's masterfully done - and the aftermath part is the most believable post-apocalypse I've ever seen in a movie) you should at least watch the bombing scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHoMSRZOS4

The attack scene from the American version, The Day After (1983), is even more harrowing in my opinion. I looked up how the special effects for it were created, even though looking it up usually ruins a movie for me (I have stopped looking up the special effects for movies). The attack/fallout scene from How I Live Now (2013) is also eerie. These are not snuff scenes, that's not what they are about. The movies were made to make people think about the entirety of circumstances surrounding such an attack.

How I live now, while not a particularly good movie, really sat with me. The lack of understanding of what's happening around them, as the government has crumbled there is no civil order to communicate with citizens. The parts where they traverse the abandoned motorways, encountering highwaymen and rape gangs... it all left a really weird feeling.

A shout to Damnation Alley (1997) with George Peppard. The missile launch sequence is first rate IMO and creeped me out something fierce, for its oddly realistic banter and simple but vivid displays. From first (Soviet) launch indication to the sequence of nuclear detonations, ~10 minutes of horror that was more intense for its lack of background music and the chatter of tense men doing their job.

Bizarre at times and cheesy scorpion aside, the dialogue was well written and Jerry Goldsmith's electronically augmented score gave it a vibe that recalled the wonder of watching Logan's Run for the first time. Its simple quest led to a series of episodes in a long journey that were each good cinema. The cockroaches! My favorite film of 1977 besting Star Wars.

The BBS Radio 4 documentary is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00236xg

Charlie Brooker of Black Mirror fame talks a bit about it around 17 minutes in.

IMO one of the best horror movies, and one of the best documentaries, even though it's neither of those.

I should sue my high school, who showed it as part of whatever class, I can't remember, physics, civics, sociology, biology? Political science or peace studies maybe. Wait, those weren't actually subjects.

You can see my street in Threads, but I’ve always found the film faintly hilarious, almost like a Python sketch. Ingrained class prejudice shining through I suppose.

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I don't think we should encourage that, since ad blockers are now part of basic security in 2024.

(eg FBI officially recommends use of ad blockers. https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221?=8324278624 )

The ad blocker popup has a close button. It still lets you read the article.

I didn't see any, using ublock

These repetitangents of meta tend to eat the discussion of the thing being posted which is why the site guidelines suggest not posting them:

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> Threads is a speculative television drama which portrays the run up to and the aftermath of a nuclear missile exploding over a British city.

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