THREADS (1985)
3-Disc Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 117 Minutes 19 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p 4K Ultra HD Fullscreen (1.33:1), 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Mick Jackson
Cast: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierley, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove
In November of 1983 I was ten years old, I clearly remember watching the made-for-TV nuclear-panic film The Day After (1983) when it first aired on ABC television with my family, and it was a sobering and frightening account of what would happen if a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union happened in the heartland of the US. The damned thing absolutely terrified me actually, the Cold War was still in full effect and the threat of nuclear war seemed a very real possibility, especially to a ten year-old kid who watched the news every night. So much so that I remember the next evening after watching it we had a particularly orange-ish looking Fall sunset, while gazing up at the sky I noticed an odd-shaped cloud that was tinted a vibrant red/orange color by the sunset, and it gave me a moment of heart-stopping pause. I made sure to draw my mom's attention to it in hopes that she would dispel my fear of it being a nuclear bomb detonation at the nearby Seneca County Army Depot, and when she did just that I felt more at ease, but the TV-film was deeply unsettling to say the least. As unnerving as that TV film was at least I can count my lucky stars that I didn't see the British made TV-film Threads (1984), which aired on TBS in January of 1984. At that age and knowing how sensitive I was about such things, if I had seen this bleak slice of no-hope for the future, well, I might have slipped into a never-ending spiral of nuclear-fear and depair, it just would not have been good my mental health is what I am saying, because compared to Threads I have to say The Day After is more of a lifetime channel version of nuclear holocaust, Threads is a much more dire and realistic portrayal of the collapse of society following the detonation of the nuclear arsenal.
The British made-for-TV nuclear terror Threads (1984) opens in the bustling city of Sheffield, England with a young couple sitting in their car on a hilltop overlooking their city. The young lovers are Ruth Beckett (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy Kemp (Reece Dinsdale), the car radio tells us of growing tension between NATO and the Soviet Union. A month later the couple are making plans to marry after discovering she's pregnant, we join them as the two families meet and make plans for a wedding, in the background we hear continuing reports of rising tensions between the US and Russia over escalating tensions in the Middle East - the threat is nuclear war is escalating, tensions rise, and eventually a nuclear weapon is detonated nearby, and the reality of a post-nuke world is upon them.
The film focus is on the young couple before the bomb drops, afterward it is Ruth the film follows in the post-nuke scenario, we see her struggling with her difficult pregnancy during an impossible dire time, coping with the loss of her family and making her way through the irradiated rubble and destruction of the aftermath, while suffering from the effects of nuclear fallout. The film has a bit of a cold and detached docudrama approach, but it's also engrossing and absolutely horrifying, pulling no punches in it's depiction of the living hell of the post-nuke world. We see the quicker-than-you'd-think collapse of society in just a matter of days, the government infrastructure is largely helpless, hapless, and ineffectual, the bureaucrat's buried in their makeshift doomsday bunker bicker over logistics, and expendable populations, while the world crumbles around them. The film takes us thirteen years into the future, there is not much healing, just the harsh, harrowing and utterly horrifying consequences of what humanity has unleashed upon itself, with nuclear winter the climate grows colder and even more inhospitable, the nuclear fallout decimating the population, the human population has devolved into an agrarian middle-ages lifestyle, just barely existing day to day.
The scope of Threads is mighty impressive, the scenes of destruction are powerful and the human drama cuts deep, anchored by actress Karen Meagher who gives a wonderfully human and desperate performance. The carnage is well-done also, destroyed building engulfed in flames, the grotesque effects of radiation sickness, there are charred bodies and disfiguring injuries, plus the iconic image of melting milk bottles and choice cuts of lamb in a butcher's window bursting into flames during the initial blast, not to mention the depths of human desperation as they scrounge for shelter, food and water in the aftermath. A scene of two starved people tearing at a raw sheep carcass for sustenance always disturbed me deeply, showing how the nuclear holocaust, even if survived, has turned us into bottom-feeding scavengers. Threads is nightmare fuel, not some faraway impossible nightmare either, this is an alarmingly accurate and science-based portrayal of what we could expect if things ever go this far, and sadly, we once again find ourselves uncomfortably close to the brink of nuclear doomsday with madmen's fingers hovering over the button.
Audio/Video: Threads (1985) arrives on 3-disc 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray from Severin Films now scanned in 4K from the original 16mm A/B rolls, which is a significant upgrade, the previous 2018 Blu-ray was sourced from a 16mm print. The film was originally shot on 16mm film and has a consistently course grain texture to it that is inherent to the format, but getting back to the A/B rolls the grain is better resolved, and the filmic textures are finer and more detailed. The source is in very nice shape, a couple of white specks and small scratches do appear, however, this is quite an improvement over the previous Blu-ray edition, particularly with the Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grade. It still has that flat and dingy looking appearance to, I mean it is an post-nuke/fall of society film after all, it should look dingy and does, but the shades of blue/gray and dingy post-nuke landscapes are more fine tuned with more stable coloring. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, the Sheffield accented dialogue is never a chore to decipher.
Severin carry over all the extras from their 2018 Blu-ray with the exception of the Re-Release Trailer. The archival stuff starts off with Audio Commentary with Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse and Severin Films’ David Gregory, which has plenty of talk of the deep research that went into depicting the realistic outcome of a nuclear bomb drop, all of which makes for a disturbingly realistic film.
We also get the 10-min Auditioning For The Apocalypse – Interview With Karen Meagher, who speaks of pursuing a part when she heard about it, how the script was closely guarded, the director being protective of his actors, and how while making it it felt like they were doing something important. She also praises Barry Hines exceptional script, noting the rehearsal process, seeing it on air on TV, and how it was well received and critically successful, and how it was a TV movie that made waves. Next up is the 8-min Shooting The Annihilation – Interview With Director Of Photography Andrew Dunn who praises the film for being successful in achieving what it set out to do, bringing the terror of nuclear war to the public masses, and how he ended up working on it. Also noting the 17 day shoot, the amount of prep it took to achieve it, the spirited crew, the strong performance of Karen Meagher, as well as the shooting locations in Sheffield, one of which was a neighborhood that was scheduled for demolition. The 10-min Destruction Designer – Interview With Production Designer Christopher Robilliard sees him speak to the panicked-era in which this aired, how it was received. He praises director Mick Jackson and how organized he was, his unique approach to drama direction, the two locations in Sheffield, and achieving the look and aesthetic of a post-nuke world, and the films legacy,
The 30-minute Interview With Film Writer Stephen Thrower, features Thrower, taking a a break from his usual spot at Severin talking Jess Franco/euro-sleaze to speak about the film and the affect it had upon release, and as usual Thrower offers an astute and entertaining chat giving context to the film. He talks about how it aired on BBC2 initially, not the main BBC1 channel, but how it still did big numbers, with over 7 million viewers. He also looks back at the 1965 TV doc-drama The War Game, directed by Peter Watkins which the BBC decided not to screen after getting cold feet, for fear of panic because it was so bleak, but how they moved ahead in the 80s with Threads, which was even more edgy by comparison. He also gets into how Jackson's previous half hour doc A Guide To Armageddon was the inspiration for Threads, various real-life instances of nuclear close-calls, the political climate, and the the government issued Protect and Survive pamphlet. He also touches on how the U.S. post-nuke thriller The Day After beat Threads to TV screens, but it was not as nuanced as Threads, and left out key aspects of what would happen, while noting that the critical and public reception of the film was quite good, and that the no-name cast adding a layer of realism. The last of the archival extras is the 2-min U.S. Trailer.
New tot his edition is the 110-min feature-length documentary Survivors: The Spectre of Threads (2025),
by Craig Ian Mann & Robert Nevitt’s, that looks back at the Sheffield, England, interviewing the cast and crew and denizens of Sheffield about the lingering impact of the film from the mouths of people who were there working on the film in various capacities, or grew up watching the film. The doc does good work establishing the impact of the frightful reality check, it's inspirations and the research that went into creating a realistic accounting of nuclear war, as well as what went into creating the macabre post-nuke reality We also get a 13-min Immediate And Real – Interview With Julie McDowall, Author Of Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War that exposes the Protect and Survive civil defense pamphlet as patently ridiculous in it's view that a nuclear war was survivable. She also points out rightfully that we as a species are too complacent and perhaps too lazy to actually survive a nuclear war, that we as a society are less prepared than we were in 1985.
The 3-disc 4k UHD/Blu-ray set arrives in a black keepcase with a flipper tray housing the discs, we get a Reversible Wrap, plus artwork that mimics the vintage World Video VHS artwork right down to the Severin-ized company logo, which is super cool. The Limited Edition set includes a side-loading Rigid Slipcase, plus a 32-page Replica Of The Government-Issued Public Information Pamphlet 'Protect & Survive' (1980), a fascinating and morbid curio to be sure, plus a 'You Cannot Win A Nuclear War' Postcard designed by Rob Carmichael at Seen Studio. It's a terrific looking set of limited edition packaging for the film's 4K UHD debut.
Special Features:
Disc 1: UHD
- Audio Commentary With Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse And Severin Films' David Gregory
- NEW! Audio Commentary With Actress Karen Meagher And Television Historian Simon Farquhar
Disc 2: Blu-ray
- Audio Commentary With Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse And Severin Films' David Gregory
- Audio Commentary With Actress Karen Meagher And Television Historian Simon Farquhar
- Auditioning For The Apocalypse – Interview With Karen Meagher (9:40)
- Shooting The Annihilation – Interview With Director Of Photography Andrew Dunn (8:13)
- Destruction Designer – Interview With Production Designer Christopher Robilliard (9:45)
- Interview With Film Writer Stephen Thrower (30:13)
- U.S. Trailer (2:24)
Dis 3: Blu-ray
- NEW! Survivors: The Spectre of Threads (01:50:19)– Feature Documentary On The Production Of THREADS And Its Effect On The People Of Sheffield, England
- NEW! Immediate And Real – Interview With Julie McDowall, Author Of Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War (12:44)
Threads (1985) even forty years on is still quite a terrifying watch, it's not just that nuclear war is still very much a reality, but the realization that perhaps possibility of it happening is closer to reality now than it was in '85. Look around, we have so many narcissistic maniacs who wield the nuclear power in the modern age, it's nuts. This is still a valid warning of a possible apocalyptic future, and one that we are arguably less prepared for now than we were in 1985. The new 3-disc limited edition UHD/Blu-ray set from Severin is a welcome upgrade, with a terrific set of new and archival extras that add another layer of dread to this already nightmare-fuel slice of nuclear panic.
Buy it!
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