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Threads - Blu-ray Review

Movie Review

5 beersOut of the fire and into the meltdown!  Threads finally makes its HD debut!

Attack warning: RED! Attack warning: RED! Start the sirens. The bombs have been launched. You know it’s serious when classic works in our collective art history starts getting moved into the underground storage areas. And, truly, I have never seen a more terrifying movie than 1984’s Threads. It is intense as it works its ass off, thanks to some fine cinematography, to create a sense of panic and dread concerning a nuclear war between America and Russia that goes from cold to HOT in a matter of days.

“Jesus Christ! They’ve done it,” mutters one onlooker as screams fill the air and a mushroom cloud over the ocean forms, loading 80 megatons of fallout upon the UK. Nine million casualties and, as one young couple was just beginning their journey together as parents, you can imagine the heartbreak as communications fail, fire spreads, and blinding white light fills the air.

And that’s just the beginning of the end of the world.

Truthfully, this film should come with about three different warnings before it. There is one from the BBC, but you can Google that one on your own. Make no mistake, you will need to do some 12-ounce curls in order to get through this one, if you get my meaning. It’s just so damn depressing.

Presented on Blu-ray thanks to a rather sharp 2K restoration by Severin films, Threads features performances from Reece Dinsdale (Coronation Street), David Brierly (Doctor Who) and Karen Meagher in her debut and, with input from the likes of Carl Sagan, successfully predicts what might happen during a nuclear fallout.

Threads is a haunting film that accurately depicts what a nuclear war would look like and just how long – seeing as how it doesn’t end until the 2000s have started – it would take before the world set itself right again…if such a thing were possible. Hundreds of survivors and not one of them wishes they would have done such a thing. The contamination is that awful. Young and old, the streets are gutted of all sanity as survivors look for any reason to keep living.

The first 50-minutes of the well done British television drama, originally produced by the BBC but also broadcast here in America, sets us up for one hell of an explosive ending as we journey from cold war tensions between Russia and America within Iran to a series of nuclear bomb detonations that totally rock the United Kingdom. The film features no known actors and actresses, which gives it an awesome opportunity to create an unmatched sense of tragic realism. This is a standout feature that continues to serve it well. You will cry. I promise as mere civilians are faced with a situation brought about by the fools they call their leaders.

With no food supply and a power grid that keeps on failing, we are informed that – in situations as brutal as this one – we are better off staying in our homes. Hard words to hear when trying to get where loved ones are living. Directed by Mick Jackson (The Bodyguard) from a screenplay by playwright Barry Hines, this flick was nominated for seven BAFTA Awards and rightly so.

Threads is a docudrama that seems to be suggesting that threads are all of humanity we will have left to hang ourselves with when the end comes. And as this message doesn’t stop with just one generation, Threads is definitely an interesting entanglement condemning nuclear war and the irony hidden deep inside the proliferation of everything that’s destined to blow us up.

Armageddon it. 

 

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Film Details

Threads - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 112 mins
Director: Mick Jackson
Writer: Barry Hines
Cast: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierly
Genre: Sci-fi | War
Tagline: The closest you'll ever want to come to nuclear war.
Memorable Movie Quote: "If you leave your home, your local authority may take it over for homeless families."
Theatrical Distributor: Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) (1980) (USA) (TV) No U.S. theatrical release.
Official Site: Release Date:
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: February 13, 2018
Synopsis: 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.

 

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Threads - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Severin Films
Available on Blu-ray - February 13, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.33:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Severin Films presents Threads on blu-ray for the very first time in the film’s history. It’s not pretty but that’s by design; the 2K scan brings out the grizzly details and the greys in the shoot with confidence. The film uses a mix of media forms throughout its near 2-hour running time. From live television scenes channeled through television sets to some stock footage and beyond, the film is charged with a solid presentation. Colors; however, do not pop like you might be expecting. Again, this is by design as the film looks to be shot naturally. Shadows are weak and so, too, are the black levels. The sound is presented in an English 2.0 mono DTS-HD track that is adequate for the release.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • Included with the release is a solid audio commentary with Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse and Severin Films’ David Gregory.

Special Features:

  • Fans get a series of NEW interviews from the cast and crew of Threads. Those fortunate to get the Limited Edition, will also get cool lenticular slipcover that is all about the effects in this docudrama.
  • Audition For The Apocalypse: Interview With Actress Karen Meagher
  • Shooting The Annihilation: Interview With Director Of Photography Andrew Dunn
  • Destruction Designer: Interview With Production Designer Christopher Robilliard
  • Interview With Film Writer Stephen Thrower
  • US Trailer

 

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Threads - Blu-ray Review

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