I've just watched the film 'Threads' for the first time. If you haven't seen it already, don't watch it!

[worriedhidinginplainsight]

I have been following some of the 'threads' on MN regarding people being scared of WW3/Nuclear war. Personally I don't worry about it. I have always been firmly in the camp of not worrying about something that I have zero control over. Also not worrying about something in the future, to the detriment of today. However, I noticed this particular film mentioned a few times during the discussions so today, out of curiosity, I decided to watch it.

What a mistake that was! It was a horrible terrifying watch. I would not recommend that anyone else watches it! Quell your curiosity.

It's just left me feeling really horrible and feeling like as humans we are all so vulnerable. I also felt very worried about my cat, if anything like that were to happen! Innocent animals would suffer so much because of very dangerous humans. If humans didn't exist, and the world was populated by only animals, it would be a much safer and peaceful place.

It did seem like a nuclear bomb would transport the survivors back to medieval times. In a way it has also made me feel that as humans we are pretty amazing, how we have built up and created our societies, technology, engineering. I feel really grateful for what we have.

But overall it was horrible and I wish that I never watched it.

This evening I have found myself on Amazon looking up gas masks, fireproof boxes and googling all about prepping!!

I need to forget about this film!!

I watched it years ago and it shook me up for days

My biggest learning from it was if it happened to gather up my husband and cat, and walk straight into the worst of it so we can all die quickly and together.

Yeah, I would definitely want to be with my cat (no husband or kids). Weirdly it's made me feel so grateful for everything I've got (....which isn't even much by today's standards!). I think I would just stay home, go to bed with my cat and give him loads of massive hugs. I hope that I forget about this film soon!!

I watched in the 80s as a teenager. I am heading for the place most likely to be wiped out at the first sign of trouble (live in London so I'm probably there already!).

I watched it a few years ago, and grew up with government warnings and suggestions for make-shift shelters formed by doors lying at an angle, ot hiding in the bath. Nuclear war terrified me as a child.

Completely echo the idea of getting in the middle and going fast. Or ideally, like the Neville Shute book, On The Beach, getting a little blue pill to take me off.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and genuinely believed Threads was an illustration of how the world would end. I saw Threads when it was first shown on telly back in the 80s and it still affects me now.

We watched it at school when I was about 12. Gave me nightmares for years.

@Pebbles16 I now understand the people who posted on all of the other threads, discussing this scenario, who have said that! It makes sense. But.... I have a feeling that the human desire to survive and stay alive will overcome me. I will be fighting for my life, freezing cold, without my cat, in the post apocalypse! Maybe I will just move house now, to anywhere as close as possible to a potential target?!

Seriously though, that was a horrible film to watch. It's left me feeling horrible. I'm still not actually worried about war and still feel like what will be will be. It's just had a strange effect on me.... I feel super grateful for all of our modern comforts, and how we (well 'I') take them for granted. And imagine if they were all taken away! Not just physical comforts, but law & order, and healthcare, clean water etc. I feel weak....like people who lived 500 years ago were so strong!

I think I should stop posting. This rumination is not healthy.

@TalesOfTheGoldMonkey omg!! I can't believe that they made you watch this at school!!! Wtf?!!

I didn't learn from my mistakes the first time and have seen it twice - the second time I told myself "definitely never again now!"
DH has recent heard about it and wants to watch it despite me strongly advising against, he hasn't mentioned it for a while so I'm hoping he's forgotten about it again!

@Whiskeyandkittens yep try to distract him from watching it!

Ah my cue to pop on and say I was in it! Bloody scary.... I'm in the heading towards the bomb gang.

It's terrifying because it's realistic. It sugarcoats nothing. Nobody escapes unscathed, there are no happy endings, no-one comes riding in to save the day. I watched it in the 80s as a young woman and it still horrifies me 40 years on.

You're better off watching blackout on ch4. That's more likely to happen than the threads scenario.

I like threads, it's an awesome film. The American version was wank.

I watched it recently but originally watched it when it was shown at around age 10 I think. I remember discussing it in the playground but I don't think any of us were traumatised by it, any more than having to do nuclear drills (like the school shooter drills now) in reception. I think the books that were read at the time worse - on the Beach and z for Zachariah etc

Oooo who were you, would we know?

Yes I was forced to watch that in school in 1980s UK as well. I felt so depressed for days after that. I don’t know what they were thinking showing that to us. I would have preferred practical advice about preparing first aid kits, food stores and so on.

We were made to watch When the Wind Blows at school. I was 10 at the time.

Luckly didn't get made to watch Threads so I've managed to avoid it but a few years of my childhood was all about what to do in the event of nuclear war.

OP, if Threads has shown you nothing else, surely it's that you can't prep for a nuclear war?

I'm in the "want to be drunk and underneath it" group.

My husband loves this kind of stuff.. he had no idea about this film. I just told him about it and he is going to watch it now 😬

What has a nasty resonance now are the news bulletins that are in the background of the "kitchen sink" drama that is the first part of the programme. Because how many of us follow world events in greater detail then just backdrop? And when it stops being backdrop, is it too late?

The point of showing it in schools was to show the upcoming generation of adults that you can't win a nuclear war. It was supposed to freak us out.

I didn't grow up with direct threat like a few generations before, but nuclear attack has always fascinated/terrified me. I have Raymond Briggs's beautiful graphic novel "when the wind blows" and it's haunting. So realistic and sweet and sad and terrifying. Oh and there was an amazing journalistic book written just after the bombing of Hiroshima by a reporter who went out right after the bomb to interview people still there.

I watched when I was about 11, wouldn’t be able to nowadays, I’m sure, at that age! I was terrified of nuclear war, used to be talked about loads in the early/mid 80s. Also watched When the Wind Blows which was so sad. And don’t get me started on the scary AIDS adverts and the electric pylon public safety videos either! Us kids growing up in the 80s definitely weren’t sheltered from things, unlike kids today.

Do watch it! It’s extremely well done. I watched it and yes it’s horrifying, but how could it not be?! I think it had much more impact and a much worse effect on people when it was first released. Those of us who grew up in the Cold War will remember how terrified people were because the threat was very real, much much more than it is now.

I think there’s too much sheltering now and too much looking the other way. About all kinds of issues.