Threads

1984

1h 50m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

Sci-Fi

List

100%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

92%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Young lovers Ruth (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy (Reece Dinsdale) decide to get married after Ruth unexpectedly gets pregnant. But their quiet lives in Sheffield, England, are threatened when the Soviet Union and United States go to war. After a nuclear attack destroys a NATO base 20 miles from Sheffield, the town falls into chaos. Ruth and Jimmy are separated as the fallout spreads. Ruth must struggle to survive alone in the post-apocalyptic landscape.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Feb 20

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent Threads on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

An urgent warning against nuclear conflict, Threads is a chilling hypothetical that achieves visceral horror with its matter-of-fact presentation of an apocalypse.

Read Critics Reviews

Sabrina F

Threads is part narrative film, following several characters, and part documentary-style commentary on what could happen to England in the event of a nuclear exchange. This is a bleak, take-no-prisoners film. The commentary is deliberately heavy-handed, which a cynical person might find a bit unintentionally cheesy. Many viewers will find this movie too dark to be entertaining, which is understandable, but Threads' aim is to educate, not entertain. My problem with the way the film is told is that I never got to connect with any of the characters, since the film does not follow a conventional narrative approach. I felt for the characters, as I would for anyone under those circumstances, but other than Ruth, a little, I did not really root for anyone. Threads does do a good job of keeping things real though, and I appreciate that. We see families and colleagues initially doing what they can to stay sane and help one another. But eventually desperation, sickness, and frustration take their toll, and cooperation begins to break down, until it truly is every man for himself. Overall, Threads is a good one-time-watch. I would have preferred if the film focused on police officers or military personnel trying to keep the peace and some semblance of order in a chaotic world, but I know the filmmakers chose to focus on families and young people because that is who would be watching the movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/05/24

Full Review

Neil

Brilliant film, although 40 years old it has to be the best post apocalyptic film by miles. The lucky ones died instantly!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/22/24

Full Review

Cole N

A brutally visceral while believable depiction of what could happen in a nuclear event. It separates the acts into periods of time before and after the blast. Going out a couple hundred years, it shows how a society tries to survive then recover from such a devastation. It does not try to inject any optimism, fully indulging in the most terrifying and disturbing possible realities with matter of fact realism. It ends with one of the most memorable scenes of any movie I can recall.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/23/24

Full Review

Alec B

It's a miserable slog but an honest and extremely well made one. You can recognize its achievements (particularly with so little money) while vowing never to subject yourself to it every again.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/22/24

Full Review

Coyote C

This is a cold, unrelenting film. It is a warning, and a very powerful one at that. I believe everyone 13+ needs to see this film, and recognize the dangers of nuclear warfare. It is a life changing movie, I'd liken it to a PSA on steroids.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/06/24

Full Review

Ray R

This is one of the most terrifying and realistic films I have ever seen. I had no idea even existed until a couple of days ago. After watching this, I realize that nuclear war is not a viable option ever for this world.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/23/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Mick Jackson

Director

Reece Dinsdale

Jimmy Kemp

Karen Meagher

Ruth Beckett

Rita May

Mrs. Kemp

David Brierly

Mr Bill Kemp

Nicholas Lane

Michael Kemp

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

View more photos

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

It's the accumulation of horrific detail that appalls and truly scares us - not just the putrefying bodies but the severing of civilization's entire network, modern man trapped in modernity's ashes.

Apr 17, 2019

Full Review

Sam Toy

Empire Magazine

Threads is most successful by its merciless refusal of sentimentality - every second is played for realism; this is a documentary of a nightmare, as we are taken, via a young unmarried couple, through a nuclear strike on Sheffield circa 1984, and beyond.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 17, 2019

Full Review

Sean O'Neal

AV Club

For all its grim hopelessness, Threads had a subtextual faith that people would understand all this before it was too late.

Apr 17, 2019

Full Review

Eve Tushnet

Patheos

I don’t know, what can you say about Threads? I knew its reputation and it lived up to it.

Sep 18, 2023

Full Review

Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

The viscerally chilling Threads is the kind of film you only watch once.

Rated: 85/100

Aug 12, 2023

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

It is not simply a powerful film, but an important one too.

Rated: 9/10

May 24, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Young lovers Ruth (Karen Meagher) and Jimmy (Reece Dinsdale) decide to get married after Ruth unexpectedly gets pregnant. But their quiet lives in Sheffield, England, are threatened when the Soviet Union and United States go to war. After a nuclear attack destroys a NATO base 20 miles from Sheffield, the town falls into chaos. Ruth and Jimmy are separated as the fallout spreads. Ruth must struggle to survive alone in the post-apocalyptic landscape.

Director: Mick Jackson
Producer: Graham Massey, John Purdie
Screenwriter: Barry Hines
Production Co: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Western-World Television Inc., Nine Network Australia
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 10, 2018
Runtime: 1h 50m

Most Popular at Home Now