1. Threads (1984)
Threads, directed by Barry Hines, caused the nation to collectively crap its pants whenever it was aired on the BBC in the 1980s. Again, broadcast at a time whenever Cold War tensions were high, Threads focused on the lives of ordinary people living and working in Sheffield and how the city and people coped in the run up to the Cold War turning into a Hot War with a full on nuclear assault all over Sheffield, Britain and the World. Excruciatingly grim viewing, Threads very cleverly develops its characters whilst slowly building the escalating political conflict into the storyline. This leads us from mild panic to hysteria - there is increased military activity around the nearby RAF base, people panic buy food, the phone lines are cut off, people flee to the country, hospitals are emptied of patients, political dissidents are arrested, Protect and Survive plays constantly on the radio and television. We know the bomb is going to drop but when? Threads possibly paints the bleakest cinematic nuclear apocalypse in cinema history. We see people dying slowly from radiation poisoning, the landscape is wrecked - both city and countryside - there is a nuclear winter, clouds of nuclear fall out blank out the sun and the survivors freeze. There is no food, people eat sheep that have died of radiation poisoning. The hospital is like a scene out of hell with amputations with no anaesthetic and crowds and crowds of people littering the corridor. The stress of the holocaust has driven everyone insane. Women give birth to mutants. If ever there was a recruiting campaign for CND, Threads would fit the bill. It just plows over any other nuclear war film in its force and impact. It is bordering on a horror film - it is so nerve wracking. Anyone who watches it usually sinks to their knees and says "Dear Lord, never let there be a nuclear war". There are plenty of characters in this film who you grow to care about, and the impact the nuclear holocaust has on them makes the film even more devastating. The actual moment of nuclear attack is very well filmed and uses stock footage to excellent effect. The aftermath of the attack is very well imagined and chilling as we realise life as we know it will never be the same again. Simply first rate.