In the grand mosaic of cinema, there exists a subset of films for which the term “endurance test” was coined. Anyone who has spent enough time in online film circles will be familiar with them, and forcing yourself to watch them has turned into a strange rite of passage any self-described cinephile must eventually undertake.
As the story progresses, background details hint at a greater threat occurring thousands of miles away. The Soviet Union and the United States are locked in rapidly escalating hostilities owing to the former’s invasion of Iran, and despite attempts to resolve the situation peacefully, it’s clear that this conflict is only heading in one direction. As such, at 8:30 am British time , nuclear warheads are detonated across the North Sea, plunging the world into chaos.
On paper, Mick Jackson and Barry Hines were odd choices. Jackson had only previously worked on documentary films, while Hines was better known as the author of slice-of-life novels like A Kestrel for a Knave . Threads was a marked departure from their usual comfort zones, and there was little to suggest that they’d make the leap from small-scale neorealism to special-effects-laden atrocity with ease . However, their hiring turned out to be nothing short of genius.