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Awix (3310 KP) rated Threads (1984) in Movies

Sep 7, 2019 (Updated Sep 7, 2019)

Threads (1984)

1984 | Documentary, Drama

9.0

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Landmark BBC docu-drama depicting the effects on the UK of a nuclear war (implied to take place in 1988, not that it matters). A young couple plan to get married, not really paying much attention to the deteriorating international situation and rising tensions between the US and Soviet Union. And then events pass the point of no return and the world changes forever.

Not really something you watch to be entertained, Threads has lost very little of its power to appal and terrify. The first half, before the nuclear attack, has an almost kitchen-sink realism; the sense of foreboding is almost unbearable. Even the resources of the BBC can't quite bring the nightmarish aftermath to the screen in the same kind of the detail - or perhaps even the writer's imagination recoils from the sheer grimness of it all. Instead, Threads takes an almost impressionistic approach, providing snapshots of horror from the years following the collapse of civilisation. Distressingly convincing and powerful, and it still feels relevant; one would wish it were otherwise.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Great God Pan in Books

Aug 21, 2019

The Great God Pan

Arthur Machen | 1894 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy

5.0

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Classic of late Victorian horror-fantasy. A misguided scientist performs a surgical procedure on a young woman's brain which leads to her madness and death; but over the years that follow it becomes clear that he is also responsible for unleashing something much, much more disturbing.

It's slightly amusing to consider that this novella was criticised on first release for its decadence and sexual content - by modern standards it is, on the surface at least, very tame. But that's the nature of the beast in this case - this is a horror story where all the disturbing scenes happen off-stage, which is where the monster stays as well. Everything happens through implication, and is left somewhat to the reader's imagination, a trick which Machen pulls off rather more deftly than some writers who hailed him as an influence. I must be honest and say that the lack of a big reveal and a genuine climax wrong-footed me a bit, but the story is on the whole ingeniously structured and well-written, atmospheric and unsettling.