The Infamously Disturbing TV Movie With A Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

According to Rotten Tomatoes, there are only nine perfect horror movies, two perfect sci-fi movies, and two perfect war movies. The BBC's 1984 TV film, "Threads," however, doesn't fit neatly into any category, and as such, stands alone as a film with a perfect 100% score — a true one-of-a-kind.

"Threads" is a drama written by Barry Hines, the author of "A Kestrel for a Knave," which he helped adapt for Ken Loach's 1969 film "Kes." It depicts a massive nuclear attack on the United Kingdom by the Soviet Union and has been described as one of the most disturbing films ever made. When it debuted on September 23, 1984, in the United Kingdom, it caused an immediate stir, with the transmission date becoming known among broadcasters and in the media as "the night the country didn't sleep."

Directed by Mick Jackson, who went on to direct Hollywood blockbusters such as "The Bodyguard," the bleakly realistic "Threads" was produced on a budget of £400,000 (or $533,080), which is shockingly low given the realistic and comprehensive way in which it depicts the thermonuclear attack and the nuclear winter that follows. In the years since its original broadcast, "Threads" hasn't resurfaced much, only airing a handful of times and receiving several under-the-radar DVD releases. But it has also become its own type of cult classic, mostly for how it has scarred entire generations with its vivid and unrelenting depiction of the horrors of nuclear fallout. As such, it's somewhat strange to see a 100% score bestowed upon a film that, by all accounts, makes viewers reliably recoil in terror.

A drama that's more horrific than most horror films, the TV movie begins as a quintessential British kitchen sink drama, following the lives of everyday residents of the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire. We meet Karen Meagher's Ruth Beckett and Reece Dinsdale's Jimmy Kemp, a young couple who are suddenly faced with an unplanned pregnancy. We get a glimpse of their lives at home with their families and see them preparing a new flat in which they plan to start their own new family. We see the quotidian details of the town itself, all shot in a style not dissimilar to a documentary, which isn't surprising considering director Mick Jackson originally came from that world.

There's a sense of a looming disaster as the everyday scenes of Sheffield are punctuated by news reports about a growing crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union, interspersed with ominous on-screen text that lists nearby military targets in South Yorkshire. It all points towards some sort of catastrophe, but such a thing feels unthinkable because "Threads" does such a convincing job of depicting a realistic middle England. All the while the forthcoming disaster is being telegraphed, it feels as though the film couldn't possibly abandon its kitchen sink sensibilities. But that's the point. 

Just as the citizens of Sheffield feel so far removed from the geopolitical machinations that eventually led to their demise, we as the viewers feel similarly lulled into a false sense of security by the comforting humdrum of everyday life in South Yorkshire. When the film does make the switch, however, it transmogrifies into something else entirely.

Jackson somehow manages to depict the nuclear attack outside of Sheffield in just as realistic a way as he does the pre-attack scenes. When the bomb drops, there are no dodgy effects shots that take you out of the experience, just nauseating terror which doesn't let up for the entire rest of the movie. "Threads" showcases the results of the Soviet Union's attack in stark detail and we can't help but watch as the everyday people we were introduced to in the film's first half are either obliterated or wither away over the course of weeks, months, and ultimately years, as Britain endures a nuclear winter that turns it into nothing short of a scorched hellscape. The fact that the realism Jackson establishes from the outset never disappears is what makes "Threads" so distressing, especially as we see Ruth Beckett's gradual disintegration over the course of a decade. As such, it's not an exaggeration to call "Threads" an apocalyptic nightmare that shook Britain to its core.

Today, it's commonplace to be told that a horror movie is the scariest thing you'll ever see. 2024's "Longlegs," for example, was touted as the most terrifying horror of the year and TikTok helped propel the brilliant "Skinamarink" to popularity using that very same phrase ("Skinamarink" actually is one of the scariest things you'll ever see, though). But "Threads" is in a different category. It doesn't feel as though its objective is to scare you. It feels as though its objective is to remind the Cold War-era world, for whom the threat of nuclear annihilation had become as commonplace as buying a loaf of bread, of the seriousness of the issue. In so doing, however, it somehow became scarier than pretty much any horror movie you'll ever see.

Actor Reece Dinsdale, who played Jimmy, told the BBC that, following a special screening in Sheffield prior to the film's TV debut, "There was complete silence and all you could hear was various people sobbing around the room. People blame me to this day for scarring them for life." That's something bigger than "scary." "Threads" is devastating. It's a feel-bad movie that you simply have to see, not only because its dire warnings about the folly of nuclear war and political inflexibility feel as pertinent as ever, but because there really is nothing else like it. The fact that it has a "perfect" Rotten Tomatoes score is actually one of the lesser reasons to watch this movie.

"Threads" will surely gain more widespread recognition in the coming years as it is now set for a modern-day remake via Warp Films, the production company responsible for the chilling Netflix series filmed in one take, "Adolescence." It's fitting, seeing as Warp is based in Sheffield and helped bring to fruition one of the most affecting and upsetting series of modern times with their Netflix show. That said, even "Adolescence," which will rock you to your core, isn't quite as witheringly traumatic as "Threads," which is currently streaming for free on Tubi.