“Imagine a room awash in gasoline, and there are two implacable enemies in that room. One of them has nine thousand matches, the other seven thousand matches. Each of them is concerned about who’s ahead, who’s stronger.”
-Carl Sagan
It would be very easy to argue the point that: “world tensions haven’t been this high since the Cuban Missile Crisis.” With a film such as Oppenheimer generating huge numbers at the box office, and multiple academy award wins this year, we can’t help but to feel mounting uncertainty in regards to current events in Russia, Ukraine, China, Israel, Iran, and the Middle East in general.
Not to mention unrest here in the United States, where the film Civil War is now playing in theaters during an election year, of which many claim is “the most important election in US history!”
While Oppenheimer is a cautionary tale, albeit a very pessimistic one, it is also one which invites a deeper look at the history of war, and nuclear armament, over the course of the 20th Century.
I’m reminded of a trio of films that I hadn’t watched since as a small child in the early 1980’s (and barely remembered) dealing with the looming threat and horrors of nuclear holocaust.
Respectively, it got me thinking about the made for TV movies THE DAY AFTER (1983), THREADS (1984), and the animated film WHEN THE WIND BLOWS (1986). While recently re-watching these films for the first time in nearly 40 years, some core memories were definitely unlocked.
I can see why the average kindergartner would try and forget the grisly carnage and smoldering corpses depicted in THREADS. In the 80’s we no longer believed there was any safety or refuge to be had by hiding beneath our desks at school, waiting for the air raid sirens to stop.
In 1983, the American television movie THE DAY AFTER was released, with an estimated 100 million viewers. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of THE DAY AFTER is when the bombs actually drop and we’re shown animated sequences of irradiated skeletons disappearing in massive flashes of light.
While it looked a little like something that might come out of a 1950’s Sci-Fi movie, the detonation sequences are very effective here and serve their shocking purpose. Running at 126 minutes, the explosion scenes come in at the half-way point. THE DAY AFTER was nominated for, and won several awards, and is even stated to have influenced the nuclear policy of then President Ronald Reagan.
Not to be outdone, in 1984 the BBC in conjunction with Australian broadcasting, produced its own made for TV film about the devastation of nuclear war, entitled THREADS. Having none of the “zany humor” of DR. STRANGELOVE or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), the film THREADS would definitely fall into the category of one of the most gut-wrenching and disturbing movies of all time.
Made all the more horrific due to the fact that we’re witnessing the very realistic scenario of a full scale nuclear attack, shown in all its dehumanizing devastation, and providing absolutely no levity during its 112 minute run-time. You can almost smell what’s coming off the screen as we descend further into nuclear winter and the filth of human despair.
To follow this up, we had the animated UK film, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS from 1986 (based on the graphic novel of the same name, first published in 1982). WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is a beautiful tragedy centered around an old married couple who live in an idyllic English countryside, and are trying to bomb-proof their home after the announcement of a looming nuclear attack.
While there is some humor scattered about the film, as well as an excellent soundtrack featuring David Bowie and Roger Waters, the childlike naivety of the lead characters is made all the more sympathetic by their cartoonish depictions. By the time the bombs drop we are fully invested in their outcome. WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is considered one of the most accurate depictions of what happens when dealing with radiation sickness and the after effects of nuclear fallout.
I watched all three of these films back to back over the past few days, and needless to say, it depressed the hell out of me (ah, the things I put myself through for these reviews). Of the three, THREADS is the most clearly related to the horror genre, yet all of these films are equally emotionally devastating in their own way. And in highlight of current events, it should be noted that the aggressive force in all three cases is Russia (then the Soviet Union). In THE DAY AFTER Russia invades Germany, in THREADS Russia invades Iran, and in WHEN THE WIND BLOWS it is a conflict between Russia and Western Allied Forces during a Soviet-Afghan War.
As of 2024, there are roughly 3880 active nuclear warheads, and 12,119 total nuclear warheads in the world. The United States and Russia have the most confirmed nuclear weapons, with 5428 and 5997 warheads, respectfully, which account for 90% of the world’s nuclear arsenal. It begs the question: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE POWERS THAT BE?
In what possible scenario would a country need over 5000 nuclear bombs? Israel itself (the only nuclear power in the Middle East), has an estimated 100 – 400 nuclear weapons. Yes, that’s right, Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons despite being only 8630 square miles, and roughly the same size as the state of New Jersey! This all undoubtedly seems like a recipe for imminent disaster.
One more notable inclusion here is the 1961 British science fiction disaster film, THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE. In it, the Soviets and United States are conducting an ever increasing amount of nuclear bomb tests and war exercises, which inevitably have a massive impact on the rotation of the earth, causing it to move closer to the sun.
For being a black and white film from the early 60’s, THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE is a very well made and poignant story, which deals with the collapse of society, and resiliency of the human spirit, due to nuclear testing.
I’m not sure what the point of this article is, except for me to try and deal with my feelings after watching three extremely grim films about the absolute destruction of civilization as we know it. There really are no happy endings to be had here. The end credits of WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is a Morse code message which spells out “MAD”, for Mutually Assured Destruction.
There is no wacky Dr. Strangelove in his motorized wheelchair, played by the amazing Peter Sellers, to add some comedic levity. These films are sad reminders of a possible future which might become reality, if we continue to allow propaganda to rule our lives, and lunatics to run the asylum.
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Michael A. Dyer is the host of the HORROR TO CULTURE podcast and website.
