# Did the day after scare you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820 "2019-09-06T23:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/21 "2019-09-07T01:59:11Z")
Threads did, The Day After didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/22 "2019-09-07T02:06:44Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Threads is just so straightforward - it really looks like a documentary about the end of the world, albeit set in the 80s. > > It did scare me as a child and it scared my 1998 born child and her friends too. > > When the Wind Blows is animated, so that may change how it affects you. It’s about two elderly British people doing everything they’re told to. There is no outright horror and very little happens. But it’s fairly unusual to watch it and not be upset at least, I’d say. > > It’s like the first section of Up, but the world ends. > > \ This is a great video review of WTWB; Yes WTWB is animated, and that’s part of the reason it takes you off guard, it starts slow, very slow, you get to see this endearing elderly couple live their daily life, they become _real_ to you, they remind you of your parents, or grandparents, it’s just the two characters, you simply fall in love with this wonderful, endearing couple, who are clearly still madly in love after decades together… …and then you watch as their world, and they, simply fall apart… physically, and mentally… sorry, gotta go scare off those invisible ninjas cutting onions that have somehow snuck in… be warned, WTWB _WILL_ crush your soul! if you feel nothing after watching this then you are not human and have no soul. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/23 "2019-09-07T03:02:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I love this film, and own a copy of it. The brilliant part of it is that it’s simply a compilation of films and TV programs with no voice-over narration, or any dialogue that’s not in the original. Remember that panel talk show with the politician who wanted to use nuclear bombs in the Korean War? War Hawk Politician: “Yes, there are several targets north of the Yalu River we could use. We could destroy them! We could destroy them and contaminate them!” Me watching movie: Down boy! Down, I say! Down! But what I found most amusingly disturbing, beside Bert the Turtle of course, were the little topical songs they played. Such as: "There were no atheists in a foxhole. And men who never prayed before Lifted up their eyes and hearts to heaven, And begged the Lord to end that awful war. They prayed to Him about their homes and loved ones, And how they would love to be there. I think the bomb that hit Hiroshima Was the answer to a fighting boy’s prayer." The quotes are approximate from memory of years ago, but you can see, I watched it a number of times, and it made an enormous impression on me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/24 "2019-09-07T03:06:21Z")
I thought _Testament_ was the best ‘80s nuclear war drama. A low-key production, originally for PBS, starring Jane Alexander as the mother of a California family that gradually dies off from radiation poisoning. (And I hate to correct my old neighbor Baker, but Lawrence is between Topeka and KC. I think she just misspoke). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/25 "2019-09-07T03:19:42Z")
I was 15 or 16 when it aired. I don’t remember being scared even though I was prime age to be. A vague feeling of a memory makes me want to say I thought it was too slow. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/26 "2019-09-07T03:21:27Z")
_On the Beach_ scared me. _Failsafe_ scared me. By the time of _The Day After_ I was toughened to it all. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/27 "2019-09-07T03:49:07Z")
I was 21 when it aired, and it didn’t frighten me but it was hella depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/28 "2019-09-07T03:52:04Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > TDA was nothing compared to Threads or When the Wind Blows > … > > When the Wind Blows simply _CRUSHES_ your SOUL, simply the most depressing, disheartening and gut-wrenching film I’ve ever seen … > [@CalMeacham](#): > > No, I was already terrified by **The War Game** \* Both of these were incredibly affecting, and terrifying. I’m not sure if the _When The Wind Blows_ film aired in Australia, I read the Raymond Briggs graphic novel on which it was based. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/29 "2019-09-07T03:58:03Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > My wife was emotionally scarred for life by The Day After as a kid. I remember being slightly concerned for a short while, then I quickly forgot about it. Neither of us have seen threads, but I’d like to. Threads is on dailymotion, in two parts. Used to be on YouTube in its entirety. Worth your time, but consider when it was made. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/30 "2019-09-07T11:13:22Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I thought _Testament_ was the best ‘80s nuclear war drama. A low-key production, originally for PBS, starring Jane Alexander as the mother of a California family that gradually dies off from radiation poisoning. I was profoundly moved by “Testament”. There’s a scene where Jane Alexander’s character is watching her youngest child burn in a mass cremation. She falls wailing to her knees, and scoops up handfuls of poisoned earth, screaming rage at the “leaders” who brought this upon everyone. It deserves to be an iconic scene in movies. Like “STELLA!!!” or “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/31 "2019-09-07T12:05:44Z")
Not a bit, even though they clearly expected it to. Units in high school, special features on television and magazines and so forth. But fuck, unless you were oblivious, we Gen X kids had been living under the constant threat of death en masse since we were born. Weird All made satirical songs about it, for heaven’s sake. Some asshole television execs saying we could be ‘deeply effected’ by their show only shows they weren’t really paying attention, either. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/32 "2019-09-07T19:38:14Z")
I think I might have been confusing Threads and Testament. Which is the one that ends on the terrified mother freeze frame? That’s the one I meant. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/33 "2019-09-07T19:52:14Z")
No. > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Some asshole television execs saying we could be ‘deeply effected’ by their show only shows they weren’t really paying attention I’m another one of those Gen-X that was supposed to be terrified by a risk I’d already internalized. If anything it was a risk that was on a downward trend.In 1983 the Soviet Union was already limping towards the glasnost and perestroika era that began just a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/34 "2019-09-07T20:12:53Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > In other news, best nuclear war film IMHO: [By Dawn’s Early Light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_Dawn%27s_Early_Light). I agree, that one is by far my favourite as well. I was just old enough to really understand the Cold War when it came to an end, and that movie was released in the same period so I probably watched it at a formative time. I did watch it again not so long ago and thought it really stood up, one of those occasions where the movie is better than the book its based on. As for The Day After I only watched it fairly recently and it was better than I expected, the attack sequence is very well done in my opinion. It didn’t scare me, but then I wasn’t watching it in the early 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/35 "2019-09-07T20:45:03Z")
I was a teenager and I did not find it scary. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/36 "2019-09-07T21:05:37Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I think I might have been confusing Threads and Testament. Which is the one that ends on the terrified mother freeze frame? That’s the one I meant. Must be Threads (which I’d never heard of until now). Testament ends rather hopefully (all things considered), with the mother and surviving son deciding to not commit suicide after all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/37 "2019-09-07T21:24:21Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Not a bit, even though they clearly expected it to. Units in high school, special features on television and magazines and so forth. > > But fuck, unless you were oblivious, we Gen X kids had been living under the constant threat of death en masse since we were born. Weird All made satirical songs about it, for heaven’s sake. > > Some asshole television execs saying we could be ‘deeply effected’ by their show only shows they weren’t really paying attention, either. Gen X? Try growing up a Baby Boomer and living about a good 3-iron from the largest MATS base in Southern California, about 15 miles from a key SAC base and the same from the largest rail marshaling yards on the West Coast. We didn’t even bother with “duck & cover” drills. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/38 "2019-09-07T22:36:01Z")
For whatever reason, I never saw Threads or The Day After, but we did see another movie with a similar subject called _[Special Bulletin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Bulletin)_. It was presented as if it was live news reports from the scene of a hostage-taking in Charleston, South Carolina by a group with a home-made nuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/39 "2019-09-07T22:56:49Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I live in Topeka, a short half hour from Lawrence. I figure I would have been toast, as the first nukes we saw were in KC, and Topeka is between KC and Lawrence. It scared me, but Threads was even worse, That last scene where the girl sees her baby and opens he mouth to scream, and the story ends, shudder. They are still out there. In the corn fields. The missile silos, that is. They are still targets for our adversaries. Even the deactivated ones. Sleep well. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/40 "2019-09-07T23:42:06Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > No. > > I’m another one of those Gen-X that was supposed to be terrified by a risk I’d already internalized. If anything it was a risk that was on a downward trend.In 1983 the Soviet Union was already limping towards the glasnost and perestroika era that began just a few years later. I was in elementary school in '83, but I wasn’t terrified of the Day After. Just more resigned it was going to happen, so be prepared, and enjoy the spectacle. Which I did, when watching that broadcast. Much better eye candy than Threads. The rockets launching, and weird optical effects when the bombs detonated, were really cool. I’m surprised it didn’t happen, those last 10 years of the Cold War, and the first few afterwards. The Coup against Gorbachev ended far better than anyone could have hoped. Ditto the unrest with Yeltsin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820.md?page=3)