# 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:** 3
**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, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/41 "2019-09-07T23:47:59Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > 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. The Russians maybe—I doubt they have enough weapons anymore to go 2 to 1 in a counter force strike—and the Soviets certainly, but AIUI, the Chinese deterrent is counter value in nature. Though I suspect public knowledge of their deterrent pales in comparison with its actual magnitude. If it’s countervalue though, I guess it’s worse for most of the people here at the SDMB. I expect Chinese missiles to fly before I expect Russian ones to, not that I think the Russians are friendly. We’ll see. Made it 74 years so far… ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/42 "2019-09-08T00:38:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > 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. YES! Now that one was a bit disturbing. MUCH better than The Day After. ---
**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 8, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/43 "2019-09-08T01:04:45Z")
> [@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. That’s “Threads”. Haven’t seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/44 "2019-09-08T01:11:52Z")
I saw The Day After. It didn’t scare me. I’d heard about all of that repeatedly in high school. That had already scared me. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/45 "2019-09-08T01:34:04Z")
Scared? No. I grew up in the [“duck and cover”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMnKNHNfznE) era. I was in my 30s when\* The Day After\* came out. Of course, TDA depressed me. [Testament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_(1983_film)) depressed me a lot more. My wife got so depressed she got up and walked out - the only time that’s ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/46 "2019-09-08T01:46:18Z")
No. It wasn’t well made, and I had thought about its topic before. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/47 "2019-09-08T01:50:24Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > As nuclear doomsday movies go, it was below average. Dull, dull, dull. > > The only nuclear disaster film to scare me was a compilation of Cold War propaganda films called _The Atomic Cafe_. That’s I thought. And the movie that scared me the most was _The War Game_ from 1965. It seemed so much more plausible. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/48 "2019-09-08T01:52:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > No, I was already terrified by **The War Game** \* > [The War Game - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Game) > > [The War Game Script- Nuclear War](http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/the-war-game-script.html) > > **Threads** , a British follow-up, was almost as scary. Both these films depict harsh realities that **The Day After** shied away from. > > [Thread - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads) > > \*NOT the Matthew Broderick _War Games_, but the BBC dramatic recreation of atomic war. Much, much scarier than the (by comparison) much tamer American TV movie. Damn. I knew I should finish reading the thread before posting! I also found _Testament_ somewhat scary, but mostly so so sad. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/49 "2019-09-08T01:59:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 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. Yep. I had atom bomb nightmares when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s. I was in SoCal, too. I always figured we’d be one of the first targets. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/50 "2019-09-08T02:04:40Z")
> [@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. This, and Special Report or whatever it was called, the one that was broadcastas though it was a live event (iirc even the commercials were part of the show) were really cool at the time, the whole family watched together. They only thing my parents were worried about was if I would get bored part way through. The one movie that really affected me was the japanese anime, I can’t think of the name, about a boy dealing with the death of his little brother. He carried him to where he thought he would get help but he was already dead. I want to say it was written by and based on the experience of a man who actually did survive the bombing of Hiroshima. My recall of specific details is fuzzy but the overall theme and story was very saddening for me. ---
**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 8, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/51 "2019-09-08T03:01:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > 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. Ooh, I remember that one and IIRC it was pretty good! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/52 "2019-09-08T07:25:53Z")
No. It was laughable. ---
**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 8, 2019, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/53 "2019-09-08T11:28:13Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > This, and Special Report or whatever it was called, the one that was broadcastas though it was a live event (iirc even the commercials were part of the show) were really cool at the time, the whole family watched together. They only thing my parents were worried about was if I would get bored part way through. > > The one movie that really affected me was the japanese anime, I can’t think of the name, about a boy dealing with the death of his little brother. He carried him to where he thought he would get help but he was already dead. I want to say it was written by and based on the experience of a man who actually did survive the bombing of Hiroshima. My recall of specific details is fuzzy but the overall theme and story was very saddening for me. Grave of the Fireflies (1988). I rented it about a year ago, based on Roger Ebert’s praise. It is indeed brutal and also lovely in its way. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/54 "2019-09-08T15:26:18Z")
That’s the name, thanks. Yes, brutal and lovely is an excellent way to describe it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/55 "2019-09-08T15:52:50Z")
I found _The Day After_ fairly disturbing, but many years earlier, as an eight-year-old, I had had the living shit scared out of me by the Cuban Missile Crisis, so that may have blunted the impact somewhat. I’ll add another nod to _Special Bulletin_. That was very well done, as I recall. Lastly, film rather TV but the somewhat obscure [_Miracle Mile_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097889/), with Anthony Edwards, really messed me up. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/56 "2019-09-08T17:30:14Z")
I found TDA basically depressing, with two scenes I remember: John Lithgow seeing some missiles in the sky and saying “Those are minutemen missiles”, and a frazzled housewife in denial, insisting on finishing making the bed while the husband yanks her away to go for cover. Never seen Threads nor WTWB but might after what I’ve read here. Damnation Alley was kinda fun.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/57 "2019-09-08T18:44:10Z")
It occurs to me that a double feature of _Grave of the Fireflies_ and _When the Wind Blows_ is likely the most suicide inducing movie night imaginable. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/58 "2019-09-08T19:00:26Z")
I didn’t see the “The Day After” when it first aired. It was on my mind for awhile after I saw it as an adult. But it didn’t scare me. But I do remember watching the movie “Testament” as a kid. It aired on PBS and starred Jane Alexander, who played a mother struggling to keep it all together after a nuclear explosion kills everyone and their mama in a painfully slow way. Now, that movie did scare me. It seemed so realistic. But I watched it recently and I actually think “The Day After” was more realistic. Like, in “Testament”, people drop like flies after the event, but no one really exhibits any illness or signs leading up to their death. But you see all of that in “The Day After”. ---
**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 8, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/59 "2019-09-08T20:38:19Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > …But I do remember watching the movie “Testament” as a kid. It aired on PBS and starred Jane Alexander, who played a mother struggling to keep it all together after a nuclear explosion kills everyone and their mama in a painfully slow way. Now, that movie did scare me. It seemed so realistic. > > But I watched it recently and I actually think “The Day After” was more realistic. Like, in “Testament”, people drop like flies after the event, but no one really exhibits any illness or signs leading up to their death. But you see all of that in “The Day After”. Combine the death scenes of the firefighters from “Chernobyl” with the rest of Testament. Then consider that anything beyond palliative care is likely not going to be available. Acute secondary radiation sickness is about as bad a way to go that there is. Also consider that the cells lining the GI tract are some of the most susceptible to ionizing radiation. Most sufferers are going to die from shitting themselves to death, or systemic sepsis from an initial GI infection, long before they melt into their hospital beds like that one poor bastard. Just a nightmarish death for the victim and her caregivers. OTOH, acute radiation sickness is largely a creature of WarDay +30 and shorter, as short half-life, intensely radioactive isotopes largely decay away. Unless you live very near the ground burst. Radiation induced cancer, OTOH… ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820/60 "2019-09-08T21:22:20Z")
It’s all true. It just hasn’t happened yet. Evolution created the small pox virus at some point in the past. Sooner or later the same conditions will exits and it will be re-evolve. Or maybe some whacko at the CDC will screw up while playing with the virus being stored in Atlanta(?). Fail-Safe, or the black-comedy version, Dr.Strangelove will probably not happen in my lifetime, but don’t-cha think it’s probable to occur sometime in the next 83,000 years. Nuclear war and the inevitable return of small pox certainly would solve the problem of over crowding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-day-after-scare-you/839820.md?page=4)