MAY DAY!
SEVERIN ANNOUNCES PRE-ORDERS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
Worldwide UHD Premieres Of Harrowing Masterpieces THE WAR GAME And THREADS, Plus Acclaimed Documentary A YEAR IN A FIELD From Partner Label Spectacular Optic
Announcing the Worldwide UHD Premieres of the seminal apocalyptic nuclear war films THE WAR GAME and THREADS, both featuring new 4K scans from their original negatives. Peter Watkins’ Oscar® winning 1965 documentary drama THE WAR GAME – called “what may be the most important film ever made” by The London Observer – is presented in a 2-Disc Collection with 5+ hours of Special Features, a reprint of Watkins’ companion book and more. Mick Jackson’s milestone 1984 BBC shocker THREADS – infamously hailed by the British Film Institute as “the movie that scarred a generation for life” – is presented in a 3-Disc Collection with 7 hours of Special Features that include the award-winning 2025 documentary SURVIVORS: THE SPECTRE OF THREADS. Additionally, partner label Spectacular Optical presents BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris’ 2023 film A YEAR IN A FIELD, “a quietly devastating piece of work” (Cine Europa) which documents a year in the life of a 4000-year-old Cornish standing stone. All 3 releases include Limited Edition Exclusives and are available to pre-order now at www.SeverinFilms.com.
THE WAR GAME
In 1965, filmmaker Peter Watkins (PRIVILEGE, PUNISHMENT PARK) recruited 350 amateur actors, utilized direct quotes from civil defense manuals and employed newsreel-like recreations to craft a BBC documentary drama that depicted a nuclear attack on Great Britain. The network condemned the finished film as “too horrifying” and refused to broadcast it. Watkins’ masterpiece subsequently received a special award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival and won the 1967 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. The BBC would not air his “chillingly different, enduringly brilliant” (The Guardian) classic until three decades later. “What may be the most important film ever made” (London Observer) is now scanned in 4K from the original 16mm A/B rolls for the first time ever, with more than five and a half hours of all-new Special Features and Limited Edition Exclusives that include an authorized reprint of Watkins’ 1967 The War Game book, collectible postcards, a replica of the UK government’s official evacuation pass and more.
Special Features for THE WAR GAME:
DISC 1: UHD
Audio Commentary With Film Critic Kim Newman And Director Sean Hogan
Trailer
DISC 2: BLU-RAY
Introduction By Filmmaker Alex Cox
Audio Commentary With Film Critic Kim Newman And Director Sean Hogan
Conflict By Design – Interview With Anne Davey Orr, Production Designer On CULLODEN And THE WAR GAME
Who Banned THE WAR GAME? – An Interview With Peter Watkins Historian John Cook
Games Of Fact And Fiction – Video Essay By Dr. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas And Filmmaker Stephen Broomer
THE WAR GAME At Cine City – Featurette By Journalist Eric Veillette
Nuclear Britain – Interview With Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War Author Julie McDowall
Archival Interview With Editor Michael Bradsell
Peter Watkins Reflects On THE WAR GAME And The Media – 1983 Interview From The Australian Film Television And Radio School (AFTRS)
Introduction To THE WAR GAME In Sheffield By Visions Producer John Ellis
THE WAR GAME In Sheffield – Peter Watkins Recruits For A Proposed WAR GAME Remake In Unused Footage For The UK TV Show Visions
Trailer
THE DIARY OF AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER (Peter Watkins Short Film)
THE FORGOTTEN FACES (Peter Watkins Short Film)
Disc Specs:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Runtime: 48 mins
Audio: English Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
4K Video: HDR10
Region: A/B/C
THREADS
On Sunday September 23rd, 1984, THREADS was broadcast on Britain’s BBC2. Written by novelist/playwright Barry Hines (KES) and directed by BAFTA winner Mick Jackson, the film depicted the effects of a thermonuclear attack on the working-class city of Sheffield. Four months later, the film was shown on American cable TV. In both countries, the graphic horrors of detonation, societal collapse and nuclear winter were indelibly seared into tens of millions of homes. Over four decades it has remained “brilliant” (The Guardian), “unsensationally grim” (CineSavant) and “piss yourself terrifying” (The A.V. Club). For the first time ever, THREADS is now scanned in 4K from the original 16mm A/B rolls with 7 hours of Special Features produced by Severin Films. The collection includes a Bonus Disc of Craig Ian Mann & Robert Nevitt’s new documentary SURVIVORS: THE SPECTRE OF THREADS that explores the untold stories of the film’s impact on the people of Sheffield and throughout UK culture.
Special Features for THREADS:
DISC 1: UHD
Audio Commentary With Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse And Severin Films’ David Gregory
Audio Commentary With Actress Karen Meagher And Television Historian Simon Farquhar
DISC 2: BLU-RAY
Audio Commentary With Director Mick Jackson Moderated By Film Writer Kier-La Janisse And Severin Films’ David Gregory
Audio Commentary With Actress Karen Meagher And Television Historian Simon Farquhar
Auditioning For The Apocalypse – Interview With Karen Meagher
Shooting The Annihilation – Interview With Director Of Photography Andrew Dunn
Destruction Designer – Interview With Production Designer Christopher Robilliard
Interview With Film Writer Stephen Thrower
U.S. Trailer
DISC 3: BLU-RAY
SURVIVORS: THE SPECTRE OF THREADS – Feature Documentary On The Production Of THREADS And Its Effect On The People Of Sheffield, England
Immediate And Real – Interview With Julie McDowall, Author Of Attack Warning Red! How Britain Prepared For Nuclear War
Disc Specs:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Runtime: 117 mins
Audio: English Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
4K Video: HDR10
Region: A/B/C
A YEAR IN A FIELD
Weathering the elements in the centre of a field in West Cornwall is the Longstone, a natural relic that has quietly witnessed 4,000 years of tumultuous history.
BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris’ elegiac, meditative, yet profoundly important film is the record of a year in the life of the monolith, beginning on Winter Solstice 2020, as the order of the natural world began unravelling around the globe and the threat of extreme climate change became a reality.
Beautifully shot, with a richly layered sound design, the film meditates on the passage of time through its appreciation of nature, highlighting the subtle changes of the seasons, but also the need to act in order to battle man-made changes that will forever change our planet.
Special Features for A YEAR IN A FIELD:
Introduction by Christopher Morris recorded for the Gimme Some Truth Film Festival
More Than Slow Cinema: Director Christopher Morris and Producer Denzil Monk in Conversation
Paranormal in the West Country: An Interview with The Stone Club’s Lally MacBeth and Matthew Shaw
Q&A at the Philosophical Research Society moderated by Will Sheff of Okkervil River
Interview with Christopher Morris at the Zurich Film Festival
KESTAV (2023) – Short film by Christopher Morris
HOLLOWAY (2015) – Short film by Adam Scovell
Trailer
Disc Specs:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Runtime: 89 mins
Audio: English 5.1, English Stereo
Closed Captions: English SDH
Region: A/B/C
