Minimal Wave Records

I can’t get enough.  Since the threat of nuclear war/winter informed much of this music maybe a good topic?

Some of my favorite films:

Threads
Testament
The War Game

You could make a case for Zombie films portraying a post nuclear societal breakdown.

Escape From NY has a nuetron bomb feel (& absolute killer soundtrack)

Mad Max implies that it’s already gone down in the northeren hemisphere & the Aussies are just trying to keep law & order until the radiation comes (it’s On The Beach with motorcycles.)

Glen and Randa is not as well known but has it’s moments.  The illiterate protagonist being respected for his ability to destinguish between cans of food and cans of motor oil was a nice touch.

I won’t even bother with examples of the theme in minmal/wave music, but maybe there are some other favorites out there…?

The animated film When The Wind Blows is truly disturbing.  The husband having to explain what the big litter box is for really made me think about whether I would want to survive.

That’s one I still haven’t seen.  It’s on my list.

After I saw Threads on PBS in the ‘80s, I knew I didn’t want to survive.  Or at least I knew I wouldn’t be headed to the basement.  I’d head out to be vaporized or at least be a witness to the end.

try “No Blade of Grass” by cornel wilde, the guy who did “Naked Prey”

I will seek it out.

to further clarify the aesthetic in question:

from a british civil defense manual.
the govt tells it’s citizens: take your radio, don’t call us, we’ll call you.

Re: Nuclear War Films & Music

[quote author=“futility”]I can’t get enough.  Since the threat of nuclear war/winter informed much of this music maybe a good topic?

cool idea! i also like the apocalypse genre .. some that might not have been mentioned:

until the end of the world
the sacrifice
dr. strangelove
delicatessen
terminator trilogy
la jetee

I’ve been fighting the urge to order this for a while, six discs of Nuclear related recordings:

http://www.conelrad.com/media/atomicmusic/sh_boom.html

there are some great titles that must be way over due for coverversions.

Most if not all of those individual films can be downloaded (for free, and legally!) from The Prellinger Archives at http://www.archive.org

Great topic! I really like the post-atomic subject.And escape from new york is one of my favorite movies (just read my nickname :D )

A really great post atomic-cyberpunk movie is Hardware by Richard Stanley.It’s a pretty obscure movie from the late eightes.Even if the plot isn’t really original,the strong point of the movie is in the atmosphere,which is at the top thanks to a clever direction and some really cool chromatic selections.
Stanley will direct only another movie,the excellent Dust Devil,recently re-released in the Director’s Cut edition.

Threads and Hardware are for sure classics of the genre.  The futility and despair of Threads really stuck with me.

In a slightly less stark and distinctly more popcorn/camp side of the genre there’s always “Night Of The Comet” which i must have seen a million times as a kid.

Atomic Cafe is essential viewing. Mainly a collection 0f highly entertaining propaganda films from the 40s and 50s.

What about Cafe Flesh? I’m looking for this film.
I don’t see anybody mentioning Decoder here. Well, maybe it’s not post-nuclear or apocalyptic, but it’s fulfilled with this technological, pesymistic cyberpunk mood. Plus one of the best soundtracks ever!

Small gift for you - good polish propaganda slide scanned:
- device called “pulsedust”.

[quote author=“exotika”]
Small gift for you - good polish propaganda slide scanned:
- device called “pulsedust”.

7” front cover ho!

“Letters of a Dead Man”
...nice rare post-apokalyptic one
after a Stugatzki book

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091759/

I love these kind of movies as well…

i recommend a film from N.Z. called ‘The Quiet Earth’ - a sort of introspective, early Ballard referencing ‘last man on earth’ movie

I have not seen for few years but it made a big impression on me…

I also recommend a film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa called Kairo (Pulse) that begins as a sort of atmospheric Japanese horror film into a very apocalyptic narrative

If you like more instrospective apolacypses i think
    is worth investigating - i loved it…

kybernetis - ‘Letters of a Dead Man’ sounds great im going to check it out