Watching the World Die: Nuclear Threat Films of the 1980s
Published by McFarland, 2023. 261 pages.
By Mike Bogue

Back in 2018, I reviewed Mike Bogue’s previous book, Apocalypse Then: American and Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967 (click HERE for that review), which I really enjoyed since it was much more than what it looked like at face value, not just about giant monsters created from atomic energy, but giving a really good insight to even the differences between countries and how they each looked and perceived what had, or could, happen.

When I received his latest book, Watching the World Die, at first thought it would just be about movies dealing with nuclear war and the aftermath, along the lines of films like The Day After (1983). And honestly, I have to say for someone that likes to use movies as an escape, reading about some truly terrifying films like Testament (1983) or Threads (1984) is a bit rough. Not to say that cinema can’t have a message, and a lot of these films do exactly what they set out to do, and do it well, but for me personally, it’s not a particular sub-genre that I enjoy watching or reading about. On that same note, writing about futuristic worlds that are struggling to survive after the destruction is easier to put it in more of terms of a fantasy, and even horror, that I can enjoy a lot easier. It’s about the after-effects, not the actual holocaust, if that makes sense.