The following contains spoilers for 1983’s Testament and 2025’s A House of Dynamite.
Audiences recently saw the release of one of the year’s most anticipated films. Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite presents a conflict in which the United States is on the verge of going through a nuclear disaster. Government operatives do their best to defend the country against the threat. Fancy rooms filled with giant displays and endless streams of data, numbers, and countdowns keep everyone on the edge of their seats. Netflix‘s A House of Dynamite is a worthy and slick addition to the subgenre of nuclear panic movies. While the BBC masterpiece Threads often dominates the conversation around atomic terror, there’s another film equally deserving of attention — the haunting 1983 drama Testament.
More than 40 years have passed since the release of Testament, during one of the most volatile periods of the Cold War. American society lived in a constant state of tension, fearing that the Soviets might launch a nuclear weapon. Ordinary families in white picket-fenced neighborhoods struggled to overcome the anxiety of becoming victims of war. Such a launch did not occur, but films like Testament showed what would have happened if it did. They offered an insightful look at the aftermath of a nuclear attack and did not hold back in showing the consequences.
In Testament, there is no government to protect anyone. All that remains is a society struggling to survive an incomprehensible disaster, with lasting effects reminiscent of a horror film. Yes, Threads did it masterfully, with a dystopian projection that flows directly into horror territory. Nevertheless, Testament focuses on those whose American dream has been turned to ash in seconds, and death is just around the corner.
What Is ‘Testament’ About?
A Realistic Glance Into What ‘A House of Dynamite’ Avoids
In Testament, the Wetherlys are among the families living in the suburban town of Hamelin, California. Tom, the father, works nearby in San Francisco, and on an ordinary day, while Carol and their children wait for him, there’s an otherworldly flash outside the window. Moments earlier, Sesame Street was interrupted, allowing a news anchor to report that nuclear explosions had occurred, only for the signal to be cut off. Carol and her children, Mary, Liz, Brad, and Scottie, stand outside their home while their neighbors walk in confusion on their street. In other words, Testament begins right when A House of Dynamite ends. This marks the beginning of a nuclear disaster that no one could prevent or prepare for.
What follows is a drama that veers into horror — a harrowing tale of a family grappling with the silence of the authorities. At the same time, debris from the fallout contaminates their lives, and they begin dying one after another. At the center, Carol, a mother trying to survive herself, is unable to hold on to what’s left of her children. Jane Alexander’s performance as Carol is easily one of the best roles in the drama genre of the 1980s, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Testament.
How Does ‘Testament’ Compare to ‘A House of Dynamite’ and Other Nuclear Panic Films?
A Different Cinematic Approach to Nuclear Panic Terror
Testament tells the story that A House of Dynamite avoids with its open ending. It follows the aftermath of a nuclear attack from the perspective of the people without even hinting at the existence of a safety bunker. Viewers are left uncertain whether such a bunker exists, but it is clear that this is not that kind of movie. In the 1983 film, the president is not about to make a life-defining decision (regarding retaliation against possible attackers) before the credits roll. In Testament, we don’t know if he actually made it.
What’s most impactful about Testament is that it’s devoid of any glimmer of hope. Carol watches as her children succumb, one by one, and she desperately tries to hold herself together. One particularly heartbreaking scene involves Carol washing Scottie after she realizes he will also die. It is one of many unsettling moments in a film where children are forced to dig graves that could be their own in the very near future.
Threads also takes place in the aftermath of an attack, but the film is a bleak portrayal of a crisis that appears to be larger in scope. It feels less personal, but it doesn’t mean that it’s less effective as a chronicle of something possible. It’s also not a secret that Threads has long been considered one of the scariest non-horror movies in history.
A House of Dynamite takes everyone by surprise, even its own characters, and follows the crisis as its scope remains to be determined. In the film, the bomb hasn’t gone off, and fallout remains a horrible theory. The 2025 film focuses on the chilling potential reactions to a nuclear attack, exploring this aspect of the plot in detail. It is dramatic, and it’s obviously the most tense cinematic experience of the year, but it is a completely different nuclear panic movie.
Both films also share an important detail: They were both directed by Academy Award-winning women. A House of Dynamite‘s Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Academy Award for Best Director for her work in The Hurt Locker. Testament‘s Lynne Littman was also the recipient of an Academy Award, winning the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category in 1977 for her work on Number Our Days.
Where To Stream ‘Testament’?
The Chilling ‘A House of Dynamite’ Is Already Available To Stream
Testament is currently available to stream on Hoopla and the public library-based platform, Kanopy. It is also available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV. The film often appears on platforms like Tubi, which constantly add obscure titles, but at the moment, it is not available for free streaming.
A House of Dynamite is Netflix’s latest drama. After screening in competition at the Venice International Film Festival this past September, the white-knuckle thriller had a short theatrical run in the U.K. and the U.S. It was ultimately added to Netflix’s library on October 24.
- Release Date
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November 4, 1983
- Runtime
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90 minutes
- Director
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Lynne Littman
- Writers
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John Sacret Young
- Producers
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Jonathan Bernstein
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Jane Alexander
Carol Wetherly
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William Devane
Tom Wetherly
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Rossie Harris
Brad Wetherly
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Roxana Zal
Mary Liz Wetherly
- Release Date
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October 3, 2025
- Runtime
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113 minutes
- Director
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Kathryn Bigelow
- Producers
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Brian Bell, Greg Shapiro