Michael Jackson: Thriller

Plot synopsis:
Here is a synopsis for the full-length official music video of the song, "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. The song was released in 1983, and appears on the album, "Thriller". It was an instant hit single. The song is five minutes and twelve seconds long.The short film starts with a disclaimer, which reads:"Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult" - Michael JacksonMichael Jackson and an unnamed girl are together in a car. It's a pitch-dark at night. He's driving. They stop outside a forest, so they decide to walk together. He gives a ring to her, and she accepts it. Michael tells her that he's not like any other guy. She says that that's why she likes him. Michael insists that she doesn't understand him, that he's really different. At this moment the full moon appears from behind some night clouds. Michael feels sick and hides his face. She asks him what the trouble is, and he looks at her, his face changed with eyes like a wild animal, more longer hair and wolf-like teeth: he's become a werewolf. He cries out: "GO AWAY!" and she screams and runs for dear life. He chases her, and when he finally arrives up to her- she had tripped and stumbled down, - he's a werewolf!Action changes: suddenly, we are within a cinema, with an audience which crowds the place. Michael Jackson and his girlfriend are watching this wereworlf film. She is too terrified by it, but he is enjoying himself. While voices from the screen make me think that some guys have discovered the werewolf, Michael's girl leaves the place, giving her popcorn to him. Finally, Michael goes after her. Outside the cinema, Michael's girlfriend doesn't find it amusing that it's a horror movie. Michael is much more relaxed. We can see that the title of the film was Thriller.They walk around some dericlit streets at night, and they pass by a cemetery. Michael is kidding with his girl, singing to her that she was afraid because of the film. She replies back that she was not too afraid. He keeps on pulling her leg, dancing around. Zombies start emerging from their tombs in the cemetery.Suddenly, Michael and his girl are surrounded by gruesome zombies. The creatures close in, many of them against just the pair of them. All of a sudden, the girl realises that Michael is on their side. Michael and the zombies perform an elaborate dance routine.She runs away up to a dereclit house. She goes in and flies upstairs, closing the doors behind her. The zombies had followed her, and they have no problem in breaking into the room she has locked herself in: the walls are made of wood, so it's not a problem for the zombies to enter. They close on in her again. It looks as if she is lost forever!The situation changes again. She wakes up, and realises it has only been a strange, realistic nightmare. She is in the same room of the same house as in her dream, but there is nobody there except for her and her boyfriend. Michael tells her that everything is alright, but they must leave. She gets up and they both leave the room. While they are doing so, Michael looks at the camera to show his outter-world yellowy eyes.The film ends with a clip of all the zombies slowly returning to their tombs in the cemetery. The most gruesome zombie scowls at the camera.Michael Jackson RIP 25/06/2009

Tags: romantic, dark

Review:
This short film displays the absolute highest standard in music video and no-one will ever be able to out-beat this 'King Of Pop' masterpiece!
It shows Michael turning into a zombie and dancing in the street with some spectacular choreography.
Today everybody is still doing the same thing in music video with dancing and film-based story-lines which he innovated.
Michael Jackson's album was slaying the charts, John Landis still had a lot of good will built up from his genre pic "An American Werewolf In London", (not to mention his classic comedies ANIMAL HOUSE and THE BLUES BROTHERS) and choreographer Michael Peters was creating some of the most innovative and influential pieces for music videos of that period.Not before or since has one single piece of film illuminated, exploited or underscored MJ's incredible talent or the more "otherworldly" aspects of his persona quite like THRILLER, the world's most successful (if not officially the first) long-form video, and the most fondly remembered.
'Thriller' remains the greatest of the pop music promos to have a plot, great visuals, and a tip-top song to wrap the film around.
Here he is in good form - the song is terrific, he leads the zombies in dance like no other.Ola Ray plays the girl who watches with incredulity as her sweet boyfriend (Jackson, natch) turns into a werewolf!
Then to the pulsing rhythms of the opening line 'It's close to midnight', he stomps around the graveyard with the other zombies and creatures of the night.The crowning glory of all this is the fruity voice of the great horror star Vincent Price speaking in the middle of the record.
The first music video I ever saw, Thriller, my mom told me that she took me home from the hospital and when we arrived, my sister had MTV on the TV and Thriller was playing, my mom said that I smiled.
Silly I know, but I have loved Michael Jackson since that day, the music video Thriller inspired me to dance, still I have the dance memorized to this day.
Words cannot describe the power of this song that makes you wanna sing and dance, but Michael of course had to raise the bar for MTV at the time by signing on American Werewolf in London director John Landis and directing the one, the only, Thriller.Michael and his date, Ola Ray, run out of gas in a dark, wooded area.
The scene cuts away to a movie theater where Michael and his date are actually watching this scene unfold in a movie called Thriller.
Michael and the undead perform an elaborate song and dance number together, followed by the chorus of Thriller.Thriller is arguably the best music video of all time, funny thing is people who wanna argue that is with other Michael Jackson videos, but what makes Thriller so special is the dance, the story, the effects, this at the time was the most expensive music video of it's day.
Michael of course rose that bar again with his famous music video Scream and then again with Ghosts.
John Landis truly outdid himself when he directed Michael Jackson's THRILLER as a short film.
The song itself is...excellent...add Michael JAckson dancing and you have a golden Phenomenon.
Vicent Price has his segment of bone-shivering lines...known simply as "the rap" Ola Ray does good as Michael's girl, and Michael JAckson himself...the dancing, and singing (although not during the video itself) is unmatched...10/10..
It is more than a music video (I think it is the best ever), to me it is a short 14 minutes cult-classic.
I have always liked Michael Jackson's music and I am a huge Vincent Price fan, so Thriller seemed like a perfect combination.
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983) has to be the greatest video ever made.
You can say what you'd like about Michael Jackson, but songs like ''Bad'', ''Thriller'' and ''Billie Jean'' has stunned the pop-world.
You can say what you'd like about Michael Jackson, but songs like ''Bad'', ''Thriller'' and ''Billie Jean'' has stunned the pop-world.
But this is out of the ordinary.It is more than a music video (I think it is the best ever), to me it is a short 14 minutes cult-classic.Even better is the influences from George A.
Michael Jackson-fans have probably already seen it, but I still have got to tell them, and everyone else, about this remarkable and historic video..
Michael Jackson-fans have probably already seen it, but I still have got to tell them, and everyone else, about this remarkable and historic video..
I think music videos take away personal feelings about a particular song..
This video/short film remains on many lists as one of, if not the greatest music video of all time and it is easy to see why.
This is The King of Pop at the height of his powers before his eccentricities really took over as they have seemed to in recent years.A cohesive storyline mixes with the music and the dance as well as a vocal cameo by horror master Vincent Price creating a story like none since.
Directed by John Landis when that was a good thing with makeup effects by the great Rick Baker, it just feels like a real effort was put forth that there isn't in 99% of music videos.
Anyway, this is the best music video ever and my final word on it is that Ola Ray is beautiful and when I was a wee lad I wanted to marry her.
It would be hard to explain to anyone much under 30 just how huge a star Michael Jackson was in 1983 at the time the album "Thriller" was released.I am the same age as him,and have followed his career from its beginnings as the child prodigy in the Jackson 5 through its doldrums in the mid 70s,to megastardom in "83 and back to Planet Earth in the noughties!
When the video "Thriller" was released i was in a nightclub in London and they screened it at midnight; everyone stopped dancing,drinking or snogging to watch the most expensive music video ever made.
But, while it's a great video, it's not perfect, even though it seemed like it at the time.
When Michael Jackson is walking beside the girl after they leave the movie theatre, he sings all the verses of the song, skipping the choruses.
The best videos, like Jackson's Billie Jean and Beat It, have used visuals to serve the music, not the other way around.
Looking back on it now for the first time since its initial prominence, I was struck not by the horror trappings - quaint, but fun, and Vincent Price has never sounded so genuinely, un-camply (sic?) menacing - than its absorption of the horror film, allowing Jackson, behind genre and make-up, to give us a bravely revealing portrait of male sexuality.Because THRILLER isn't really about horror, in the way horror isn't really about horror: it is about that age-old theme, the sexual awakening of a young woman.
This is a music video and short horror film at the same time.
John Landis, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones; there's a lot of star power behind "Thriller".
A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael Jackson and his date (Ola Ray) are attacked by a hoard of bloody-thirsty zombies - only "Thriller" can save them now.So, you have one of the great Michael Jackson songs, directed by John Landis, makeup by Rick Baker and narration by Vincent Price.
Add to it a dance that has now become iconic in its own right, and this is easily the greatest music video of all time.
(After thirty years, no one has come close, and the medium of "music video" is almost a dead art.) And, if Jackson was not already the King of Pop, this would have been the thing that cemented him.
Thriller is a unique film that gave way to drama in both music video and movies of the 1980's.
Michael Jackson's sense of humor, and talent became immediately evident with the break out of the song and then the dancing changed me mind.
The video's message is self-explanatory, using the story of the lyrics (a young couple watching a scary movie) as an inspiration for John Landis and Michael Jackson to pay homage to cheesy horror films.
It was the first time I had ever a music movie like this, but I will tell you that seeing on the big screen from a 35mm print in a darken theatre gives it a much better impact than seeing a cropped pan and scan version on VH1 at Halloween..
This is one of Michael Jackson's best music video's ever made.
Vincent Prices rap is totally cool and the zombies dancing with Michael is totally amazing!
No matter how you feel about Michael Jackson himself, you can't deny that this video is the most unique video of all time.
There is no other video that is even remotely close to "Thriller"  The first time I saw it was when I was 6 years old and it scared me bad.
when michael turns into a werewolf is a bit of an on the-edge-of-your-seat part the first time you watch it.
if you like this then i suggest you buy 'Making Michael Jackson's Thriller' which has the film then the making of it after it.
Thriller is the GREATEST music video of all time !!!!!
Back in 1983, Michael Jackson's popularity was such that if he wanted to make a $1 million horror music video with the "American Werewolf" team and featuring the voice of Vincent Price, then that was exactly what he was going to do.
But odds are you already know all about it, as whenever there's a list of the greatest music videos of all time, this one almost invariably takes the top spot.It begins with Michael Jackson walking down a dark street with his date after their car has broken down.
Ah, all of this is just occurring in a horror movie that Michael Jackson and his date are watching.So, we're five minutes in and still no sign of the song "Thriller".
He only made three or four good songs (Thriller being at the top of the list), but damn it, I'd be lying to myself, along with everyone else, if I didn't say this is the best music video ever.
Best music video of all time an great practical effects 
Michael Jackson and that Landis dude did an awesome job the zombies and the grave scene looked absolutely real and when I was 8 everytime I seen it come on TV id hide in my blankets til it was over now I watch it over and over and almost have it memorized I love this video.
John Landis brings much of his horror experience he got from his 1981 classic An American Werewolf in London to this music movie (I call it a movie because something at 14 minutes long isn't a video).
Definately, this is one of the best music movies ever made, and it's thanks to a catchy song, Vincent Price and Romero type zombie action that make this good.
I did think this song was okay so I'll give it credit but I will say there was a synth solo while Michael and the other zombies dance that to me just went on a bit too long.
Janet leaves and Michael follows but on the way home they're intercepted by zombies, made by the awesomeness of Vincent Price monologues.
They dance with Michael and Janet runs away to an abandoned house and the zombies break in like they're in Escape From New York only to find out that didn't really happen at all.
"thriller" is a boring 14 minutes, including the extremely dated werewolf transformation, the mindless Vincent Price poem (just because VP recites it doesn't mean it's not lame), and the least threatening zombies I have ever seen.
While i gotta agree that it is really spooky in that spine-tingling, juicy way, it's just always struck me as not so much terrifying as just kind of sad- less a horror than a tragedy.In one of the moments of sick irony in the MJ story ("It don't matter if you're black or white", anyone?) music fans all round the world watched in 1983 (a time when the only thing freakish about Michael was his incredible talent) with a delicious mix of horror and deep excitement as, in this video, michael strutted his stuff in three separate realities (the movie at the start, the dancing in the graveyard and the cats-eyes embrace at the end) and in each is transformed mysteriously into nightmarish figures of evil.Little did anyone know that he would spend the next two decades doing so for real.Well, here we are, 20 years later, asking questions that seem very far away indeed from the eighties: Did Jackson ply a series of children with alcohol and lure them into his bed?
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" created a whole new section of music videos which can honestly be called mini movies.
Best long-form music video of all time!.
(A very bright and shiny one, though.) He and his fellow zombies then begin what may be the most well known dance choreography of any music video.
To tell you any more would give the ending away.This is my favorite music video of all time!
This Is The Bestest Music Video AKA Short Film Ever Made.
Michael Jackson Is The King Of Pop. And This My Favorite Music Video By Him. And Is Directed By John Landis (Director Of An American Werewolf In London.) And Stars Of Course Michael Jackson Ola Ray Rick Baker (The Makeup Artist Has A Cameo As One Of The Zombies.) And Vincent Price As The Voice Of The Narration Rap. It Is A Great Film It Is Great And Scary.
Who Can Forget This Video Michael Jackson Is One Of The Greatest Artists Of All Time.
MJ Thriller Put Music Videos On the Map!.
Like he and his date, are watching a movie.It seems of themselves as Jackson's character on the screen turns into a wolf.
Wanting to do away, with his kidding, Michael starts to sing the song.We then have the late Vince Price use his monologue.
Michael Jackson and Ola Ray star in this 1983 horror music video.
The late great, Jackson not only starred in this, but helped choreograph, produce & direct with John Landis after viewing his previous film, "An American Werewolf in London." This is also a short film that pays tribute to werewolf & zombie horror flicks mixed with pop.
This is not only the best music video ever made, but definitely Jackson's best I recommend..
This is a music-video turned short-film, very well directed by John Landi - using some of the same trickery and style adopted for his 1981 comedy-horror classic, "An American Werewolf in London".Beautifully shot by Robert Paynter, a veteran British cinematographer who learnt his trade photographing British Transport Films back in the 1950s; he captures some vividly dark blues, purples and reds throughout.There are film-within-a-film games going on here, plus a surprisingly overt story about burgeoning sexuality, with Jackson's girl clearly more frightened of what is potentially to come in the bedroom than what she is seeing on the cinema screen.
Vincent Price's voice-over makes a lot more sense in the context of this film than in the song as it appears on "Thriller".
While "art" isn't precisely the word I'd use to describe Michael Jackson's 'Thriller (1983),' it is an intensely-likable hybrid of schlock horror and music, and an outrageously-campy short film that remains remarkably endearing nearly 25 years later.
When the girl becomes frightened, they both leave cinema and begin to walk home, at which point Michael begins to sing the opening lines of his latest song, "Thriller." However, when a hoard of blood-thirsty zombies emerge from the local graveyard {their entrance ghoulishly narrated by Vincent Price}, the situation begins to get interesting.It's difficult to quite put my finger on why 'Thriller' is considered one of the greatest of all music videos.
Perhaps a decent explanation for the film's popularity is the incredible amount of work that must have gone into it; nothing like it had ever been seen before, and it still remains something of an oddity in the world of music videos.
Tell me what you think.The camera comes down on Michael and his date coming out of the cinema and they start to walk to his house while singing Thriller.
After being cornered by Michael and the zombies they start to dance and sing the chorus to Thriller.
I decided to remind myself how wonderful he was by watching what is considered by many to be not only Jackson's best video (and possibly song), but the greatest music video ever made, from director John Landis (An American Werewolf in London).
The film opens with Michael and his Girl (Ola Ray) having their car breakdown, and after giving her a ring, the moon comes out and he turns into a werewolf.
We then see Michael and his Girl watching this horror film in the cinema, she is scared and walks out, and Michael soon follows her, singing the iconic song.
Soon enough the voice of Vincent Price comes on, and zombies start crawling out the earth and open coffins from the graveyard, and Michael and the Girl are obviously surrounded.
"Thriller" is probably Michael Jackson's most famous music video, possibly the most famous video from any artist.
It has his usual music video director John Landis on board again and as a nice addition horror movie legend Vincent Price narrating some verses.The song is not bad, although it is not my favorite from Jackson.
If you're interested in the history of music videos or the tragic life of Michael Jackson, it's worth the watch.