Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983)

[Brett H.]

Click the link below to read The Dream Master, J.T. Jeans (wait... Edward Carnby!) and yours truly's opinions on the monumental musical short that rocked the world... this is Thriller!

http://oh-the-horror.com/page.php?id=520

[nottidelterrore]

Great reviews, guys! I pretty much agree with everything that's been said about Thriller. It's no surprise that it's my favorite music video of all-time.

I used to be scared to death of the video. I liked the song but I wouldn't watch the video because of the zombies. This was also a time where I was about 7 years old & just introduced to horror movies. My friend had the "Making of Thriller" VHS tape with the video on it followed by the making of feature. After I conquered my fear of the zombies, we used to watch this daily as kids followed by a few random horror movies his mom taped off cable channels such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch(I hated it so much at the time) & Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Those were some great memories that I look upon fondly. Of course, Thriller can be credited for getting me into horror as well. I've been giving the song a spin on my record player a lot lately. Michael Jackson may be gone, but his music will live on forever.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.
1958-2009

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r294/oltrelamorte/5dfeb42d.jpg

[DavidDunn]

I agree. Great stuff, 'dere. I particularly liked how the picture of the toxic zombie was included in the review. I didn't mind the whole dancing and singing schtick with the zomb's, but when MJ and Ola Ray first encounter them in the street and the corpse MJ and his undeadites chase her into the broken down house, I still shudder to this day. Thanks for the memories, Michael!

[Just Jeans]

Because we were only doing a couple of paragraphs each, there are a couple of aspects of the video I didn't get to touch on, and they justify this line:

What we're presented with is an almost perfect blend of pop music and classic horror cliché.

I say almost perfect for a couple of reasons. Firstly, while I think it's amazingly well directed, there are a couple of shots during the cemetery scenes that drive me bonkers, because Landis manages to fully capture the stage lighting in-frame. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not -- it seems like had the video been matted into widescreen, the lighting props would have been hiden from view -- but whatever the case, it's pretty much the only technical glitch in an otherwise damn fine production.

And then there's Ola Ray. She's easy on the eyes and she looks good on screen with Jackson singing to her, but her skills as an actress are, shall we say, rather lacking. She's pretty much the only week link in the video. Thankfully, she has precious little to do, and the focus is mainly on Jackson and his zombie horde.

These are only minor complaints, however. It's still the best damn music video ever produced. Even better than the Dream Warriors video. :X

[SlasherFreak]

I have to say it's pretty strange and unsettling to see Michael Jackson as a zombie now...

[Brett H.]

Yeah, Ola for sure was the weak link. Especially at the beginning when she was talking to Michael, the flow in the editing makes it so obvious that either they did that shot in a separate take or she just botched the line. Could it be possible that it was intentional given the nature of the video?

[Joshg]

I remember my mother showing this to me when I was four years old. What the hell mom? What the hell?

It was worth it though. One of the best looking shorts of all time. If it was a movie...god...I don't know what I'd do. Cuz it is perfect!