Directed by John Landis who has previously directed "An American Werewolf In London", the music video "Thriller" starring Michael Jackson is considered by many to be one of his best (If not thee best) music video of all time and in many respects it is. As a horror fanatic, this to me is the Holy Grail of horror music videos. Why do I think it's so great, let's take a look.
First off, I love the opening to this 13 minute Music Video. It starts off as a teenage B movie horror flick as Michael Jackson and Ola Ray act as a typical romantic teenage couple wearing 50s clothing, who have to walk into a creepy dark woods once Michael's car runs out of gas. We get a sweet little moment where Michael asks Ola Ray to be his girlfriend by giving her a ring, and just when things are looking good, Michael reveals a secret to her. Before he can tell her, a full moon appears and he turns into a Werecat. The transformation of Michael Jackson turning into a Werecat is unbelievably outstanding. The make-up is scary; the effects of him turning into a Werecat is cool; the atmosphere and acting from Michael and Ola brings back that good old fun fashion 50's horror B movie charm, while also making fun of it and bringing a dark modern look to it; and throughout the Music Video, John Landis does indeed make a few references to his horror classic "An American Werewolf In London". In fact, he brought make-up artist Rick Baker (Who did the make-up for "An American Werewolf In London") to do the horror make-up in this music video.
The scene then shifts to a movie Theater as Michael and Ola are watching the movie. It is strange that our characters are watching a movie that are played by the same actors, but it somehow surprisingly works well with music videos surreal environment, even if you don't know the ending of the video. Ola gets scared and leaves the theater, and Michael while enjoying the movie, leaves with his Girlfriend as well. Again, in the theater sequence (Both inside and outside) you will find a few things that you'll notice if your horror fan, and even if you're not, you'll notice a few foreshadows and nods to the video itself, which I think are very clever. For example, you'll see old movie posters of the classic 3-D horror flick "The House Of Wax" starring Vincent Price; and John Landis's first movie "Schlock", which is also a horror flick. As Michael and his girl leave the theater, Michael starts teasing her by singing the song "Thriller", but instead of singing the "Thriller" chorus part as well, he just sings the solos. I actually do love that he saves the whole "Thriller" chorus for later, because how the video chops up the song does indeed flow in with the Music Video's story.
As our couple passes an old cemetery, we hear horror legend Vincent Price rapping as we see Zombies come out of their Graves, and I'm not going to lie, this is my favorite part of the video! The atmosphere for the cemetery sequence is foreboding; the make-up and the image of the zombies awakening from their Graves is beyond awesome; but what makes it great is Vincent Price's haunting rapping, which sounds scary, fun, cool, and classy, and those are all the characteristics that make Price such a great actor! Once the Zombies, surround Michael and his girlfriend, Michael turns into a zombie and starts dancing with them, as his girlfriend watches in shock. What can I say about this dance sequence? The make-up design for Michael as a Zombie is perfect; the whole "Thriller" chorus for the dance sequence is haunting and awesome: and the dancing is so great and iconic, that its both scary and fun, not to mention, that a Zombie Michael Jackson (Who turns back into his regular self for the chorus) is leading this pack of dancing Zombies!
The Music Video ends with the Zombies chasing Michael's girlfriend in an old abandon house, which is indeed a very thrilling and intense sequence, that also brings back the good old days of Zombie movies. Just as zombie Michael is about to get her, she wakes up and finds out that it was all a nightmare. However, as they leave, Michael faces the camera, the frame freezes, and the camera slowly zooms in on his evil bright yellow smiling evily as we hear Price's evil laugh. That ending is not only a scary conclusion, but raises the question, if this was all really a nightmare and that her nightmare was a sign of her boyfriend being a demon; or if this was all real, and that Michael has a dark power, that she's unaware of; or maybe it was just the Music Videos final scare that was just made to scare you. Whatever theory you come up with, it's still an awesome ending conclusion!
Overall "Thriller" does indeed leave a huge mark on the horror genre. The song is fantastic; the dancing is flawless; the atmosphere is surreal and foreboding; the make-up and special effects are outstanding; Vincent Price's rapping is haunting; the references to the horror genre are everywhere; and Michael Jackson's performance, along John Landis's directing are all what make it the best horror Music Video in history!
RATING 5/5
RATING 5/5
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