Michael Jackson is amazing. 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. The story is great, the scenes are marvelous, the music is fantastic and overall the clip is fun, eye-popping, spooky and is a real spectacle. Today everybody is still doing the same thing in music video with dancing and film-based story-lines which he innovated. This ground-breaking video is the toast of MTV and will forever be remembered for what is the greatest music video of all time!!
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callumhealey4419 August 2004
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cchase3 October 2006The stars and the planets must've all been in just the proper alignment, the day that THRILLER was conceived. 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. Also the most expensive at the time, but every penny and every bit of the talent behind its creation and execution is up there on the screen. And how would it not be complete without the "rap" from the original song, provided by the late, great Vincent Price, to add even more cache to the chills already there?
The glory days of one of the world's greatest performers have long since passed, but no one can ever take away the man's towering achievements, of which this is probably the most memorable. If you don't think so, now, remember: Halloween is coming. I won't be one bit surprised when, like other Halloweens before it going back decades, this appears on some Saturday Night Creature Feature special.
As it will next year, and the year after that... -
Smells_Like_Cheese11 February 2004The 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. I even performed it for an audience 3 times! 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. They walk off into the forest, and Michael asks her if she would like to go steady. She accepts and he gives her a ring. He warns her, however, that he is not like other guys, no really, not like the other guys. A full moon appears, and Michael begins convulsing in agony - transforming into a horrifying werewolf! His date shrieks and runs away, but the werewolf catches up, knocking her down and begins lunging at her with its claws. 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 smiles but his date is frightened, and tells him she's leaving. Michael catches up to her, and says that it's only a movie, but she doesn't like his jokes on her and she starts walking away. Michael and his date then walk down a foggy street, and he teases her with the opening verses of Thriller. They pass a graveyard, where corpses suddenly begin to rise from their graves as Vincent Price performs his rap. Michael and his date then find themselves surrounded by the zombies, and suddenly, Michael becomes a zombie himself. 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. But say what you will, Michael was the star of the 1980's, there was no celebrity like him, he loved the life, he lived it, breathed it and embraced it. Thriller is proof that he was willing to work to make the best and that's what we got with the legend that is Thriller.
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didi-519 February 2005'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. Michael Jackson was at the top of the tree at this time (and not so altered in his plastic surgery regime for it to matter). 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. Terrific. -
jonpd7 February 2003I grew up watching this music video (I taped it on Beta tape when I was a kid back in 1983) and the making of it as well. I have always loved it, and I still do. As far as I'm concerned, it is the best and most classic music video ever made. Not really worth buying being that it's so short, but if you come across it on one of MTV's Top so-and-so of all time countdowns, definitely record it. It's close to miiiidnight...
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John Landis truly outdid himself when he directed Michael Jackson's THRILLER as a short film. Of course, it's corny, the dialogue is terrible and it all seems way too cheesy, but it's perfect none-the-less.
Michael and his date are out at the cinema to view the latest horror flick. When it all gets a little too graphic for the date, she leaves. Michael follows. On the way home, they decide to take a shortcut through the local graveyard. There, it begins.
The actual thriller dance is amazing. It's full of those trademark Jackson moves, as well as some memorable zombie moves, too. It doesn't appear rushed at all, nor too long. The whole thing seems movie-like and it really is actually rather scary. Of course, it's one of the most famous music videos of all time, and is probably the greatest music video ever made as well.
Overall: Watch it, seriously. Those 13 minutes will be some of the best ever spent staring at a screen. (5/5) -
Cocacolaguy912-228 October 2005"Thriller" is brilliant. It is a long video, but simply brilliant nonetheless. The song itself is...excellent...add Michael JAckson dancing and you have a golden Phenomenon. Out of all the videos I have ever seen, this is the best. If you have not seen the video yet, then I urge you...
The special effects are amazing for it's time... everything from the wearwolf transformation to the idea of these creepy zombies slowly raising from their graves is grand...spookishly grand that is. 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. -
michaeljackson-1911819 February 2020The music video that started all music videos. The one that made history. The one that is still the best one today. The one that will live on for generations forever. Truly beyond iconic
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Son_of_Mansfield1 June 2003Before this clip, music videos were merely to display an artist. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" created a whole new section of music videos which can honestly be called mini movies. "Thriller" follows a couple as they travel to the girl's house from a movie. On the way they encounter zombies announced by the immortal Vincent Price. My favorite part is where the zombies stagger in on the couple and the girl turns to see that Michael has turned into one of them. Then, they do a little dance. The scariest thing about "Thriller" may be the fact that it is consistently more fun and enjoyable than a lot of movies that are made. After twenty years it remains the premier music video.
P.S. My music video Top 5: 5 - Madonna "Like a Prayer" 4 - Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child of Mine" 3 - Nine Inch Nails "Closer" 2 - Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer" 1 - Michael Jackson - "Thriller" -
TheLittleSongbird13 September 2012Thriller has always been a treasure. I have always liked Michael Jackson's music and I am a huge Vincent Price fan, so Thriller seemed like a perfect combination. And for a music video or anything even, it is a classic. It looks wonderfully spooky and Gothic, and while corny the dialogue is also fun. The story likewise, especially when they take a shortcut through a graveyard. The dancing has Jackson written all over it, the epitome of coolness, and the dancing vampires and werewolf are deliciously macabre. Jackson is in a role that plays to his strengths, and Ola Ray is alluring. But I remember Thriller for primarily two things. Vincent Price is charismatic and deliciously smarmy, his delivery of his "rap" is brilliant. Even better is the song, nearly twenty years later(though it was 13 since I first heard it) it is still catchy and has endless replay value. All in all, a thrilling classic, if only music videos in general were as good as this. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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ackstasis21 December 2007Music videos are often completely disregarded in any discussion about film, with most people considering them to be a lesser art form. While a great majority are merely flashy clips to advertise a popular performer's latest hit single, a precious few really do rise above the rest, becoming works of art in their own right {anything directed by Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry is always worth watching}. 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. The thirteen-minute music video, both the longest and most expensive ever at the time of its release, was directed by John Landis, a filmmaker I'm not terribly familiar with, though 'The Blues Brothers (1980)' is a classic, and I hear that 'An American Werewolf in London (1981)' is a stupendously entertaining horror/comedy.
Whether or not 'Thriller' actually qualifies as a music video is certainly up for debate, taking into account its extensive length {though Jackson bettered this effort with 1997's 'Ghosts,' at 38 minutes} and the fact that the title song comprises less than half of the total running time. The video opens with a brief film-within-a-film, as Michael, on a quiet and brightly-lit night, reveals to his girlfriend (Ola Ray) that he is "different" from other guys, transforming into a hideous werewolf as the nighttime clouds part to reveal a full moon. As he presumably decapitates the unfortunate heroine, we come across Michael and his girl in the movie theatre, actually watching this drama unfold in a horror picture. 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. It can't simply be that the song itself is a lot of fun, and Michael Jackson though he has since become the butt of all comedians' jokes for his peculiar personality and doings there's no doubt that he is an excellent singer and performer. 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. The gruesome monster make-up effects were engineered by Rick Baker, and are surprisingly graphic for a music clip, though it's all carried out with a good sense of fun. Several moments make for some genuinely exciting suspense, successfully capturing the atmosphere of the films which it is parodying {though always with a cheesy twist on the usual formula}. Simply put, you'll never look at a zombie movie in the same way again! -
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983) has to be the greatest video ever made. Dude you have Zombies, gore and a catchy tune, what more can you ask for. John Landis mixed elements from Night of the Living Dead and American Werewolf in London and out came this video. What starts out as a nice evening for a young couple turns into a date from hell, literally. You have dancing zombies, a werewolf in a funky jacket and Vincent Price "rapping". A cool video to a song that everybody in the neighborhood marked out to.
I have to give this one a high recommendation because it has to be the best music video ever made. There hasn't been another one like it.
Check out the "making of Thriller". The documentary has some "interesting" stuff in it. -
Teknofobe7016 August 2005Back 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. And never has a music video created such a sensation, before or since ... when it was released on VHS, this 13-minute short became the world's largest selling musical of all time. 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. He explains to her that he's "not like other men" (damn right), and then the full moon appears from behind the clouds. His girlfriend stands there and screams, and screams, and then screams some more, during a lavish transformation sequence as Michael Jackson becomes a werewolf. He chases her through the forest, catches her and we ... cut to a movie theatre. 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". Extravagant, much? Anyway, you must know how it goes from here ... dancing, singing ... graveyard ... Vincent Price ... zombies ... "What's the Problem?" ... then end credits. End credits for a friggin' music video. "Thriller" isn't one of Michael Jackon's most memorable songs, but even by today's standards it sure is a bitch of a visual experience. If you still haven't seen it in it's entirety, then you definitely should someday soon. -
john-p-ohara18 August 2005First off, I refuse to even consider this piece of work a Music video... I consider it a short film that uses excerpts of the song "Thriller" in its soundtrack. To me a music video must be no longer than the song itself, and the song must play the entire length of the video. Calling this a music video is like calling The Great Gatsby a poem. On top of this... let's face it... "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. Sure, this was certainly a cultural phenomenon, but don't forget, this also happened at the same time the A-Team was the #1 show on TV, so lets not give the culture too much credit on that one... One last point on this film's impact on the media on music videos... what exactly did this add to the equation that "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" didn't already add? From what I can tell, it only added the practice of stopping the song for some dialog, or a superfluous dance scene... so you could say that all this video really did was give Puffy the inspiration to make more annoying music videos... Not quite my definition of great
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Kirpianuscus3 January 2020More than a great video, it represents a revolution. Because each detail is just perfect, from amazing choreography to the genius of storytelling, beautiful special effects, humor and the clue and, off course, Michael Jackson himself, giving not only an unique show but a seductive acting demonstration. So, just a revolution. Changing everything in the industry of pop but, more important, in the perspective of the viewer about total show.
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I will definitely co-sign the statement of other reviewers that this is, without a doubt in my mind, the greatest music video ever made. 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. The song is, of course, perfect. One of Michael's timeless classics. Vincent Price's part is something I still quote to this day. I am an old fogey who was alive when this was first released, by the way. This blew my young mind back then. That was back in the days when we had to wait for a video to show up on TV. We couldn't just watch it any time we wanted. We also used to wear onions on our belts because that was the style at the time, but I digress. 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. I still do but I've accepted that ship not only sailed but it was lost at sea.
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csmovieman24 October 2004The video opens with a scene from a horror movie, in which a man proposes to his girlfriend. He begins to tell her that he is "different." As the full moon rises, he morphs into a werewolf. He then pursues her through the woods, and right before he attacks, we're taken to the inside of the movie theater. Inside the theater are Michael and his girlfriend. She's too scared to watch any longer, so they leave. As they exit the theater, he begins to tease her. ("It's close to midnight, something evil's lurking in the dark...") Michael then sings and dances his way down the street with his girlfriend. This scene shows Michael's skill with the camera. He never once acts "aware" of its presence, as many other artists do. As they make there way past the graveyard, the graves begin to open... Once they arrive at an alley, they are confronted with a horde of the undead. We then see the horror stricken face of Michael's girl. Who wouldn't have a horror stricken look if their date morphed into a zombie? Yep, he becomes one of the undead. (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! You don't want to miss it! I give it a 10/10. (Yes, I know you can see the curtains in the back of the sound stage, and the werewolf looks kind of cheesy by today's standards.) -
michaelcooperwalker21 February 2021Michael Jackson is the best singer and dancer of all time. This music video is very cool and with great makeup and special effects of the time. MJ is the king of pop. Michael Jackson is the best!
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bevo-1367826 October 2021I like the bit where he was at the movies eating pop corn but the movie he was watching was actually a movie that had him in it. How many more to make 150.
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3treehuggers14 June 2005Without a doubt, this is the big momma of all music videos!!! Unlike most music videos that are either "dance videos" badly storied and/or badly interrupted lyrics this was done right. Jackson was co-writer and by evidence of VH1 heavily choreographed and directed this masterpiece. In fact you could say Thriller is creepier then most horror movies with that last second sparkling eye. To me this music video is what you judge all other music videos on. You can easily see the ominous influence M.J. had on early break-dancing with the zombie march number. Because of the dancing, comedy, storyline, and yes horror. I give it a 5 of 5.
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donnaplus3-9-33610413 April 2011This 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. Michael Jackson Plays Michael/The Lead Zombie/And The Werecat (Thought To Be A Werewolf.) The Whole Dancing Scene With Michael And The Zombies Is Amazing. And Including The Beginning And End The Whole Thing. The Filming Of This Great Music Video AKA Short Film Only Took Four Days To Shoot. Who Can Forget This Video Michael Jackson Is One Of The Greatest Artists Of All Time. From Brandon DeVore.
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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. Then the actual music part, with the werewolf Jackson leading her astray, backed up by a gang of "Dawn of the Dead" style zombies and ghouls. 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". The film's final shot is rightly famous, and I can well imagine it scaring quite a few children. Interesting to ponder whether Jackson was entirely conscious of the sexual subtext, or not.
Overall, a fine little piece of film-making to support a phenomenally successful album, which turned Jackson into a 'mega-star'. Here, he seems very much in touch with his music and with his horror lore. -
justin-fencsak7 October 2020A true classic. Big budget scares. Catchy music. Very well done. Michael Jackson shines and vincent price is creepy. Jon Landis directed this video.
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Horst_In_Translation18 September 2013"Thriller" is probably Michael Jackson's most famous music video, possibly the most famous video from any artist. Hard to believe, it's almost 30 years old already. 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. And as I intend to solely evaluate the music video as a short film, I can't really come up with a positive judgment. It has lots of characters from horror films and the master himself even develops into a zombie and a werewolf. However, even if the make-up-work is impressive, this short film is neither really scary (I wonder if it was considered like that in the 80s) nor did it tell a particularly watch-worthy story. If you're interested in the history of music videos or the tragic life of Michael Jackson, it's worth the watch. Otherwise, you can do something better with these 15 minutes. -
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. Romero's legendary Death-movies. How much can you say about a music 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.