Inspired by two things here…
1. I watched the Thriller short film recently for the first time in a couple of years
2. The Top 10 Short Films thread and lack of Thriller on it
As MJ fans we have a tendency to prefer his 90’s work (quite rightly in my opinion) or Bad, and we eschew Thriller, deeming that as one for the masses or the general fan.
We adore his darker works that may have been slightly less commercially successful & not known by the everyday music fan, rather than MJ bread & butter that appears on the usual Greatest Hits collections.
Therefore it’s easy to take for granted the genius of Billie Jean, Beat It, Bad, etc. And one example of this I feel is the Thriller short film.
I think many of us rate the actual song as one lower down the genius rankings, but the short film itself is still possibly the best thing Michael Jackson ever created.
This is coming from someone who has generally preferred Smooth Criminal or even Jam and many of us would say Ghost is his best visual work, but if you haven’t seen Thriller for a while, lock yourself in a room, turn the lights off & press play.
You’ll find yourself surprised at how much you enjoy it. Let’s take a look why….
Firstly, the structure of the piece. Twelve years before Tarantino did the same in the brilliant ‘Pulp Fiction’, Thriller is in three parts, all intertwined. You have sexy, young college Michael, out on a date with his sweetheart Ola. What starts out as a seemingly innocent drive turns sinister when they run out of petrol. “Honestly, we're out of gas!” says Michael, referring to an unseen quibble the couple must had off camera, with Ola accusing her boyfriend of using running out of petrol to ‘park up’.
As they walk off, be prepared to be stunned as to how great Michael looks. A fresh faced 24 year old at this point, he surely never looked better. Back to the film and after Ola breaks the awkward silence & apologises for not believing him he takes the opportunity to make their relationship formal.
All is brilliant in the young couple’s world!!!
But not for long…..
For Michael needs to reveal something to his new girl. He’s not like other guys. And I don’t mean that he doesn’t like football or never touches himself. He means he’s a goddam, frigging werewolf. That’s unfortunate.
Now let’s take a moment here to discuss Michael’s downright awful selfish timing. I presume he’s been a werewolf all his life, and as such he should be fully aware of when the full moon falls & when it’s safe to be out in public. Telling your girlfriend your secret 20 seconds before a full moon is not great judgement. Not at all. As Ola is about to find out.
Here comes the scariest part of any music video ever. As Michael starts to squeal & squirm as changes take hold of his body, he makes face to face contact with Ola as she sees the first impression of what her future kids make look like. It’s not pretty.
“GO AWAY!” he screams. And millions if us screamed to. Imagine seeing that for the first time. This isn’t what music videos are supposed to be like….
The transformation continues as Rick Baker’s magical special effects take hold. Seconds later he is a fully fledged werewolf, still in his M emblazoned college jacket (great touch). He howls with guttural veracity as he chases Ola through the forest. By the way, Ola, if you’re boyfriend suddenly grows fangs, yellow eyes & screams at you to ‘Go Away’, then bloody run. Don’t wait. Just FYI.
The next few seconds are great, knocking the tree over is a great touch and he jumps from a tree to catch Ola & prepares to tear her apart until….
We cut to the same couple looking different in the movie theatre. They seem more grown up in this version. Mike’s hair is its usual ‘80s afro & Ola’s is matching it. Michael is also wearing the most iconic outfit of all time. He’s having the time of his life enjoying this movie but Ola can’t watch, he follows her out, which must be annoying for those sat in the same row who miss a real shock moment in the film by the sound of it.
Then finally, a good 6 minutes in, the song starts. But just like the rest of the film, the song’s structure is messed with. No chorus at this point, just the verses, punctuated by a fantastic, loosely choreographed playful walk down the street. Ola’s annoyance at Mike’s teasing soon fades as she can’t fail to be charmed by his singing and spirited moves. This section is interspersed with lovely, tender moments between the two of them, her stroking his face, his serious look singing ‘they’re out to get you’, the outlining of the ‘terror on the screen’, loads of them.
So, all is well…again.
Until they skip past the mist infused graveyard….
As we move into act three. Zombies.
Vincent Price’s rap starts as the undead start to walk in their masquerade. More amazing make up is displayed in all its horror as the streets are filled with the grotesque, deformed, decomposed and mutilated. At this point someone’s arm falls off – it doesn’t look great.
Ola & Mike see they are surrounded and are quite rightly scared. The musical score is leading to a crescendo, but why? One look at Michael tells us. He’s one of them. ****ING HELL – OUR HERO IS A ZOMBIE!
So we some to the most iconic dance routine of all time. And that’s a fact. Everyone knows this number. The song reconvenes and Mike’s zombie face temporarily vanishes so he can sing the omitted choruses from earlier. Great choreography should get across the ethos & lyric of the song, and Thriller does this perfectly, think Smooth Criminal as another great example of this.
By the end of the music, Elmer Bernstein’s scary score comes in again, as Ola starts to flee once again from her bad choice in boyfriend. As she has already proven, Ola isn’t the sharpest tool in the box so she runs for the scariest looking house in the village. The zombies, led by their new found frontrunner Michael follow, and we lead up to another crescendo as she’s falls on the sofa with no place to run and Michael reaches out leading to a piercing scream as Ola prepares to meets her maker.
But everything’s okay! It was only a dream! Michael’s not a zombie, he looks gorgeous again. “What’s the problem?” he enquires? “Come on, I’ll take you home”.
As they turn to leave, there’s one last twist as Michael turns to the viewer to show his terrifying yellow werewolf eyes from the first part. Vincent Price’s laugh rings out to remind us that the horror isn’t over. Brilliant. The End.
Then we have credits. I point this out because, again watching this back in 1982 it seems so unbelievable, this was ‘just a music video’, yet here we have full credits as if it was a full film, adding to the kudos the masterpiece we have just witnessed.
I’ve obviously ended up writing a full summary of the short film rather than my original intention, but it’s just so fun. Michael made many, many more great short films across many genres over the next 20 years, and he did make some lesser known ones that rival Thriller in terms of quality. Ones I mentioned before like ‘Ghost’ & ‘Smooth Criminal’. Other more fun ones like ‘Remember The Time’ or ‘Black or White’. But Thriller, over 30 years later remains the best. It is genius caught on camera. It changed music & video for ever and cemented the fact that Michael Jackson had reinvented the music industry.
But apart from all that, it’s just brilliant & for my thinking, like your parents, deserves more love & less being taken for granted.
Like I said earlier, if you haven’t seen Thriller for a while, lock yourself in a room, turn the lights off & press play – on as bigger screen as possible.
I dare you. I double dare you mother****er.
1. I watched the Thriller short film recently for the first time in a couple of years
2. The Top 10 Short Films thread and lack of Thriller on it
As MJ fans we have a tendency to prefer his 90’s work (quite rightly in my opinion) or Bad, and we eschew Thriller, deeming that as one for the masses or the general fan.
We adore his darker works that may have been slightly less commercially successful & not known by the everyday music fan, rather than MJ bread & butter that appears on the usual Greatest Hits collections.
Therefore it’s easy to take for granted the genius of Billie Jean, Beat It, Bad, etc. And one example of this I feel is the Thriller short film.
I think many of us rate the actual song as one lower down the genius rankings, but the short film itself is still possibly the best thing Michael Jackson ever created.
This is coming from someone who has generally preferred Smooth Criminal or even Jam and many of us would say Ghost is his best visual work, but if you haven’t seen Thriller for a while, lock yourself in a room, turn the lights off & press play.
You’ll find yourself surprised at how much you enjoy it. Let’s take a look why….
Firstly, the structure of the piece. Twelve years before Tarantino did the same in the brilliant ‘Pulp Fiction’, Thriller is in three parts, all intertwined. You have sexy, young college Michael, out on a date with his sweetheart Ola. What starts out as a seemingly innocent drive turns sinister when they run out of petrol. “Honestly, we're out of gas!” says Michael, referring to an unseen quibble the couple must had off camera, with Ola accusing her boyfriend of using running out of petrol to ‘park up’.
As they walk off, be prepared to be stunned as to how great Michael looks. A fresh faced 24 year old at this point, he surely never looked better. Back to the film and after Ola breaks the awkward silence & apologises for not believing him he takes the opportunity to make their relationship formal.
All is brilliant in the young couple’s world!!!
But not for long…..
For Michael needs to reveal something to his new girl. He’s not like other guys. And I don’t mean that he doesn’t like football or never touches himself. He means he’s a goddam, frigging werewolf. That’s unfortunate.
Now let’s take a moment here to discuss Michael’s downright awful selfish timing. I presume he’s been a werewolf all his life, and as such he should be fully aware of when the full moon falls & when it’s safe to be out in public. Telling your girlfriend your secret 20 seconds before a full moon is not great judgement. Not at all. As Ola is about to find out.
Here comes the scariest part of any music video ever. As Michael starts to squeal & squirm as changes take hold of his body, he makes face to face contact with Ola as she sees the first impression of what her future kids make look like. It’s not pretty.
“GO AWAY!” he screams. And millions if us screamed to. Imagine seeing that for the first time. This isn’t what music videos are supposed to be like….
The transformation continues as Rick Baker’s magical special effects take hold. Seconds later he is a fully fledged werewolf, still in his M emblazoned college jacket (great touch). He howls with guttural veracity as he chases Ola through the forest. By the way, Ola, if you’re boyfriend suddenly grows fangs, yellow eyes & screams at you to ‘Go Away’, then bloody run. Don’t wait. Just FYI.
The next few seconds are great, knocking the tree over is a great touch and he jumps from a tree to catch Ola & prepares to tear her apart until….
We cut to the same couple looking different in the movie theatre. They seem more grown up in this version. Mike’s hair is its usual ‘80s afro & Ola’s is matching it. Michael is also wearing the most iconic outfit of all time. He’s having the time of his life enjoying this movie but Ola can’t watch, he follows her out, which must be annoying for those sat in the same row who miss a real shock moment in the film by the sound of it.
Then finally, a good 6 minutes in, the song starts. But just like the rest of the film, the song’s structure is messed with. No chorus at this point, just the verses, punctuated by a fantastic, loosely choreographed playful walk down the street. Ola’s annoyance at Mike’s teasing soon fades as she can’t fail to be charmed by his singing and spirited moves. This section is interspersed with lovely, tender moments between the two of them, her stroking his face, his serious look singing ‘they’re out to get you’, the outlining of the ‘terror on the screen’, loads of them.
So, all is well…again.
Until they skip past the mist infused graveyard….
As we move into act three. Zombies.
Vincent Price’s rap starts as the undead start to walk in their masquerade. More amazing make up is displayed in all its horror as the streets are filled with the grotesque, deformed, decomposed and mutilated. At this point someone’s arm falls off – it doesn’t look great.
Ola & Mike see they are surrounded and are quite rightly scared. The musical score is leading to a crescendo, but why? One look at Michael tells us. He’s one of them. ****ING HELL – OUR HERO IS A ZOMBIE!
So we some to the most iconic dance routine of all time. And that’s a fact. Everyone knows this number. The song reconvenes and Mike’s zombie face temporarily vanishes so he can sing the omitted choruses from earlier. Great choreography should get across the ethos & lyric of the song, and Thriller does this perfectly, think Smooth Criminal as another great example of this.
By the end of the music, Elmer Bernstein’s scary score comes in again, as Ola starts to flee once again from her bad choice in boyfriend. As she has already proven, Ola isn’t the sharpest tool in the box so she runs for the scariest looking house in the village. The zombies, led by their new found frontrunner Michael follow, and we lead up to another crescendo as she’s falls on the sofa with no place to run and Michael reaches out leading to a piercing scream as Ola prepares to meets her maker.
But everything’s okay! It was only a dream! Michael’s not a zombie, he looks gorgeous again. “What’s the problem?” he enquires? “Come on, I’ll take you home”.
As they turn to leave, there’s one last twist as Michael turns to the viewer to show his terrifying yellow werewolf eyes from the first part. Vincent Price’s laugh rings out to remind us that the horror isn’t over. Brilliant. The End.
Then we have credits. I point this out because, again watching this back in 1982 it seems so unbelievable, this was ‘just a music video’, yet here we have full credits as if it was a full film, adding to the kudos the masterpiece we have just witnessed.
I’ve obviously ended up writing a full summary of the short film rather than my original intention, but it’s just so fun. Michael made many, many more great short films across many genres over the next 20 years, and he did make some lesser known ones that rival Thriller in terms of quality. Ones I mentioned before like ‘Ghost’ & ‘Smooth Criminal’. Other more fun ones like ‘Remember The Time’ or ‘Black or White’. But Thriller, over 30 years later remains the best. It is genius caught on camera. It changed music & video for ever and cemented the fact that Michael Jackson had reinvented the music industry.
But apart from all that, it’s just brilliant & for my thinking, like your parents, deserves more love & less being taken for granted.
Like I said earlier, if you haven’t seen Thriller for a while, lock yourself in a room, turn the lights off & press play – on as bigger screen as possible.
I dare you. I double dare you mother****er.
