[42], number of copies sold were 900,000 at a price of $30, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, YouTube video of more than 1,500 prisoners performing the dance, Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, "Director: Funds for "Thriller" almost didn't appear", "Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is the eternal Halloween bop and so much more", "John Landis says Michael Jackson was too 'grotesque' to film: Howell", "How Michael Jackson's Thriller changed music videos for ever", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is the eternal Halloween bop and so much more", "Michael Jackson's Life & Legacy: Global Superstar (198286)", "It Happened This Week in L.A. History: Silver Screen Thrills Los Angeles Magazine", "Michael Jackson's videos set a new standard", "VH1 Names '100 Greatest Videos of All Time', "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Added To National Film Registry", "MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made", "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos Michael Jackson, 'Thriller', "Jackson "Thriller" film picked for U.S. registry", "Michael Jackson's Thriller added to US film archive", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' remains a Halloween hit", "Barack and Michelle Obama make Halloween a thriller for DC kids", "John Landis on 'Thriller 3D', the 'American Werewolf' Remake, & Lucasfilm's Director Troubles", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Could be Broadway Show", "Review: Masterful Plants vs. Zombies Proves Less Is More", "Plants vs. Zombies (Windows, Mac OS X) - the Cutting Room Floor", "Michael Jackson Estate Forces 'Plants vs. Zombies' Update", "Monster Metaphors: Notes on Michael Jackson's Thriller", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Jackson%27s_Thriller_(music_video)&oldid=1142427273, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 09:09. Born August 24, 1928, Died October 19, 1961, Resurrected December 3, 1983. [8] Showtime aired the video six times in February. In 2017, Ray had to file a lawsuit again, when she alleged that she wasn't paid her share for a 3-D re-release of the "Thriller" video. It was filmed at various locations in Los Angeles, including the Palace Theater. [8] Within months, the documentary sold a million copies, making it the bestselling video release at that point. The actress claimed that back in the 1980s, she was promised a portion of the "Thriller" profits (2.5 percent, according to Courthouse News), and yet, more than two decades later, she hadn't received any money since some initial payments. The audio was also updated to 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos standards. I want to do what's right. At one point, the boy tries to cut his antlers off to be accepted, but she stops him. In the 1980s, millions of consumers were purchasing their first VCRs. [2] With an eye to the American re-broadcast market, most episodes, especially from the second season onwards, featured at least one American principal character, portrayed by an American actor. Two tears roll down her cheeks at the end. Crazy Credits So in the beginning of the video, Michael has a message stating that "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film is no way endorses a belief in the occult". [39] In 2010, Jackson's estate objected to the Jackson zombie in the game. They run naked on a beach, they wear ridiculous outfits, and they rock out in front of crowds of people. T. (Pretty Young Thing)," all hit the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" going the extra mile, all the way to #1. Narration: Darkness falls across the land / The midnight hour is close at hand / Creatures crawl in search of blood / To terrorize y'all's neighbourhood / And whosoever shall be found / Without the soul for getting down / Must stand and face the hounds of hell / And rot inside a corpse's shell. It was also the first big break for drag queen RuPaul. 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! Set in a futuristic looking white room, the video stands out for the illusions it features. Eventually, she stands on the edge of an overpass preparing to jump when her ex shows up with a bunch of cops. "I auditioned a lot of girls and this girl Ola Ray first of all, she was crazy for Michael," Landis said. [3] Background [ edit] Either in the VHS or Betamax format, the TV accessory allowed them to watch movies or other content at home via a cassette borrowed for the cost of a few bucks from a local video rental outlet. But the video ends with a shot of her in bed. Welcome to the Digital Spy forums. Jackson's sixth album, Thriller, was released in November 1982 and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200, backed by successful videos for the singles "Billie Jean" and "Beat It". ", "Thriller" hit MTV and other outlets in 1983, the same year that the risqu (for the time) Flashdance was a hit in movie theaters and made a star out of Jennifer Beals. And his "Hammer pants" are iconic. And then 4 months later it was spoofed on the very first episode of ITV's Spitting Image. (based on the familiar songs of ABBA). The video finishes with the bed being set on fire, burning the man who bid on her. [8] She dressed Jackson in "hip", casual clothes that would be comfortable to dance in, and red to contrast with the night setting and dark palette; she used the same color for Jackson's jeans to make him appear taller. The film had a brief theatrical release in Los Angeles at the AVCO Theater - it played for three weeks along with Disney's. The original UK title sequence featured still shots of locations in the story, devoid of people, shot through a fisheye lens, bordered in bright red and set to Johnson's eerie, discordant theme music. According to Landis, Michael asked Joseph to be removed; he refused and had to be escorted off the set by police. The rules have been rewritten, unleashing a new surge of creativity. The zombie's costumes were purchased from The Salvation Army. Encompassing just about . Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson and Jackie Kennedy Onassis all turned up on set, and Eddie Murphy, Prince and Diana Ross were spotted at the private premiere on 14 November. Some music videos are more memorable than others. "Above all, it's just this amazing documentation of Michael Jackson at his most electric," he says. It's a moot point whether or not a bit of fear does them any harm in the long term. The groom's family is filled with circus performers who interrupt the wedding. In a 2009 interview with Billboard, Bey said she was surprised by the reaction. According to Vanity Fair, Vestron Video helped offset the high production cost of "Thriller" by paying for the VHS and Betamax distribution rights for the Making Michael Jackson's Thriller documentary and then gave it a $29.95 retail price tag. My Chemical Romance is on a float leading the parade of masked figures in what looks to be a wasteland. pg-13 147m. He and Peters imagined how the zombies would move by making faces in the mirror, incorporating "jazzy" moves, "not too much ballet or whatever". One such kid was Spike Jonze, who was 14 in 1983. Director Spike Jonze also on this list for "Buddy Holly" is behind this truly memorable video featuring Christopher Walken dancing around a Mariott in Los Angeles. [29], Jackson's red leather jacket became a fashion icon and has been widely emulated. [9][14] Brian Clemens' own favourite episode, "A Coffin for the Bride" (US: Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill), featured a performance from a young Helen Mirren.[15]. [5] The opening scene parodies 1950s B-movies, with Jackson and Ray dressed as 1950s teenagers. Cannot remember the excate time but dout it was 1 am as we would of not been allowed to stay up. [8] As films required theatrical screenings to be eligible for Academy Awards, Landis had the video played before screenings of Fantasia (1940) at a Los Angeles cinema, though it was not nominated. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Filmeditor Marshall Harvey had previously been hired by John Landis to make the behind the scenes footage to his movies An American Werewolf in London and Blues Brothers. In August 1983, film director John Landis received a phone call from Michael Jackson. A-ha pushed boundaries with their creative video, actually the song's second video, for "Take on Me." 2, and Madonna's Vogue at No. Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones. Jackson hired Landis after seeing his 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. [8], Weeks before the premiere, Jackson, then a Jehovah's Witness, was told by the organization leaders that the film promoted demonology and that he would be excommunicated. According to Baker, he technically portrays a "werecat. They walk into the forest, and Jackson asks her to be his girlfriend; she accepts. A making-of documentary, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, was produced to sell to television networks. It references numerous horror films and sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies. The emotional video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" starts with Cline Dion's love leaving their mansion on a motorcycle in a rainstorm before dying in a fiery crash when lighting causes a tree to fall. She was the mother of the character Ken Reeves from the TV Show "The White Shadow". 08/07/2009 18:21. The singer liked that idea and later told Jehovah's Witness publication Awakethat he "just intended to do a good, fun short film, not to purposely bring to the screen something to scare people or to do anything bad.". Walking down a city street at night, Jackson teases her by performing the verses of "Thriller". Additionally, Landis equates the process of man turning to beast, in "Thriller" and in other werewolf-based movies (such as the director's own An American Werewolf in London), with puberty. Could you want anything more in a video? [11], Landis's wife Deborah Nadoolman, who had recently worked on the film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), designed the costumes, including Jackson's red jacket. By the time Thriller's sales cycle wound down in 1984, it was the best-selling LP of all time in the United States, with sales of 33 million. The big turning point was Thriller.". We can only really go by the experience of our own DCs, though. With James Purefoy, Charlie Creed-Miles, Sasha Behar, Dervla Kirwan. Jackson embraces her, but turns to the camera and grins, revealing his werecat eyes. "[21], Vinny Marino of ABC News said that the video's selection as the "Greatest Video of All Time" was a "no-brainer", and that it "continues to be considered the greatest video ever by just about everyone". One of the lengthiest music videos made at the time, running for 14 minutes and 7 seconds. "The Thriller video became a worldwide megahit and an iconic pop culture phenomenon that has continued to generate profits for defendants Optimum Productions and Michael Jackson, who have wrongfully refused to pay or account for such profits to plaintiff," the suit read (via The Guardian). [10] It includes home video footage of a young Jackson dancing and footage of his performances from The Ed Sullivan Show and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. Her 10-year-old son recently learned the routines at a holiday kids' club in Turkey, reminding her of the huge impact it had on kids in the 1980s. It's directed by John Strickland (Bodyguard, Line Of Duty) and follows the crew on the fictional Kinloch Bravo oil rig stationed off the Scottish coast on the dangerous waters of the North Sea.When the group of workers is due to return to the mainland, an eerie fog descends, and a mysterious force begins to take . Directed by Spike Jonze ("Her"), the "Buddy Holly" video places the band in Arnold's Drive-In from the show "Happy Days." Injustice: Created by Anthony Horowitz. The music video director Brian Grant credited Thriller as the turning point when music videos became a "proper industry". It's dark and striking and fits perfectly with the song. MI-5) If you want a long-running procedural about the inner workings of Britain's premiere counterterrorism unit, Spooks was created with you in mind. She and other dancers groove and show off their moves throughout the video. According to The Guardian, Jackson made up a lot of the difference out of his own pocket. As such, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" the narrative short horror musical video, not the song or album of the same name is ripe for mainstream theatrical adaptation. And so, that's what happened, although Jackson's character doesn't, per common knowledge, become a werewolf. Dinsdale Landen is the only actor who plays the same named role that of private investigator Matthew Earp in two episodes, "An Echo of Theresa" and "The Next Scream You Hear", although Reg Lye plays an unnamed 'Caretaker' in both "Spell of Evil" and "Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin" who could conceivably be the same character. The cat's dance moves even mirror her's. Jennifer Beals turned down an offer to play Jackson's girlfriend. It won a Grammy for best music video. The video tells a romantic story through a mix of live-action and pencil-sketch animation. They made something that was so perfect for the early 80s. At the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, "Thriller" surprisingly lost Video of the Year to the Cars' "You Might Think.". In 2017, it was remastered from the original 35mm negative and converted into 3D under John Landis' supervision. It's hard to forget. According to Vanity Fair, Beals passed on the female role in the "Thriller" video, and after a lengthy search, director John Landis cast Ola Ray as the poodle-skirt-wearing young woman in the video's fake horror film as well as Michael Jackson's date who witnesses his transformation into a monster. It's hard to forget, and it won a Grammy for best music video. "She had such a great smile. From "Leave it to Beaver" to Marilyn Manson to Bill Clinton to "The Brady Bunch," Eminem doesn't hold back on pop culture references or the barbs he makes in his lyrics. The video includes clips from "Purple Rain," too. The proposed cost of the "Thriller" video: slightly less than $1 million. Jackson was all in, especially after Landis said he could probably get An American Werewolf in London makeup master Rick Baker involved. Directed by Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, the video follows a man, whose face is never shown, as he rescues a baby, a dog, and grabs a photo from a burning building. Six Girls Aloud videos later and Thriller is still part of Bellinger's life. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 1983 music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. In 2008 a DVD box set containing all six series was released. Samuel L. Jackson in "Unbreakable." Credit: Getty Images. Michael Jackson's Thriller was launched to great anticipation and played regularly on MTV. Nevertheless, the Thriller video was set to be so expensive $900,000, to pay for not just the filming and effects but 10 days of dance rehearsals that Landis and Jackson had to find a way to fund it (Jackson had paid the $150,000 cost of the Beat It video himself). The "Ironic" video stars Morissette getting into her car at a gas station and then driving into a wintery landscape. This particular Thriller musical is not to be confused with Thriller Live, a Michael Jackson-themed theatrical experience that ran in London's West End (the British Broadway) for well over a decade. The black-and-white "Rhythm Nation" video is known for its military-style outfits, warehouse setting, and choreography, which has inspired numerous dance routines since the video was released. And then, at midnight on 2 December, after weeks of trailers and hype, MTV showed it to the world. Some music videos are more memorable than others. The video was directed by John Landis, written by Landis and Jackson, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. "Then YouTube came along and that suddenly brought film-makers back to a more unconventional way of thinking, which I see as a totally positive thing. He soon finds himself working as part of a trio of vets alongside Siegfried and his younger brother, Tristan. On principle, though, it should be up to the parents to decide , in a situation where a film is being shown that is above the age range for that class. The "Honey" video starts with Mariah Carey as a Bond-esque spy named Agent M who is being held hostage by an organization known as D.U.N.C.E. The bride leaves the altar, and when the groom follows, he sees her making out with one of the guests outside. There are also shots of her and her band performing at a skate park. TheOddOne - no, I know . as well as other partner offers and accept our, 300 people dressed as Bush in the red dress, the popular "Michael Jackson eating popcorn" GIF. It was in all the papers but it was quite funny how Radio 1 avoided the subject. The Thriller video makes many allusions to horror films. [37], The video game Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap Games contained a reference to the Thriller music video in its original releases from May 2009 (a month before Jackson's death) until it was removed in July 2010. 's Bad Girls and that's got to be one of the best videos ever. Eminem impersonates various TV shows and people throughout the video for "My Name Is." "When you're making music videos, it's like you're a tailor; you cut the suit to fit your model and the artist you're working with.