The Michael Jackson estate recently announced it was partnering with CBS for an hour-long animated Halloween special — Michael Jackson’s Halloween— scheduled to air this fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The plot revolves around Victoria and Vincent, two kids who “accidentally” meet on the night of October 31 and wind up at This Place Hotel (a nod to Jackson’s 1980 song “This Place Hotel). Ultimately, they wind up in an epic dance finale with the King of Pop.
But considering the late pop legend pulled off one of the best (if not the best) Halloween visuals of all time — 1983’s “Thriller” — is this really necessary? Co-written by Jackson and John Landis, who also directed the video, it singlehandedly changed the game, and is the only video in music history to be selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
With over 422,000,000 million views, the official Vevo video for “Thriller” combines the magic of MJ’s impeccable dance moves and vocal prowess with the brilliance of producer George Folsey, Jr., choreographer Michael Peters and make-up artist Rick Baker.
“Thriller” Is The Most Successful Video Of All Time
Inspired by the 1981 film An American Werewolf In London (also directed by Landis) and set in the 1950s, the 14-minute cinematic journey enlists a sizable cast of characters to play maniacal zombies who go after Jackson and his date, who is played by model/actress Ola Ray. But there’s a twist at the end that, as a kid, scared the living daylights out of me.
I had to have been 7-years-old when I first saw the video. By then, I was already a dedicated MJ fan. I had the now 33x diamond-selling Thriller album on vinyl and would keep it safe in my carrying case alongside my Bambi soundtrack (yeah, for real). Every kid in the ’80s idolized Jackson (even famed child actor Corey Feldman) and he epitomized the word ‘cool,” so when my musical idol turned into a flesh-eating zombie towards the end of “Thriller,” I was shocked. NOT HIM!!!! But as he danced along to the Quincy Jones-produced song, I realized he was still the illest zombie to ever do it.
At minute 11:45, when the group of ravenous zombies (led by Jackson) are closing in on the damsel in distress, suddenly MJ reverts to “normal,” and she appears to wake up from a nightmare. But as MJ puts his arms around her and glances at the camera, his eyes turn yellow and an evil laugh (courtesy of classic horror film actor Vincent Price) reveals he was one of the undead all along. Scary, right? Ok, maybe not now, but any kid who saw it then probably was a little freaked out.
Vincent Price’s “Lost Rap” Was Cut From The Video, But Still Amazing
Even CeeLo Green admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone that he was so scared of “Thriller” as a nine-year-old kid, he would flee the room whenever the video came on. “If he could be possessed, then I damn sure could be possessed, because Michael was so much stronger than I,” Green said.
The visual for “Thriller” went on to win a Grammy for Best Long Form Video in 1985, three MTV Awards for Best Overall Performance in a Video, Best Choreography and Viewer’s Choice in 1984, and serves as MTV’s first world premiere.
In 1999, MTV honored the video with yet another award recognizing it as one of the 100 Greatest Videos of All Time. Seven years later, the Guinness Book of World Records deemed it the most successful video in history with over nine million copies sold, while Billboard called it one of the Top 10 Halloween Songs ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7yBxSZv0U0
In 2009, 13,597 People Did The “Thriller” Dance In Unison In Mexico City, Mexico.
Over the past 34 years, no other video has had the same kind of cultural impact nor collected the accolades that “Thriller” did. Jackson’s tragic 2009 death makes it all the more significant. There’s never been another artist like him and never will be. The King of Pop will always retain his crown and “Thriller” will remain the most famous Halloween visual in music history. In fact, there are people on Twitter still talking about the video over three decades later, an undeniable testament to its permanent influence on popular culture.
Check out some of those tweets below and revisit “Thriller” above.
Greatest video ever. Mj has at least 3 of the top 10 ever. Could and should have been a full length musical or movie.
There is not only Thriller video, but also the 40 mins. short movie: GHOSTS -premiered in Cannes in 1997!!!!!!
Its really spectacular movie, expecially if you consider the date – 1993 (the original)/1997(remade version)!
Bruh i remember watching it when i was like 6 in the 90s. Good shit
Man, Is It Scary and 2 Bad are one of my favs. Is it scary isn’t in the movie i think, but it should be. It’s on the BOTDF album.
Why can’t the two kids “accidentally” meet on the night of October 31 at the Neverland Ranch?
Finaly something (positive) about MJ on HiphopDx. We need more editorials etc about MJ’s work, even if his music is not hiphop..well, most of it isn’t. If not for MJ, hiphop, or any form of black music, probably wouldn’t be mainstream and widely accepted as it is now.
It’s about time for everybody to recognize and honor him for everything he has done for music as a whole (and the world/mankind, but let’s not talk about that right now as this is a music site)
I disagree, I highly respect Michael and his music and have always done so and do believe the cartoon should air.
We don’t need this mockery of Michael’s legendary legacy for sure. Point is that there’s no surprise about this crap from the Michael Jackson Estate. What’s that? A joint partnership of people that Michael himself cut out of his life in the early 2000s. They run his Estate on the basis of a Will signed in LA when Michael Jackson was provably in New York. In 2010 they dared to release FAKE songs in his name on their first shitty posthumous album despite the entire Michael’s family exposed that fraud. Last year they sold his ATV catalogue to Sony, the record company that Michael believed was involved in the false allegations that affected him so badly. When he was alive he was adamant that such a sale would never happen. They needed him dead and John Branca as an executor to finally cut the deal that Michael himself and his friends and family claim he believed he would be killed for. These are facts that need to be remembered in every story about the MJ Estate entity that has nothing to do with his family. Of course mainstream media will never do that because John Branca pays the renowed spin doctor Michael Sitrick something like 900 $ per hour to clean up his actions against Michael’s wishes.