However, Epic wouldn't pay for it the label spent $250,000 on the video for "Billie Jean" but made Jackson pay the $150,000 budget for "Beat It" himself. The premise of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video is fairly straightforward. There's the car running out of gas and it's like a movie, then it just keeps going, as if they're saying: 'That'd be cool, let's do that.' Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones. In 2013, she settled with the Jackson estate for $75,000. It's all just brilliant to watch. The UK version features Bush in a white dress as she dances around a dark room white white mist. 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. [8] In a statement published in Awake!, a magazine published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Jackson said: "I 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. It was Landis's producer George Folsey Jr who came up with the idea of the making-of video, which could be sold to networks as bespoke content. Lesley Sharp stars as a detective who faces impossible choices in a murky world where loyalties are tested and lines are blurred. In 2011, one of the two jackets worn by Jackson in the video sold at auction for $1.8 million. It is credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment and popularizing the making-of documentary format. Choreographer and singer Paula Abdul danced alongside a cartoon cat named MC Skat Cat in the video for "Opposites Attract." The video's budget was five hundred thousand dollars. The Best Thrillers on Netflix Right Now - Collider In the present, Jackson and his girlfriend are watching the werecat film in a theater. I think that video by MJ is just big, but it isn't that fantastic. "It was the first time an artist had considered the pop video as a legitimate art form. Michael Jackson Thriller video shown in class to Yr 3! | Mumsnet The cat's dance moves even mirror her's. It was shown on Channel 4 in November 1983 at something like 1 in the morning, as I remember sitting up waiting for it to come on and then being amazed and a little bit scared as I was only 13 at the time. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Every Beyonc video deserves a spot on this list, but "Single Ladies" has a special legacy. According to Landis, Michael asked Joseph to be removed; he refused and had to be escorted off the set by police. Why did you need to stay up late if you were 'tape'ing it? Landis talked Jackson out of getting a new actress by reminding him that Ray was a Playmate in Playboy, not in "Thriller." Ola Ray took home a lot of memories and stories from her time co-starring in Michael Jackson's landmark "Thriller" music video. A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies - only a "Thriller" can save them now. She screams and wakes up, realizing it was a nightmare. The scene where he's the only man looking at the camera as men around him bob their heads is striking, but even more notable is the scene where his head is on fire as he's surrounded by men with their heads wrapped in burning rope. They are all dressed in lingerie in a cabaret setting resembling the real Moulin Rouge. Walking down a city street at night, Jackson teases her by performing the verses of "Thriller". "[11], Thriller was the first time Jackson had interacted with a woman in a video, which Landis described as a "breakthrough". [8] Landis encouraged Jackson and Ray to improvise during their scenes,[10] and urged Jackson to act "sexy" and "show virility" for his female fans. Outlander. Within just a few months of release in November 1983, it had sold over a million copies, easily making it the best-selling home video ever to that point. Michael Jackson seems like this kid who loves music, horror films, special effects, makeup, zombies and wants all of those things in the video. At the time, music videos cost around one hundred thousand dollars to produce. I'm sure VCRs had timers even then. The film had a brief theatrical release in Los Angeles at the AVCO Theater - it played for three weeks along with Disney's. Instead, he thought, it would be shot like a real movie, on classy 35-millimeter film stock. The video won for video of the year at the MTV VMAs. 2023 Hearst UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 30 Panton Street, Leicester Square, London, SW1Y 4AJ. The scenes incorporated claymation, pixilation, and stop-motion animation to come to life. The image of her white tank and black tie is a definitive one. This was the business model in home video for most of the early to mid-1980s: Studios and publishers charged about $90 for tapes and sold almost exclusively to rental stores, which would then charge customers a few bucks to rent it for a day or two. "Everyone experiences these physical transformations in their bodies and new, unfamiliar sexual thoughts in their minds. He suggested that Jackson should become a werewolf in a 1950s setting, inspired by the 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf. In the 1950s, Michael Jackson and a young woman (Ola Ray) run out of gas while driving in a wooded area. Jackson hired Landis after seeing his 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. It's hard to forget, and it won a Grammy for best music video. From the movie theater setting that resulted in the popular "Michael Jackson eating popcorn" GIF to the choreographed zombie dance, it's 14 minutes of pure enjoyment. This ground-breaking video is the toast of MTV and will forever be remembered for what is the greatest music video of all time!! Jurassic World: Dominion is the third film . [13], Other memorable episodes include: "Someone at the Top of the Stairs", one of a handful of forays into the supernatural, in which two female students move into a boarding house and begin to notice that none of the other residents ever go out or receive any mail; and "I'm The Girl He Wants to Kill", in which a witness to a murder finds herself trapped in a deserted office block overnight with the killer, and is forced to play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with him to survive (there is barely any dialogue throughout its second half). 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. The video shows two stories: one in which a boy is killed in a drug deal after not listening to his mom to stop and another where a man contracts AIDS after having unprotected sex with a woman. "Scream," written in response to media backlash Michael Jackson was facing, places the two siblings on a spacecraft. The video for "Seven Nation Army" is a kaleidoscopic, trippy series of shots. Also, the group performs in water and in liquefied forms in front of a waterfall. Garcia taped and uploaded videos of the sessions to YouTube, and in 2007, the one of the "CPDRC Dancing Inmates" doing the "Thriller" dance hit big and went viral. [8], Initially, the television networks refused to finance the project, sharing the view that Thriller was "last year's news". Dendle wrote that the video captures the feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness essential to zombie films. He soon finds himself working as part of a trio of vets alongside Siegfried and his younger brother, Tristan. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 1983 music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. Soundtracks. [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. Jackson's character takes his date (Ola Ray) to a horror movie and then makes her life into one when he transforms into a monstrous creature and leads a horde of other scary creatures both ghoulish and undead. And then 4 months later it was spoofed on the very first episode of ITV's Spitting Image. [8] According to Landis, Ola Ray, a former Playboy Playmate, was cast as she was "crazy for Michael" and had a "great smile". ", The sound of the growling animal during the transformation is the same sound from. Jackson stayed in the projection booth, declining Ray's invitation to join the audience. [6] According to Peter Dendle, the zombie invasion sequence was inspired by Night of the Living Dead (1968). Certainly the largest example of the phenomenon:In 2009, 13,957 people in Mexico performed the "Thriller" dance all at once, setting a Guinness World Record. If youd like to join in, please sign in or register. "Out of all my videos, it was the least expensive and took the least amount of time. Thriller was an event even when it was being shot in October 1983. [12] Perhaps the most ingenious[editorializing] episode is the Dial M for Murder-style "The Double Kill", in which a man hires a hitman to kill his wife, but makes a fatal error in his otherwise meticulous planning. They run naked on a beach, they wear ridiculous outfits, and they rock out in front of crowds of people. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 1983 music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. ", Jonze doubts Thriller has had a direct influence on the new school of music video directors, but he is nonetheless convinced it will survive as a portrait of an artist on the mountaintop. They made something that was so perfect for the early 80s. Thoroughly upset, Jackson ordered his lawyer, John Branca, to destroy the "Thriller" negatives. Ending with Alice as a cake that the Mad Hatter and friends consume and a small burp from Petty is just the cherry on top. What worries me a bit is the kids who have a bit of bravado, and don't admit they are afraid, and then have nightmares. 1. / The foulest stench is in the air / The funk of 40,000 years / And grizzy ghouls from every tomb / Are closing in to seal your doom / And though you fight to stay alive / Your body starts to shiver / For no mere mortal can resist / The evil of the thriller. "[8] According to Vanity Fair, Jackson preferred "benign Disney-esque fantasies where people were nice and children were safe", which ensured the video would be "creepy-comical, not genuinely terrifying". [8] Entertainment figures including Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson and Jackie Kennedy Onassis visited the set. The massively successful "Thriller" video was a close collaboration between performer Michael Jackson and director John Landis, although it would seem that of the pair, only Jackson greatly benefited financially from the project. But yesterday Michael Jackson's Thriller video was named the greatest pop video of all time in a survey of viewers of the VH1 music channel. It's amazing. This steamy drama, which is adapted from a book series by Diana Gabaldon of the same name, follows former World War II nurse Claire Randall as she unexpectedly travels back in time to . 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. "[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". The horror mini-movie also directly led to Thriller flying off store shelves again. The "Bad Romance" video is artistic and creative yet political in nature. ThrillerVideo ThrillerVideo was a horror home video series that began being released in February 1985 to 1987 by U.S.A. Home Video and International Video Entertainment (I.V.E.). "Thriller" remains a classic, as well as an unprecedented moment in music and film, and it wasn't easy to pull off. "Thriller" was a watershed moment in music video. watch on Amazon. Crazy Credits The best thrillers on Amazon Prime Video right now ", Only later did Landis realize that Ray was a former Playboy Playmate, which threatened her involvement in the video because Jackson thought it might come across as improper for him to be sharing the screen with a nude model. And people have been copying it ever since.". Thriller voted best video in history | UK news | The Guardian Some music videos are more memorable than others. Michael Jackson - Thriller (Official 4K Video) - YouTube Could you want anything more in a video? He opens the window and she almost falls. The main point of the video is that Gaga is being sold for sex, and the video switches between various scenes including one where she's dancing in an all-white outfit in a bath house and one where she is dancing for the men bidding as she's dressed in diamonds. 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. 1983 - Channel 4 premiere of Michael Jackson's Thriller video Her father, a hunter, disapproves of their romance and tries to shoot antler boy with an arrow but he's hit by a car. At the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, "Thriller" surprisingly lost Video of the Year to the Cars' "You Might Think.". 9 with Earth Song from his 1996 album HIStory. Blink-182 does parodies of the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, and more as the camera flashes to different scenes. And then for some reason, she is naked on a cotton candy cloud for certain parts. It's hard to forget. In January 2009, nearly three decades after production on the video wrapped, Landis sued Jackson and his production company for having failed to fork over what was due over the years. Back in 1983, the video was preceded by a disclaimer from the singer, who said: "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult." Miss Scarlet and The Duke, starring Kate Phillips and Stuart Martin, is a high-octane, smart and sassy mystery series filled set in 1882 . [40][39], The Thriller dance is performed in major cities around the world; the largest zombie dance included 12,937 dancers, in Mexico City. [8] According to Ray, the chemistry between them was real and they shared "intimate moments" during the shoot. Following a worldwide audit during 200304 by the then copyright-holders Carlton, almost all the original UK PAL fisheye-titled 2" videotapes of Thriller were located and transferred onto modern digital tape by the British Film Institute, with subsequent restoration work by BBC Resources. Other videos that featured highly in yesterday's poll included Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody at No. There's running on a moving train, there's dancing in a blue room, there's a dog chase, and a car chase. "Music videos in the early 80s started as a little cottage industry in Britain, really," says Brian Grant, the British director who made the Private Dancer video for Tina Turner and Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. MTV, which, to that point, had never paid for content, contributed $250,000, and Showtime paid $300,000. As fun as Smash Mouth's song is, the video is even more wild. [10] MTV paid $250,000 for the exclusive rights to show the documentary; Showtime paid $300,000 for pay-cable rights. Cyrus' provocative videos were a shock to people who had watched her on "Hannah Montana.". When antler boy runs to his side, he realizes that the man has deer hooves for legs. Fall Out Boy's video for "Sugar, We're Goin Down" alternates between the band jamming and a love story between a boy with antlers and a normal girl. There are shots of Missy covered in bees and tributes to the late Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes spray-painted on the hoods of cars it's truly filled with striking visuals. As the song progresses, multiple Morissettes sing in the car and act as her passengers until the car runs out of gas and she has to walk. All Rights Reserved. Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. The groom's family is filled with circus performers who interrupt the wedding. 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. Prime Video has released the new trailer for its upcoming, star-studded, spy thriller Citadel.. I just wanted to create something that would do justice to the song and I was excited about making, and I think Thriller was the same way.". [25] In a poll of over one thousand users conducted by Myspace in 2010, it was voted the most influential music video. Then it shifts to the musicians performing on stage. The students progressively begin to head bang to the music as a riot erupts and the kids destroy the instruments. Jackson was all in, especially after Landis said he could probably get An American Werewolf in London makeup master Rick Baker involved. The first collaboration between Alicia Silverstone and Aerosmith featured Silverstone as a girl who catches her boyfriend cheating. The first thing he said to me when he came out of school was 'Are zombies real, mum?'. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video is a cinematic masterpiece. The rules have been rewritten, unleashing a new surge of creativity. ThrillerVideo - Wikipedia [8], In 2009, Landis sued Jackson in a dispute over royalties for the video, saying Jackson had failed to pay him 50% of the proceeds. Filmed in one continuous shot, the band is also occasionally shown playing in the burning building. The audience gave the film a standing ovation. 12 Psychological Thrillers on Amazon Prime - PureWow I was at boarding school at the time & we were allowed to stay up to watch it. Original cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo. Every shot in the "Bye Bye Bye" video is memorable. [8] According to Landis, the response was "a surprise to everyone but Michael". In the 1980s, millions of consumers were purchasing their first VCRs. The video is as fun as the song itself. It's incredibly simple, with David Bowie just standing in front of a white background for most of it, but with his orange hair, powder blue suit, and blue eye shadow, the visuals are vibrant and mesmerizing. [8], Thriller was filmed at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, the zombie sequence at the junction of Union Pacific Avenue and South Calzona Street in East Los Angeles, and the final house scene at 1345 Carroll Avenue in the Angeleno Heights neighborhood of Echo Park. [12], The video doubled boosted sales of the Thriller album,[8] which sold a million copies a week following the video debut[12] and became the bestselling album of all time. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. [14] He initially imagined the werecat would resemble a black panther, but added a longer mane and larger ears. A-ha pushed boundaries with their creative video, actually the song's second video, for "Take on Me." [5], The zombie dance sequence corresponds the lyric about a masquerade ball of the dead. When it was released on VHS in the UK, the short film was given the "15" certificate for its frightening scenes (the rating was later changed to "12" in 2018). It was (as others have said) billed as a "The Tube" special. Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video) - Wikipedia There's nothing flashy about the video, but the choreography was an instant hit and easy enough for people to learn. I don't think we had video recorder then. Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" has two iconic videos. The music video for "Survivor" takes place "somewhere in the South Pacific," as stated in the beginning and begins with Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and Beyonc shipwrecked on an island. When Michael Jackson's Thriller started to drop down the charts in 1983, according to Vanity Fair, Jackson grew unnerved and pressed executives on how to restore the LP to its #1 perch. She has visions of her dead lover in the mansion and remembers moments when they were together. They walk into the forest, and Jackson asks her to be his girlfriend; she accepts. [13], Jackson wanted to make a video in which he transformed into a four-legged beast, similarly to the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London. That's a pretty serious statement, and one that makes the silly horror movie-inspired fun to follow seem like it's going to be a lot darker and menacing than it is. [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. 8 best thrillers on Prime Video to wreck your nerves afraid (he hasn't really got much of a "front" yet). In August 1983, film director John Landis received a phone call from Michael Jackson. MTV paid $250,000 and Showtime $300,000 for the rights to the documentary, Jackson would take care of upfront costs, and the video was able to go ahead, with the label coughing up $100,000. The clips promoting "Thriller" helped turn MTV into a vital cultural force, solidified Jackson's stature as the "King of Pop," and significantly raised both the quality and expectations of music videos. To be eligible for the Oscars, it needed a week-long theatrical release, so Landis arranged for it to open, bizarrely, for Disney's Fantasia at a single cinema in LA. With James Purefoy, Charlie Creed-Miles, Sasha Behar, Dervla Kirwan. And so, that's what happened, although Jackson's character doesn't, per common knowledge, become a werewolf. ", $1.8m The amount Texan gold trader Milton Verrett paid for Jackson's red jacket from the video at auction in June 2011, 26ins The size of Jackson's waist at the time of filming, according to Landis's wife Deborah, who designed the red jacket, $1m Estimated sum in unpaid royalties for which Landis sued Jackson in 2009, 13,597 The number of people who performed the Thriller zombie dance together at an event organised by the Instituto de la Juventud del Gobierno del Distrito Federal at the Monumento a la Revolucin, Mexico City, on in August 2009, 156.4m The number of YouTube views of the official posting of the Thriller video, 9.5m Total home video and DVD sales of The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, The John Landis-directed mini-movie first shown publicly 30 years ago this week influenced a generation of directors including Spike Jonze, turned music promos into an industry, and established MTV as a cultural force, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Michael Jackson's impact on art explored in London show, John Landis on the making of Michael Jacksons Thriller: I was adamant he couldnt look too hideous, Quincy Jones sues Michael Jackson's estate, Who's bad? Less than two years later, sister network VH1 would also name "Thriller" the top video ever made. 1 Thriller Michael Jackson. According to The Guardian, Jackson made up a lot of the difference out of his own pocket. [15], Landis said directing Jackson was "like dealing with a gifted 10-year-old". [8], According to Landis, when he called Yetnikoff to propose the film, he swore so loudly he had to remove the phone from his ear. However Harvey declined and then suggested another director who did in the end make the documentary. NCTV chairman Thomas Radecki said: "It's not hard to imagine young viewers after seeing Thriller saying, 'Gee, if Michael Jackson can terrorize his girlfriend, why can't I do it too? [8] Within months, the documentary sold a million copies, making it the bestselling video release at that point. [23] He said it was the "mini-movie that revolutionized music videos" and "cemented Jackson's status as one of the most ambitious, innovative pop stars of all time". The storyline follows newly-qualified vet James as he leaves his home in Glasgow during 1937 to start working for head vet Siegfried in the fictional Yorkshire village of Darrowby. [10] At the time, commercial directors did not direct music videos, but Landis was intrigued. Then she wakes and crawls outside to walk along the ledge. The zoomed in shots of her face and tears are reminiscent of Sinead O'Conner's "Nothing Compares 2 U" video, which is on this list. The song was originally going to be called "Starlight". "Thriller" also helped steer toward importance and bring a new standard operating protocol to another kind of video home video. Jackson, for his part, hadn't seen Landis's films Animal House, The Blues Brothers or Trading Places; he wanted Landis because of An American Werewolf in London. 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. Welcome to the Digital Spy forums. The video does feature a couple of clips of her walking through Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris, but the emotional close-ups are the most striking parts. Thirty years ago this week on 21 November it was first shown to the public. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. Watch the red dress video here the white dress video here. [20] In 2009, Jackson sold the Thriller rights to the Nederlander Organization to stage a Broadway musical based on the video. It's like he's disconnected from everything and everyone, and that's exciting. 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. Michael Jackson had a huge 1983. She was the mother of the character Ken Reeves from the TV Show "The White Shadow". He grooves on an escalator, he flies in the air, he shimmies in the lobby. 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. At the end of the credits, they all dance back into their graves, with one of them gruesomely grimacing at the screen.
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