A lookback at Thriller
Hello there, Monstermaster13 with another review/lookback. Tonight's lookback is on the hit song Thriller by Michael Jackson and the music video which follows.
My family and I are huge Michael Jackson fans, and this is one of my favorite MJ songs ever as well as one of my favorite halloween songs.
The video is without a doubt one of the most memorable music videos of all time, directed by John Landis, this has got everything a horror fan could ask for, it's got a spooky atmosphere, it's got brilliant makeup effects, it's even got zombies - dancing ones that is, and a transformation sequence for fans of werewolves and the like.
The makeup is done by the Academy Award winner Rick Baker who prior to this did An American Werewolf In London, which is why Michael wanted to work with him on this video - and the werecat transformation scene always gets me.
Yes i'm referring to the monster Michael turns into in this video as a werecat because it is feline in appearance rather than wolf-like, and the behind the scenes documentary refers to the creature as a cat-monster anyway.
The transformation is in the same vein as the famous transformation sequence from American Werewolf In London, right down to the exact same sounds being used for it.
The dancing zombies are also what makes the video epic beyond all reason, and there's just something about the beat that once you've heard the song, you'll never be able to escape it.
And the icing on the cake here is the late, great horror icon Vincent Price providing the rap for the middle half of the song (there's an extended version of said rap on the album itself as well as being used in the Thriller/Threatened portion of This Is It) and what seals the deal at the end is as follows:
After the zombies break through the house and reach out to try and attack Ola, Zombie Michael reaches out and touches her. Ola screams, but it's okay....Michael is back to normal and is comforting her.
He offers to take her home and as she gets up and he begins taking her out of the room, he turns to the camera to reveal those eerie slitted yellow cat-like eyes as Vincent's famous laugh echoes in the background.
Turns out it was all a dream....or was it?
This song has been played at many a halloween party and my friends always played this at their own halloween parties. And I often joined in the festitives.
The video itself has been satirised many times including in cartoons and even by British comedian Lenny Henry who is a huge fan of MJ as well. I've even satirized it a few times in my own stories.
I did my own spoof of it with my character Nathan turning into Growler the weregrinch, as well as parodied the ending with my Megamind stories which have a character turning around to reveal he has Megamind's eyes as a parody of where MJ has the cat eyes in the original video.
My halloween story Nick Or Treat which features various Nickelodeon characters features a parody of the Thriller video including the zombie dance and the transformation scene with my character becoming a Werejoshpeck.
If you are a fan of MJ or just one of those types who enjoys halloween songs or anything to do with horror, give this song a listen and watch the video..
But be warned, there is no escape from the power of the Thriller. Buwahahaha
My family and I are huge Michael Jackson fans, and this is one of my favorite MJ songs ever as well as one of my favorite halloween songs.
The video is without a doubt one of the most memorable music videos of all time, directed by John Landis, this has got everything a horror fan could ask for, it's got a spooky atmosphere, it's got brilliant makeup effects, it's even got zombies - dancing ones that is, and a transformation sequence for fans of werewolves and the like.
The makeup is done by the Academy Award winner Rick Baker who prior to this did An American Werewolf In London, which is why Michael wanted to work with him on this video - and the werecat transformation scene always gets me.
Yes i'm referring to the monster Michael turns into in this video as a werecat because it is feline in appearance rather than wolf-like, and the behind the scenes documentary refers to the creature as a cat-monster anyway.
The transformation is in the same vein as the famous transformation sequence from American Werewolf In London, right down to the exact same sounds being used for it.
The dancing zombies are also what makes the video epic beyond all reason, and there's just something about the beat that once you've heard the song, you'll never be able to escape it.
And the icing on the cake here is the late, great horror icon Vincent Price providing the rap for the middle half of the song (there's an extended version of said rap on the album itself as well as being used in the Thriller/Threatened portion of This Is It) and what seals the deal at the end is as follows:
After the zombies break through the house and reach out to try and attack Ola, Zombie Michael reaches out and touches her. Ola screams, but it's okay....Michael is back to normal and is comforting her.
He offers to take her home and as she gets up and he begins taking her out of the room, he turns to the camera to reveal those eerie slitted yellow cat-like eyes as Vincent's famous laugh echoes in the background.
Turns out it was all a dream....or was it?
This song has been played at many a halloween party and my friends always played this at their own halloween parties. And I often joined in the festitives.
The video itself has been satirised many times including in cartoons and even by British comedian Lenny Henry who is a huge fan of MJ as well. I've even satirized it a few times in my own stories.
I did my own spoof of it with my character Nathan turning into Growler the weregrinch, as well as parodied the ending with my Megamind stories which have a character turning around to reveal he has Megamind's eyes as a parody of where MJ has the cat eyes in the original video.
My halloween story Nick Or Treat which features various Nickelodeon characters features a parody of the Thriller video including the zombie dance and the transformation scene with my character becoming a Werejoshpeck.
If you are a fan of MJ or just one of those types who enjoys halloween songs or anything to do with horror, give this song a listen and watch the video..
But be warned, there is no escape from the power of the Thriller. Buwahahaha
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