Michael Jackson, Ola Ray

A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloody-thirsty zombies - only "Thriller" can save them now.

Flixster Users

88% liked it

3,124 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

6 critics

Unrated, 34 min.

Directed by: John Landis

Release Date: December 2, 1983

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DVD Release Date: December 2, 1983

Stats: 375 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (375)


  • July 6, 2009
    This is a mini movie of Michael Jackson's album title track 'Thriller'. Directed by John Landis (American Werewolf in London). Michael and his girlfriend watch a werewolf movie and she runs out of the cinema because she is scared. They walk home passed a cementry and the bodies c...( read more)ome to life. Michael transforms into a zombie and performs the Thriller zombie dance. The dance is legendary. Thriller became the best selling album in history - a record 110 million copies and I'm sure it will sell millions more. Every year 145,000 copies are sold in US alone.
  • June 29, 2009
    'Thriller' remains the greatest of the pop music promos to have a plot, great visuals, and a tip-top song to wrap the film around. Michael Jackson was at the top of the tree at this time (and not so altered in his plastic surgery regime for it to matter). Here he is in good form ...( read more)- the song is terrific, he leads the zombies in dance like no other.

    Ola Ray plays the girl who watches with incredulity as her sweet boyfriend (Jackson, natch) turns into a werewolf! Then to the pulsing rhythms of the opening line 'It's close to midnight', he stomps around the graveyard with the other zombies and creatures of the night.

    The crowning glory of all this is the fruity voice of the great horror star Vincent Price speaking in the middle of the record. Terrific.
  • June 27, 2009
    The greatest music video ever . Little recomendation from me in memory of Michael Jackson R.I.P

    I'm not exactly a fan just an admirier of his music, mainly from the 1980's. Thriller is one I love.

    1958-2009




    ...( read more)88_uk/?action=view¤t=MichaelJAckson.jpg" target="_blank">Photobucket
  • June 5, 2009
    classic! spooky Michael Jackson werewolf effects and dancing zombies. Better than "Land of the Dead". They showed this many times at the start of MTV and MuchMusic. Everybody was watching it and talking about it.
  • June 2, 2008
    da best!
  • November 9, 2009
    One of the best music videos ever made, even the extended version is good.
  • November 7, 2009
    14 minutes de frisson garanti
  • November 1, 2009
    Best music video of all time, ALL TIME!
  • October 26, 2009
    "The foulest stench is in the air
    The funk of forty thousand years
    And grizzly 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"

    How the hell ca...( read more)n you dislike this film? Let me state, first of all, that the musical genre I despise with all of my guts the most is pop... and I LOVE this song. What basically was meant to be another musical perspective for showing the world created by a song through a video (in this case, a short film), launched Michael Jackson's career to the stars and established a new (and inevitably) definite law for every single singer and music group that would ever meant to be born: to have musical videos.

    I was in awe the first time I saw this (musical video) short film directed by John Landis, a director that was in a pretty good "cinematic shape" by the time (Animal House [1978], The Blues Brothers [1980], An American Werewolf in London [1981]). Few times has a musical video made my heart to literally beat out of my chest not because of being scared, but just because of pure excitement! John Landis' formula of classic horror perfectly works here, and to mix such dark themes with pop music was an audaciously daring concept, a talent that I enormously worship for working out effectively in the final.

    No Thriller review is complete without mentioning the dance choreography... with zombies! Besides the obvious fact that no one could make those dance steps look so tremendously good like Michael Jackson did, that scene alone makes the whole short film worth watching if you're not willing to watch a 13-minute musical video (but then again, who hasn't seen this?), which is one of the most extraordinary, mindblowing and stylish stuff I have ever seen. Combining the musical talents of Michael Jackson and the direction style of John Landis, both writing this masterful piece of pop music ended up being top-notch material. Overall, ths is statedly the most influential musical video of all time and arguably the best one ever made.

    Oh... you guessed right. I've been listening to this song several times, including while writing this short review. Formulaic, but innovative at the same time, Michael Jackson managed to take control over the horror genre... and turn it upside down! Dance for me, you zombie bitches!

    95/100
  • September 26, 2009
    Photobucket

    '`Ca
    ...( read more)use this is thriller, thriller night
    And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike
    You know its thriller, thriller night
    You're fighting for your life inside a killer thriller tonight'

    'Darkness falls across the land
    The midnight hour is close at hand
    Creatures crawl in search of blood
    To terrorize yawl's neighborhood
    And whosoever shall be found
    Without the soul for getting down
    Must stand and face the hounds of hell
    And rot inside a corpses shell
    The foulest stench is in the air
    The funk of forty thousand years
    And grizzly 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'

    'Due to my strong person convictions
    I wish to stress that this film in no
    way endorses a belief in the occult.'

    1983 - Music Video - United States

    Michael Jackson's THRILLER. Photobucket



    1950s. Dark black. It's a dark, sinister night as Michael Jackson (as himself - we all knew Michael) drives his creaky motor to the side of the road. He tells his date (Ola Ray, who was in several 80s horrors), 'Honestly, we're out of gas!'. She looks bemused, but becomes interested, 'So, what are we gonna do now?'.

    As Michael and this young woman walk on the streets (it's not clear what they're doing, this could just be part of one of Michael's unpredictable, exciting plans from his earlier music videos), Michael stops. He turns to Ola, wearing an innocent cherry frock, and after asking her to be 'his girl', he explains that there's something he has to tell her. Suddenly, Michael in a crimson and mustard jacket, shrieks in pain, and alas we see the full moon crawl from it's darkness to illuminate the streets.

    'GO AWAY!' Photobucket


    It looks like a B-Movie. It is. Michael and Ola are actually in a cinema watching this humorous, light entertainment. Ola gets scared, Michael teases her, and begins the first verse of one of the most 'magical', entertaining, revolutionary tracks I have ever heard.

    Photobucket

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Not only - arguably - the best track off his second solo album with Epic Records, Thriller (arguably - the best album of all time, evidently - the best selling album of all time), but also one of the best tracks of all time, as well as the best (most expensive at $1,000,000) music video, some ultimate shots and scenes are present here. The creativity and genius of Michael Jackson will never be forgotten.

    Look Further:
    Ghosts (1997)

    Photobucket
    Michael Jackson

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