Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983) on Netflix
Michael and his girlfriend watch a horror film in a theater. She leaves, frightened, and he follows her into the night, past a graveyard where the dead rise.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on Prime
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb8.8/101,616 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
In a packed theater, Michael and his girlfriend watch a film about a young man in the woods who tells the woman with him that he is different from other men and becomes a werecat. She leaves the auditorium, scared, and he follows her out. She says the horror movie was not amusing to her, and he takes it lightly. On their walk home through nighttime streets they pass a graveyard, and Michael teases her with the verses of the song, singing that the film had frightened her. The dead climb from their graves and close in around the two of them.
Cast
- Felix Golovninas Klara's Boy
- Yakov Vasilyevas Zombie
- Lynelle Saundersas Zombie
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Weeks before the premiere, Jackson, then a Jehovah's Witness, was told by organization leaders that the video promoted demonology and that he would be excommunicated, so he ordered his lawyer, John Branca, to destroy the negatives; the team locked them in Branca's office instead, and Branca talked him into an opening disclaimer.
- Epic had little interest in another video for Thriller, believing the song had peaked, and agreed to contribute only $100,000; television networks refused to finance it as "last year's news", and MTV, which had a policy of not financing videos, paid the rest only after the new channel Showtime agreed to half the budget.
- In January 2009 Landis sued Jackson over royalties, saying Jackson had failed to pay him 50% of the proceeds; the suit settled in 2012, and Landis said he had been suing him for 14 years. Ray sued Jackson's estate for unpaid royalties in May 2009, one month before his death.
- Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson and Jackie Kennedy Onassis visited the set, along with Jackson's parents; according to Landis, Michael asked for Joseph to be removed, he refused and was escorted off the set by police, though Joseph denied this.
- Thriller was the first time Jackson had interacted with a woman in a video, which Landis described as a "breakthrough"; Jennifer Beals turned down an offer to play Jackson's girlfriend, and Landis said Ola Ray, a former Playboy Playmate, was cast as she was "crazy for Michael" and had a "great smile".
- The Thriller dance is performed in major cities around the world, and the largest zombie dance included 12,937 dancers in Mexico City; in 2016 US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama danced to the song with schoolchildren at a White House Halloween event.
- Jackson's red leather jacket became a fashion icon and has been widely emulated; in 2011 one of the two jackets he wore in the video sold at auction for $1.8 million.
