When the documentary was released on VHS, selling for $29.95, it attracted more than 100,000 advance orders in its own right. I don't think we had video recorder then. The changes applied starting with the Game of the Year edition and all future releases since. I remember watching it in a pub called "Woosters" (aka as wasters) in Lady Lawson Street in Edinburgh. Brandy and Monica's apartments are right next to each other and the girls are seeing the same man. Title track "Thriller" was the seventh and final Thriller single, released to stores and radio in January 1984, well over a year after the album debuted. 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. [25] In a poll of over one thousand users conducted by Myspace in 2010, it was voted the most influential music video. "I had some intimate moments with him in his trailer," Ray said. It's amazing. Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. The floors appears to move as the walls stand still, furniture seems to glide, and the titled camera makes viewers feel a bit sideways. But the image forever in people's minds is Lopez dancing around in the forest with green lasers behind her. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. I was yet another taper of the original Channel 4 broadcast. Jackson urged the Epic executives Walter Yetnikoff and Larry Stessel to help conceive a plan to return the album to the top of the charts. Crazy Credits It references numerous horror films and sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies. Jackson said his first concern was to create a zombie dance that did not seem comical. He suggested that Jackson should become a werewolf in a 1950s setting, inspired by the 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf. They are all dressed in lingerie in a cabaret setting resembling the real Moulin Rouge. [23], Michael Jackson's Thriller was named the "greatest video" by MTV in 1999,[24] and by VH1[22] and Time in 2001. [16] The director of photography was Robert Paynter, who had worked with Landis on Trading Places. [2] It was produced by John Sichel (the first three series), John Cooper (series 4) and Ian Fordyce (the final two series) for Associated Television (ATV) at its Elstree studios north of London. And it ended up being the most iconic," she said. Choreographer and singer Paula Abdul danced alongside a cartoon cat named MC Skat Cat in the video for "Opposites Attract." [37], The video game Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap Games contained a reference to the Thriller music video in its original releases from May 2009 (a month before Jackson's death) until it was removed in July 2010. Before any of the "Thriller" fun monster transformations, choreographed zombie dances, creepy yellow eyes the video begins with a brief bit of text on screen. According to Vanity Fair, Landis directed Jackson to add an element of sexual forwardness to his role, with an eye toward interesting the singer's many female fans by making him appear more manly and virile. Soundtracks. The "Ironic" video stars Morissette getting into her car at a gas station and then driving into a wintery landscape. 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. What's likely the most popular second-generation "Thriller" video came from an unlikely place: a prison in the Philippines. The metamorphosis of the polite "boy next door" into a werecat has been interpreted as a depiction of male sexuality, depicted as naturally bestial, predatory, and aggressive. 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.' 1. "Romain Gavras he did M.I.A. | The emotional video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" starts with Cline Dion's love leaving their mansion on a motorcycle in a rainstorm before dying in a fiery crash when lighting causes a tree to fall. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is considered one of the greatest songs of all time, and the video is a testament to the song as a teen rock anthem. 1 Thriller Michael Jackson. [10], In 1984, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) reviewed 200 MTV videos and classified more than half as too violent, including Thriller. Each girl shows off her personality as they move throughout the hotel, making a mess and causing general chaos. More than 300 people dressed as Bush in the red dress recreated her video in a Brighton park in 2013. [5], The zombie dance sequence corresponds the lyric about a masquerade ball of the dead. Michael Jackson, at the time being a devout Jehovah's Witness, feared that the video would go against his fans' religious beliefs and feared backlash. The theatre in the movie is the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, where, The short film was packaged on home video with, The score heard in this music video is actually unused music from composer. Every Beyonc video deserves a spot on this list, but "Single Ladies" has a special legacy. Landis' production partner George Folsey and Jackson's lawyer John Branca hatched a plan: raise money by pre-selling the rights to a behind-the-scenes documentary shot during "Thriller" production. "I won't say that I have seen him in his birthday suit but close enough.". She said: "You look at those early videos and they were shockingly bad. Goofs Jackson's success ensured the lifting of a ban on black video by MTV in the US. It really opened our eyes to music videos as a creative form of film-making, and a potential career." The video finishes with the bed being set on fire, burning the man who bid on her. It was also the first big break for drag queen RuPaul. The "Love Shack" video was filmed at the home of ceramic artists Philip Maberry and Scott Walker and shows people grooving and having a fun party in this place in the middle of some woods. Here are 55 of the most iconic music videos of all time. The suit alleged that Landis didn't receive his promised 50-percent cut of the profits and that Jackson and company acted with "fraudulent, malicious, and oppressive conduct" in withholding what The Hollywood Reporter said amounted to about $2.3 million. It is a complete and full-featured suite which provides cutting-edge editing tools, motion graphics, visual effects, animation, and more that can enhance your video projects. According to Baker, he technically portrays a "werecat. The horror mini-movie also directly led to Thriller flying off store shelves again. [20] In 2009, Jackson sold the Thriller rights to the Nederlander Organization to stage a Broadway musical based on the video. If youd like to join in, please sign in or register. [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. At one point, she climbs up the building to a room where Paul McCoy and the rest of the band are playing music. 6 Vogue Madonnna. He reaches out to her but can't pull her back up and she falls. There's also a memorable scene of her covered in diamonds. In 2009, the Library of Congress added "Thriller" to the National Film Registry, naming it part of its collection of films that should be "preserved as cultural, artistic, and/or historical treasures for generations to come," according toLA Weekly. 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. Michael Jackson's Thriller was launched to great anticipation and played regularly on MTV. Today everybody is still doing the same thing in music video with dancing and film-based story-lines which he innovated. Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. 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. But what truly stands out about the video is Cher's iconic sheer body suit and leather jacket. J-Lo brought in the new millennium with her video for "Waiting for Tonight." She leaps and hang over the cars with a rope and flip her ex off is iconic. [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. "The Thriller video became a worldwide megahit and an iconic pop culture phenomenon that has continued to generate profits for defendants Optimum Productions and Michael Jackson, who have wrongfully refused to pay or account for such profits to plaintiff," the suit read (via The Guardian). As fun as Smash Mouth's song is, the video is even more wild. "Above all, it's just this amazing documentation of Michael Jackson at his most electric," he says. [8], Weeks before the premiere, Jackson, then a Jehovah's Witness, was told by the organization leaders that the film promoted demonology and that he would be excommunicated. It was filmed at various locations in Los Angeles, including the Palace Theater. Even now, Kirsty Wark can perform the Thriller dance on Newsnight as a Halloween joke, and everyone gets it. Thoroughly upset, Jackson ordered his lawyer, John Branca, to destroy the "Thriller" negatives. Jackson embraces her, but turns to the camera and grins, revealing his werecat eyes. Between the visuals and the overall story, West's artful vision is memorable. 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. Lesley Sharp stars as a detective who faces impossible choices in a murky world where loyalties are tested and lines are blurred. 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. The video has received over 700 million views on YouTube. 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. [8] Vestron Music Video offered to distribute Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on VHS and Betamax; this was a pioneering concept, as most video cassettes at the time were sold to rental stores rather than directly to viewers. On June 27, 2011, the red jacket Jackson wore in this video sold for 1.8 million dollars at Julien's Auctions of Beverly Hills. Original cast member Al Molinaro made a cameo. According to NPR, government security consultant Byron Garcia instituted an exercise program in the mid-2000s at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. Outlander. And then, at midnight on 2 December, after weeks of trailers and hype, MTV showed it to the world.