- Directed by John Landis
- Written by John Landis, Michael Jackson
- Stars Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, Forrest J. Ackerman
- Run Time: 13 Minutes
Synopsis
A young man and his girlfriend are driving along, dressed in 1950s fashions, when they run out of gas. They start walking home through the woods when he sees the full moon, changes into a werewolf, and chases the girl.
Nope— It’s just a movie, a “Thriller,” being watched by Michael Jackson and his girlfriend. She’s terrified by the film and wants to leave early. They walk home past the graveyard, where they are surrounded by zombies. As the zombies rise out of their graves, from under manholes, and other places, we hear the unmistakable voice of Vincent Price reading his lines.
These zombies don’t want to eat their brains. They just want to dance; zombie-Michael obliges them with a song. In the end, we hear the distinctive “Vincent Price laugh.” It’s a longstanding rumor, although not confirmed that the old man zombie at the very end of the closing credits is Price himself.
Commentary
I hadn’t seen this in years, and all I remembered was the dancing. There was actually a lot of good horror material here. The werewolf chase in the “thriller” was really well done. The zombie makeup on both Jackson and the dancers is top-notch and really holds up well, even 38 years later (now I’m feeling really old). Of course, the song and the dance number have become legendary hits.
Note that on the walls of the theater in the first segment are posters from Price films: House of Wax and also Masque of the Red Death can be seen. We see on the marquee that the film they have been watching is called “Thriller,” starring Vincent Price.