The video follows a narrative / showcase form, being mostly storyline and then dance routine.
The video starts with a statement from Michael Jackson, which states that the video is not representative of a cult. This was important at the time, as MJ was a practising Jehovas Witness. The video then begins, and is directed in the style of a Thriller movie, with jagged red writing appearing onscreen. The car - driven by Jackson - slows and stops, and he states to the female passenger "We're out of gas". The couple then begin to walk through the forest that they have ended up in. A conversation ensues, where Jackson asks the female to "be his girl". He gives her a ring, a symbolism of love.
The interesting idea then comes next. A CU of the moon and some interesting music signify to the viewer that there is something afoot, and Jackson suddenly turns into a werewolf. We have a CU of the girl's face to show her fear at the scene unfolding before her, interspersed between shots of Jackson's transformation. To reinforced the mock Thriller genre that the video is filmed in, we have close ups of various parts of Jackson's body - ears, hands etc - to show how the transformation is taking over his body. The girl then runs, with the Jackson-wolf in pursuit. The wolf attacks the girl, cowering over her, and we then cut to a group shot of an audience watching the film in the cinema. This is a very interesting idea, as if completely undercuts everything that has previously happened in the music video. Jackson's girlfriend then leaves the cinema, and he goes out after her. Only at this point does the actual introduction to the song start, a whole 4 minutes into the 14 minute video.
We then move outside of the movie theatre, and see a short conversation between Jackson and the girl, before cutting to them walking along a dark alley way, and him beginning to sing the imfamous lyrics "it's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark". They continue down the alley, the girl walking, enjoying MJ's performance as he dances and sings around her, as if telling her the story of Thriller. He does various interesting actions - such as mimicking a zombie, and grabbing her by the shoulders with a crazed look on his face - to emphasise the mockery of the Thriller genre that this music video has as a running theme throughout. We see that the shots change halfway through the second verse, going from LSs to MSs, perhaps implying the closening of the relationship between Jackson and the female.
After the second verse and the introduction of the male speaking voice in the song, the location changes fromt he dingy back alley to misty graveyard, another conventional setting for a Thriller film. As the voice speaks in the song, the camera zooms in on a grave, and a creature begins to break forth from the ground, as the lyrics suggest. We have various shots of creatures coming out of the graves, and walking into the night. The creatures then start to come out of the manhole covers, walking in a disturbing, broken way, zomibefied and horrific. They zombie creatures begin to walk through the streets, and surround Jackson and the girl. We have lots of shots of a circular motion, implying that the group of zombiefied individuals are closing in on the couple, until the shocking shot of Jackson revealed as a Frankinstein's Monster replica. We then have a typical Thriller shot of focusing in the girl's reaction - shocked, obviously - and then the video takes us into a bizarre sort of dance routine, where all the zombies begin to dance along to the song, with Jackson at their forefront.
This dancing continues until Jackson belts out the epic lines "coz this is thriller", where he has now magically returned to being human. However, the zombies and Jackson continue to dance, whilst he sings. After several minutes of this, we then cut to a shot of the girl running into yet another typical location for a Thriller film - an abandon, derelict-looking house. Once again, Jackson has become the Frankenstein Monster figure, and begins to chase her. Unsuprisingly, the zombies go to the house and begin to try to break in. The girl then barracades herself in a room, and the zombiefiend individuals begin to break in through the walls, windows and floors. We have a CU of her face, and then her eyes, to show the fear that she feels at the unfolding situation, as the zombies begin to, once again, close in on her.
Suddenly, we cut to daylight, and MJ is standing over the girl, touching her. He is no longer a zombie, and has returned to his normal self. They begin to walk off together, and Jackson turns to the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and is shown to have yellow eyes, as at the beginning of the video, when he is a werewolf. An evil laugh follows, yet again fulfilling the genre of Thriller films. The credits then go up, as if in a movie, and the creatures - eventually, after Jackson has danced again - return to their misty graves.
So, what makes this a great video:
- it's intertextual reference to the Thriller genre
- it's addictive dance in the middle that is both genius and good fun
- it's clever narrative that jumps again and again to different realities and scenarios
- it's cutting to the beat
Suddenly, we cut to daylight, and MJ is standing over the girl, touching her. He is no longer a zombie, and has returned to his normal self. They begin to walk off together, and Jackson turns to the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and is shown to have yellow eyes, as at the beginning of the video, when he is a werewolf. An evil laugh follows, yet again fulfilling the genre of Thriller films. The credits then go up, as if in a movie, and the creatures - eventually, after Jackson has danced again - return to their misty graves.
So, what makes this a great video:
- it's intertextual reference to the Thriller genre
- it's addictive dance in the middle that is both genius and good fun
- it's clever narrative that jumps again and again to different realities and scenarios
- it's cutting to the beat
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