What can you say about the iconic music video for Michael Jackson's most famous track "Thriller?" That it's been widely lauded as one of the greatest music videos ever made, or that it became to the first ever music video to be added to the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress? How about the fact that there are over a hundred crazy flaws in it? A new viral video is looking past the iconic status of Jackson's cinematic music video to point out just how ridiculous it really is. See all the problems with the Michael Jackson classic for yourself below.
The folks at Music Video Sins chose to celebrate Halloween by taking a closer look at the very spooky "Thriller" music video and doing what they do best: pick it apart. The 1983 Michael Jackson video was lauded for its cinematic approach to interpreting the original song, as famed director John Landis expanded the video to a full 14 minutes. And although it's incredibly inventive, some of the storylines and concepts that make up the video aren't above poking some fun at.
Right off the bat, Music Video Sins zings the fact that "Thriller" has to open with a disclaimer stating that although the video contains supernatural themes, it doesn't mean Michael Jackson worships the occult. The commentator rightly points out that he definitely wouldn't need that disclaimer in 2016, and that nobody would have probably actually thought the video pointed to actual occult beliefs anyway. From there, we're off --- the commentator stops the video at random intervals to pipe in about how ridiculous everything that's happening is, such as the fact that a werewolf would attempt driving around knowing it's a full moon, and that jarring reveal that Michael Jackson is somehow watching a movie starring Michael Jackson.
Given that John Landis, who also directed An American Werewolf in London and The Twilight Zone: The Movie, was heavily inspired by retro horror films when creating the "Thriller" music video, a lot of the critiques span from the stereotypically unsound logic that most old horror movies follow, i.e. "Why are you running into that scary, abandoned house?," "How can they not outrun the slow-moving zombies?," and so on. Still the commentator manages to rack up an impressive 158 "sins" in total, which is certainly quite a feat.
Despite these various "sins," the "Thriller" video remains one of the most celebrated music videos ever made. It won three MTV Video Music Awards at the 1984 ceremony, was the first music video to ever be entered into the Library of Congress, and was dubbed the greatest music video ever made by VH1, MTV, and TIME Magazine. So, I'm sure nobody will really mind if you want to laugh at it a little bit.
