Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video) Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video) Michael Jackson's Thriller is a music video for the Michael Jackson song "Thriller". It was directed by John Landis and written by Landis and Jackson. It was released on December 2, 1983, by Columbia Pictures. In the video, Jackson and his girlfriend (played by Ola Ray) are confronted by zombies while walking home from a movie theater. Jackson becomes a zombie and performs a dance routine with a horde of the undead. The video references numerous horror films. Jackson contacted Landis after seeing his film "An American Werewolf in London." The pair conceived a short
Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video) Landis, "The earth-shattering success of "Michael Jackson’s Thriller" was a surprise to everyone but Michael." The success transformed Jackson into a global phenomenon, a dominating force in pop culture, and cemented Jackson's status as the "king of pop". At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, "Thriller" won the awards for Viewers Choice, Best Overall Performance and Best Choreography, and was nominated for Best Concept Video, Best Male Video and Video of the Year. In 1982, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) classified more than half of 200 MTV music videos surveyed as "too violent", including "Thriller" Jackson's duet with