Thriller (song) adapted by director John Landis into a highly successful music video, known independently as "Michael Jackson's Thriller". At fourteen minutes, the video is substantially longer than the song and ties together a narrative featuring Jackson and actress Ola Ray in a setting heavily inspired by horror films of the 1950s. In the video's most iconic scene, Jackson leads other actors costumed as zombies in a choreographed dance routine. Though it garnered some criticism for its occult theme and violent imagery, the video was immediately popular and received high critical acclaim, being nominated for six MTV Video Music Awards in 1984
Michael Jackson for every album sold, and was making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties such as dolls modeled after Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that ""Thriller" stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple." In 1985, "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" won a Grammy for Best Music