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
Thriller (viral video) of Michael Jackson. Nierre, who at the time was awaiting trial on drug charges, has been a fan of Jackson since he was in a dance troupe at high school. "USA Today" noted that his favorite Jackson tracks were "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal". Former pizza chef Wenjiel Resane, who is gay, played the part of Jackson's girlfriend. At the time, Resane had already been at the prison for three years, also awaiting trial on drug charges. Forty-eight hours after being uploaded onto YouTube, the video had been viewed 266,000 times. After a week, the number of hits had risen to