Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video)

Michael Jackson's Thriller
Title card
Directed by	John Landis
Written by	John Landis Michael Jackson
Produced by	George Folsey Jr. Michael Jackson John Landis
Starring	Michael Jackson Ola Ray
Narrated by	Vincent Price
Cinematography	Robert Paynter
Edited by	Malcolm Campbell George Folsey Jr.
Music by	Elmer Bernstein Rod Temperton Michael Jackson
Production companies	MJJ Productions Optimum Productions
Distributed by	Epic Records Sony Music Entertainment
Release date	December 2, 1983 (1983-12-02)
Running time	14 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$500,000[2]

Michael Jackson's Thriller is the music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. It was directed by John Landis, written by Jackson and Landis, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. It references numerous horror films and has Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies.

Jackson's sixth album, Thriller, was released in November 1982 and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200, backed by successful videos for the singles "Billie Jean" and "Beat It". In July 1983, after Thriller was displaced from the top of the chart, Jackson's manager, Frank DiLeo, suggested making a music video for "Thriller". Jackson hired Landis after seeing his 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. The pair conceived a short film with a budget much larger than previous music videos. It was filmed at various locations in Los Angeles, including the Palace Theater. A making-of documentary, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, was produced to sell to television networks.

Michael Jackson's Thriller was launched to great anticipation and played regularly on MTV. It doubled sales of Thriller, helping it become the best-selling album in history, and the documentary sold over a million copies, becoming the best-selling VHS tape at the time. It is credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment, popularizing the making-of documentary format and driving home video sales. The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture.

Many elements of Michael Jackson's Thriller have had a lasting impact on popular culture, such as the zombie dance and Jackson's red jacket, designed by Landis's wife, Deborah Nadoolman. It is closely associated with Halloween, and fans worldwide re-enact its zombie dance. The Library of Congress described it as the most famous music video of all time, and it has been named the greatest video by various publications and readers' polls. In 2009, Michael Jackson's Thriller became the first music video inducted into the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". It reached one billion YouTube views in 2024.