Although it has been over thirty years since it was first released, Michael Jackson’s 14 minute music video for his song Thriller is still, almost without question, the single greatest music video ever made. Every Halloween season, both the song and the video pop up in heavy rotation on the radio and on television, and deservedly so; besides just being a great song and video, it’s one of the best tributes to the joys of watching horror movies of all time. Which is why it’s fitting that we jumpstart the #Nerdoween season with this bit of news: according to the New York Daily News, director John Landis (An American Werewolf in London) is converting the classic video to 3D in 2015. Landis said that the the idea for a 3D conversion began as something that Michael Jackson originally had as a segment for his âThis Is Itâ tour, which never happened due to his untimely death in 2009.
Although Landis had been in a legal dispute with the Jackson estate for many years over royalties from the video, the case was recently settled and now Landis has been working on this new version of Thriller. The new 3D version is being discussed as coming back to movie theaters next year (it should open before every new horror movie coming out during Halloween season if you ask me) and will be coming out on Blu-ray as well. âIt is going to reappear in a highly polished and three-dimensional way that is very exciting on the big screen.â says Landis; even a video game version is being discussed-according to the Daily News’ sources âThe estate has been looking at gaming ideas, too, and Thriller fits into the genre; It could a be a dance experience or a zombie-style, shoot-â em-up-style movie. There are so many possibilities with this creative masterpiece.â
In the meantime, watch the original version of the classic video below, and start getting psyched for the Halloween season in earnest. And for the latest on all things spooky-scary throughout the month of October, use the hashtag #Nerdoween to see what things wicked this way come…MUAHAHAHAHA (Vincent Price voice).
I haven’t seen this in ages. I love the way Vincent Price says “Y’awls neighborhood.” He was such a pro.