At the time when the video for Thriller came out (December 2, 1983), there were no TiVos or DVRs. There were VCRs, sure, but you might not want to leave it to chance: The premiere of Thriller was a television event, a water-cooler moment that no one wanted to miss. The 14-minute music video was an experience, of as much importance as the Sopranos finale or the Frazier-Ali fight. Directed by John Landis (The Blues Brothers, Animal House), it redefined the concept of music videos. It was the most expensive video of its time, costing $800K, and was also the longest. Just so everyone knew where he stood on issues of this sort of darkness, Jackson, at the time a Jehovah’s Witness, added a disclaimer to the start of the video saying: “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.”

Thriller wasn’t just music plus footage; it told a story the way a movie did. It painted Michael Jackson — still years away from his well-publicized weirdness — as a “nice guy” on a date who turns into a creepy zombie, haunting his date along with legions of other half-dead creeps. There’s a strange metaphor in Thriller that’s only obvious in hindsight.

In 2007, over 1,500 Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center inmates from the Philippines were videotaped performing the dance moves featured in Thriller: