''Michael Jackson's Ghosts'' is a 1996 short film starring

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, directed by

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film Prosthetic makeup, special make-up effects creator, best known for his work in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' series, the first three ''Jurassic Pa ...

, and written by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

and

Mick Garris Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations. Early life Garris was born in Sant ...

. It is based on a story by Garris, Jackson and King. ''Ghosts'' tells the story of an eccentric man with supernatural powers being forced out of a small town by its judgmental mayor. Jackson plays five roles, and performs dance routines set to the songs "2 Bad", "

Is It Scary "Is It Scary" is a song by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. The song was originally written to have been featured in the 1993 film ''Addams Family Values'', but the plans were canceled after contract conflicts. The song was later relea ...

" and "

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

", taken from his albums ''

HIStory History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

'' (1995) and '' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'' (1997). ''Ghosts'' was filmed and released in 1996 and released along with select prints of the horror film '' Thinner'', and was first screened in the

1997 Cannes Film Festival The 50th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1997 in film, 1997. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to ''Taste of Cherry, Ta'm e guilass'' by Abbas Kiarostami and ''The Eel (film), Unagi'' by Shohei Imamura. Jeanne Moreau was the mistre ...

. It was released as promo a year later internationally on

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

, VHS and

Video CD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

Plot

The mayor of Normal Valley leads a mob to the mansion of the Maestro, who has been entertaining local children with magic tricks and ghost stories. The children assure the parents the Maestro has done nothing wrong, but the mayor intends to banish him as a "freak". The Maestro challenges the mayor to a "scaring contest": the first to become scared must leave. He performs magic tricks and dance routines with a ghostly horde, then possesses the mayor, forcing him to dance. After the performance, the Maestro agrees to leave and crumbles to dust, but returns as an enormous ghoul. Terrified, the mayor leaps through the window. The families agree that they had fun and allow the Maestro to stay.

Production

''Ghosts'' began production in 1993 under the title ''Is it Scary?'' with the director

, planned for release in conjunction with the family comedy film ''

Addams Family Values ''Addams Family Values'' is a 1993 American supernatural black comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Paul Rudnick, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. It is the sequel to ''The Addams Family'' (1991). The film ...

''. Following contract disputes, the ''Addams Family'' connection was dropped. Stan Winston, who was previously in charge of makeup and visual effects, took over as director when Garris left to make the '' Shining'' miniseries. According to Garris, ''Ghosts'' was the most expensive music video ever made, at around $15 million dollars, all paid for by Jackson.

Cast

as Maestro / Mayor / Mayor Ghoul / Superghoul / Skeleton * Pat Dade as Pat * Amy Smallman as Amy * Edwina Moore as Edwina * Dante Beze as Dante * Seth Smith as Seth * Kendall Cunningham as Kendall * Loren Randolph as Loren * Heather Ehlers as Heather

Choreographers

LaVelle Smith Jr. LaVelle Smith Jr is an American choreography, choreographer and dancer. Known for his work in the music videos of singers such as En Vogue, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Beyoncé Knowles, Smith has won the MTV Video Music Award for MTV Video M ...

Travis Payne Travis Payne (born July 5, 1971) is an American choreographer, director and producer. He was the choreographer for Michael Jackson's This Is It until Jackson's death. Payne also served as the associate producer for '' This Is It'' and along ...

Barry Lather Barry Lather (born August 16, 1966 in Albany, New York) is an American creative director, choreographer, producer, and dancer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Los Angeles, California. Early life Lather was born on August 16, 1966 in Albany, ...

Dancers

Michael Balderrama Michael Balderrama (born May 29, 1973) is an American choreographer, Broadway dancer, and producer. He lives in Manhattan, New York, and has had residency there for almost 10 years. Michael has worked with people such as Michael Jackson, Vanessa Wil ...

* Troy Burgess * John "Havic" Gregory * M.G. Gong * Heather Harley * Paula Harrison * Shawnette Heard *

Cris Judd Cristan Lee Judd (born 1968-1970) is an American actor, dancer, and choreographer known for his brief marriage to Jennifer Lopez. Dance career At age 21, Judd became interested in dance. Within a year, he switched jobs and began dancing prof ...

* Richard Kim * Dorie Konno * Kelly Konno * Suzi McDonald * Courtney Miller, Jr * Nikki Pantenburg *

* Mia Pitts * Charlie E. Schmidt * Joie Shettler * Yuko Sumida * Anthony Talauega * Richmond Talauega *

Lisa Joann Thompson Lisa Joann Thompson (born April 22, 1969) is an American dancer, choreographer, actress, and model involved in multiple areas of show business. She was a Warrior Girl, Laker Girl, Fly Girl, Motown Live Dancer, and Backup dancer to some of th ...

* Mic Thompson * Stacy Walker * Michelle Weber * Jason Yribar

Songs

The original orchestral score was composed by Nicholas Pike. In 2021 the soundtrack was released on the web from the non promotional CD. The Michael Jackson songs are the following ones: * "2 Bad" (film version) ** Taken from '' HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'' * "

" (film version)* ** Taken from '' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'' * "

" ** Taken from ''Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix''

Release

''Ghosts'' was screened out of competition at the

. At over 38 minutes long, it held the

Guinness world record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the longest music video until 2013, when it was eclipsed by

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

' "

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

". In 2020, the film was available on Jackson’s YouTube channel from October 29 to November 1. In December 1997, towards the end of promotion for Michael Jackson's

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

Blood on the Dance Floor Blood on the Dance Floor may refer to: *'' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'', a 1997 album by Michael Jackson ** "Blood on the Dance Floor" (song), a 1997 song by Michael Jackson from the album *Blood on the Dance Floor (band) Bl ...

'', a Deluxe Collector Box Set of ''Ghosts'' was released only in Europe. The box set included a VHS release of Jackson's ''Ghosts'' mini-movie on home video and his ''Blood on the Dance Floor'' album on CD, as well as a

CD maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

named the ''Limited Edition Minimax CD''. "On the Line" was the first track on this single.

Reception

The ''AV Club'' writer Nathan Rabin described it as a "staggeringly blunt"

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

for Jackson's life and pop culture status; he described it as "clunky, leaden, and overblown". He attributed its failure to Jackson's place in the public imagination at the time, in light of Jackson's recent divorce from

Lisa Marie Presley Lisa Marie Presley (born February 1, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is the only child of singer and actor Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Presley, as well as the sole heir to her father's estate. Presley has developed a career ...

and the 1993 child molestation allegations against him.

On the Line

"On the Line" is a song co-written and produced by

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

. Michael Jackson performs the track and is also credited in its writing (on the writing credits of '' The Ultimate Collection''). It was originally recorded by Jackson for the

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

movie ''

Get on the Bus ''Get on the Bus'' is a 1996 American drama film about a group of African-American men who are taking a cross-country bus trip in order to participate in the Million Man March. The film was directed by Spike Lee and premiered on the first anniver ...

'' (1996), but it was not featured on the soundtrack. The full-length version of the song was released on November 16, 2004 as an album track of his

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

box set '' The Ultimate Collection''.

Personnel

* Written and composed by

and Michael Jackson * Produced by Babyface * Solo and background vocals by Michael Jackson

Track listing

Limited Edition Minimax CD (EPC 665268 2) # "On the Line" (Short Version) – 4:37 # "

" (

Mousse T Mustafa Gundogdu ( tr, Mustafa Gündoğdu ; born 2 October 1966), best known under his stage name Mousse T., is a German-Turkish DJ, record producer, film composer and judge on season 15 of ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German versi ...

's Radio Rock Singalong Remix) – 4:25 # "

" (DJ Greek's Scary Mix) – 7:12

References

External links

* {{Stephen King 1996 films 1996 horror films 1996 short films Films directed by Stan Winston Films with screenplays by Stephen King Films with screenplays by Michael Jackson Films with screenplays by Mick Garris Films scored by Nicholas Pike African-American horror films American independent films American horror short films American supernatural horror films Allegory 1990s English-language films 1990s American films