''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 Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, directed by

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the ''Terminator'' series, the first three '' Jurassic Park'' films, '' Aliens'', '' The Thing'', ...

, and written by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

and Mick Garris. 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" and "

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

", taken from his albums ''

HIStory History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

'' (1995) and '' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'' (1997). The ''AV Club'' described ''Ghosts'' as an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

for Jackson's life and pop culture status. ''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 took place from 7 to 18 May 1997. French actress Isabelle Adjani served as jury president for the main competition. Jeanne Moreau hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to Iran ...

. It was released as promo a year later internationally on

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

, VHS and

Video CD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video), (not to be confused with CD Video which is a type of Laserdisc) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The f ...

Plot

The mayor of Normal Valley leads a mob to the mansion of the Maestro (Jackson), 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 This Scary?'' with the director Mick Garris. It was planned for release in conjunction with the 1993 family comedy film '' Addams Family Values''. Jackson backed out of the deal, returning an estimated $5 million, and the ''Addams Family'' connection was dropped. Stan Winston, 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, 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. * Travis Payne * Barry Lather

Dancers

* Michael Balderrama * Troy Burgess * John "Havic" Gregory * M.G. Gong * Heather Hayes * Paula Harrison * Shawnette Heard * Cris Judd * Richard Kim * Dorie Konno * Kelly Konno * Suzi McDonald * Courtney Miller, Jr * Nikki Pantenburg * Travis Payne * Mia Pitts * Charlie E. Schmidt * Joie Shettler * Yuko Sumida * Anthony Talauega * Richmond Talauega * Lisa Joann Thompson * Mic Thompson * Stacy Walker * Michelle Weber * Jason Yribar

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 British reference book published annually, listi ...

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

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

' " Happy". In 2020, the film was available on Jackson’s

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel from October 29 to November 1. In December 1997, towards the end of promotion for Michael Jackson's remix album '' Blood on the Dance Floor'', 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, ''Limited Edition Minimax CD''. "On the Line" was the first track on this single.

Reception

The '' A.V. Club'' writer Nathan Rabin described ''Ghosts'' as "clunky, leaden and overblown", and said it was a "staggeringly blunt"

for Jackson's life and pop culture status. He attributed its failure to Jackson's place in the public imagination at the time, following his recent divorce from Lisa Marie Presley and the 1993 child molestation allegations against him.

On the Line

"On the Line" is a song co-written and produced by Babyface. 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, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

film ''

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 annive ...

'' (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 box set '' The Ultimate Collection''.

Personnel

* Written and composed by Babyface 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 Gündoğdu (; born 2 October 1966), best known under his stage name Mousse T., is a German-Turkish DJ, record producer, film music composer and judge on season 15 of '' Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German version of '' Pop Id ...

's Radio Rock Singalong Remix) – 4:25 # " Is It Scary" (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 Mick Garris Films scored by Nicholas Pike African-American horror films American independent films American horror short films American supernatural horror films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films World record holders Films using motion capture English-language horror films English-language short films