Review: Thriller 40 Documentary

Let’s set the stage: London, November 30, 5.30pm. Fans are already queueing outside the Curzon Cinema in the West-End, just few steps away from where MJ The Musical will call home in 2024.

Everyone is talking about “What to expect”. After the drama around the new Thriller 40 Logo, the content of CD2, the badly promoted Anniversary album, the lack of albums in music stores in Europe, the bogus parties around the world, but also two amazing Immersive Experiences in New York and Dusseldorf, feelings and expectations are on a roller-coaster!

Not to mention Nelson George who hasn’t been so kind to Michael Jackson in the past and now directing a Michael Jackson Documentary about the biggest selling album of all time!

And as suspected last week, “the documentary you are about to watch is unfinished”. Unlike the Paris “Fan” Party, the room is full of fans, familiar faces through the ages of our community, new fans and fans we haven’t seen since “This Is It” are in the room, it’s a true mix of the generations. After quite a few free drinks and food in the cinema bar area where only a handful of Thriller 40 posters were hanging, fans entered the cinema room where popcorn was awaiting. After the announcement that no recording is allowed and phones were to be placed in a sealed bag, the room went dark.

The documentary is unfinished, yes there are missing some lower thirds on some people, some clips are weird, or some sound takes are lower than the rest of the general film. But there are some gems in this documentary – some clips of Michael in the studio recording “The Girl Is Mine”, some unseen interviews with Michael in his office, some making-of of “Beat-It” and “Billie Jean” that we have never seen before, and finally, FINALLY some HQ footage of the Victory Tour which shows just how electric Michael was on that tour.

One moment that had the room laughing is where we are taking through the creation of Starlight/Thriller piece by piece, with the engineer exclaiming that it’s approach was like the sound of a ‘Conga’. I now challenge you to listen to Thriller without wanting to conga!

The flow of the documentary is ok, not mind blowing though as it starts as a chronological view of the events and then it just goes away to be a mix and match footages of moments during the Thriller era. Nelson George interviewed people who worked on Thriller and people who were influenced by the album such as Matt Forger, Greg Phillinganes, Steve Lukather, Usher, Mary J Blige, Brooke Shields, John Branca, Steven Ivory and many more.

While I appreciated moments where Nelson showcased Michael’s will to have the biggest album of all times, the Pepsi fire accident, the Drama behind the Victory Tour, the fight against MTV to put Michael’s videos (sorry, shorts) on the channel, and his genius for the music and marketing coups; there are moments that are not needed in the documentary like Polo G and his Smooth Criminal tribute video or the whole section about TikTok or the BTS section or the choice to pinpoint Don King for the Pepsi accident: “If Don King hadn’t signed with Pepsi, Michael would never have got burned” – Was effectively the line.

There are also a sections on “E.T. Storybook”, which didn’t really add anything to the overall story of Thriller and was more a nod to the goings-on in the era and CBS’s guarding of Michael’s output.

Overall, the documentary is good. Is it to the level of “Off The Wall” and “BAD25” documentaries? not in my opinion. As an example, they speak about the Mama-Say-Mama-Sa from Wanna Be Startin Somethin and suggest that Michael said it “doesn’t mean anything”, judging by Spike’s efforts previously, it’s here you’d have expected them to cover the fact that Michael was inspired by Soul Makossa by Manu Dibango from Cameroon.

Does Thriller deserve a documentary that truly captures its creative process and global appeal? Yes. Did it achieve this? Not entirely. Again it was very singular focused. It would have been great to see George speak to people all over the world about how Thriller penetrated different cultures, countries and continents to become the biggest selling album in the WORLD, and not just how it was received in the US.

It will be well received by the general public and they will discover elements and stories that made Thriller the biggest selling album of all times, the blueprint of the music industry, the groundbreaking and door opening album for future black artists.

To also note that key people were also missing from the documentary. Some we know why such as Quincy Jones who has a very bad relationship with the Estate but other such as Vincent Paterson, Larry Stessel, Ron Weisner, Dick Zimmerman, Rick Baker, Howard Bloom, should have been included.

At the end of the UK event, there was quite the exodus of fans as the free bar had closed. It was also unfortunate that two fans who had travelled from France to see the documentary pulled down and stole the two Thriller 40 posters from inside the cinema and ran out with them under their jackets and one person was busted filming during the viewing which was clear from the start that it wasn’t allowed.

Was the deco in London at the level expected for the biggest selling album on the planet? Obviously not. Like in most of the Thriller 40 “fan” parties, no much decoration or effort to represent the album in its glory or even a goodie bag to commemorate the event.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles got a bigger premiere with Prince Jackson and John Branca being present in the room at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood Boulevard which was splashed with “Thriller 40” around the red carpet and some popcorn branded holders.

“Thriller 40” Documentary is due to be available on a streaming platform (unknown yet) in January 2023.

Sebastian Mille for MJVibe