From the three Michael Jackson related 'films' I have watched today (the others being "Thriller" and "Captain EO"), this contains the man's best acting and dancing.
The concept is simple, but in a good way; children and adults find themselves in a ghostly, haunted manor house upon a dark evening. Their cynical Mayor takes against the house's proprietor, the Maestro (Michael Jackson). The Maestro summons up a horde of ghosts, in an attempt to both scare and entertain the assembled people. Predictably enough, the children love it and the Mayor hates it, berating the Maestro as a 'freak', who would be better off in the circus.
There is some sense of Jackson playing on themes from "The Elephant Man", one of his favourite films - playing an outsider, hated by many in adult society. Magic and oddity are seen to win out, with the Mayor confounded at every turn and indeed inhabited by MJ's spirit at one point and even doing the Moonwalk in a memorably amusing sequence. The ghosts work well in tandem and individually - we are treated to Elizabethan ruff wearers, arch Gothic ladies and a rather sinister zombie-jester.
The music contains some of the better 1990s Michael Jackson numbers: 'Is It Scary' and '2 Bad' are not classics but are well used; 'Ghosts' is a cracking song given its perfect visual accompaniment here. Some of the ghosts' dance routines are superbly realised, and it is notable just how at home Jackson is with these spectral figures around him. Compare with his uncomfortable attempt at R&B normality in the 'You Rock My World' video, where he achieved no chemistry whatsoever with the lady he is supposed to be romancing.
"Ghosts" truly shows a Michael Jackson in his element, a weird man in weird surroundings, putting on an unusually entertaining horror show.
The concept is simple, but in a good way; children and adults find themselves in a ghostly, haunted manor house upon a dark evening. Their cynical Mayor takes against the house's proprietor, the Maestro (Michael Jackson). The Maestro summons up a horde of ghosts, in an attempt to both scare and entertain the assembled people. Predictably enough, the children love it and the Mayor hates it, berating the Maestro as a 'freak', who would be better off in the circus.
There is some sense of Jackson playing on themes from "The Elephant Man", one of his favourite films - playing an outsider, hated by many in adult society. Magic and oddity are seen to win out, with the Mayor confounded at every turn and indeed inhabited by MJ's spirit at one point and even doing the Moonwalk in a memorably amusing sequence. The ghosts work well in tandem and individually - we are treated to Elizabethan ruff wearers, arch Gothic ladies and a rather sinister zombie-jester.
The music contains some of the better 1990s Michael Jackson numbers: 'Is It Scary' and '2 Bad' are not classics but are well used; 'Ghosts' is a cracking song given its perfect visual accompaniment here. Some of the ghosts' dance routines are superbly realised, and it is notable just how at home Jackson is with these spectral figures around him. Compare with his uncomfortable attempt at R&B normality in the 'You Rock My World' video, where he achieved no chemistry whatsoever with the lady he is supposed to be romancing.
"Ghosts" truly shows a Michael Jackson in his element, a weird man in weird surroundings, putting on an unusually entertaining horror show.