Ghosts

Ghosts (1997) is a 39-minute horror-musical short directed by Stan Winston — watch it online on iFILM. Michael Jackson stars as the Maestro, an eccentric magician who lives alone in a gothic hilltop mansion outside the town of Normal Valley. The local kids love him. The mayor very much does not.

One stormy night, the mayor marches a mob of outraged citizens up to the Maestro's door and demands he leave town for good. The Maestro's response is to put on a show. What follows is a creature-packed haunted-house spectacular: dancing skeletons, morphing faces, full-body transformations — and Jackson playing multiple roles, including the pompous mayor himself.

The concept was co-written by Jackson and Stephen King, and Stan Winston brought the same practical-effects muscle he'd used on Terminator and Jurassic Park. The makeup and creature work sits closer to a feature film than a music video. For Jackson's original music, Wale (Yasiin Bey) appears alongside the ensemble. Stream Ghosts (1997) online on iFILM.