Thriller 40

Thriller 40 (2023) is an 89-minute music documentary you can watch online on iFILM. Director Nelson George traces exactly how Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones built the record — track by track, decision by decision — at Westlake Recording Studios in the autumn of 1982.

Archive footage puts Jackson and Jones back in the room. New interviews bring in Paul McCartney, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Mark Ronson, and Brooke Shields. Choreographer Misty Copeland breaks down the physical language of the "Thriller" video; "Billie Jean" director Steve Barron explains what made that clip impossible to ignore. George himself appears on camera — he was covering Jackson's career as a journalist through the 1980s, so this is as close to an insider account as the record gets.

Watch Thriller 40 online on iFILM and hear the story behind the album that rewired pop music.