Michael Jackson's Ghosts - Plot

Plot

The Maestro (Michael Jackson) lives alone in a creepy-looking mansion on top of a hill, overlooking the town of "Normal Valley". Occasionally, he entertains the local children with scary magic tricks. One of the children tells his mother, who alerts the Mayor (also Michael Jackson). He in turns organizes the townspeople to go to the Maestro's mansion and force him out of town. Some of them show reluctance to do so, but are pressured into joining the Mayor on his crusade. On a stormy night they go to the Maestro's mansion (which instead of a numbered address, is addressed "Someplace Else") holding flaming torches. When they arrive at the mansion, it is guarded by a large gate. They peer in through the gate, and by the haunting look of the mansion, have second thoughts about entering. The children assure the parents that the Maestro has done nothing wrong, and ask that they leave him alone. But the mayor remarks, "He's a weirdo. There's no place in this town for weirdos."

The front gate opens, frightening the townspeople, who make their way to the front door, which also opens by itself. The inside of the mansion appears to them even creepier than the outside, and the parents re-assure their children (and themselves) "there's no such thing as ghosts". They make their way into the house, and once they are all inside, the front door slams shut and locks itself. Two more large doors swing open revealing a large, darkened dance hall. Hesitantly, the townspeople make their way to the dance hall, where they are greeted by Maestro himself, who makes a scary yet comical entrance. The Mayor angrily confronts him, calling him "strange", "weird", and a "freak", and telling him that he's not welcome in their town. Maestro defends himself, and in response the Mayor threatens "Are you going to leave, or am I going to have to hurt you?" (The townspeople appear not to be as forceful in their position, but don't offer an objection).

To this Maestro replies, "You are trying to scare me. I guess I have no choice; I guess I have to scare you." He then makes a series of funny faces, which the mayor calls "ridiculous" and "not funny". In a change of tone, Maestro asks, "Is this scary?" and pulls his face sideways. Then he continues to stretch his face more by pulling his face down and stretches his mouth, and ultimately pulls off his face to reveal his skull and laughing maniacally. The frightened townspeople run for the doors, which Maestro shuts with his magical powers, after he smashes his skull with his fists, revealing his normal head. One man with glasses and black hair starts to cry after the doors have been shut.

Maestro then reminds the mayor he's not alone, and introduces his "family" of ghouls who, along with Maestro, perform extended dance routines to 2 Bad and Is It Scary (both original songs composed by Michael Jackson) which alternately impresses and scares the townspeople. During this sequence, Maestro's acts include ripping his clothes off to reveal a skeletal body; possessing the mayor and making him dance (including the moonwalk); and transforming the mayor into an evil, horrific dragon while remarking, "Who's scary now? Who's the freak now? Freaky boy! Freak, circus freak. Who's scary?"

After Maestro's performance ends, he asks, "Do you still want me to go?". While the townspeople respond "no", the mayor says "Yes...yes!". Maestro quietly agrees by saying, "Fine...I'll go." He falls, and after smashing his hands and face into the floor, his face and body violently start to crumble into dust on the floor, which is then blown away by the wind. The townspeople are saddened by this, and somewhat sorry to see him go. The mayor however thinks he has come out victorious and heads for the doors saying, "I showed that freak." When he opens them he finds a monstrous-looking Maestro-demon head which says "HELLO" and terrifies him, and he runs away scared (leaving a comically Mayor-shaped hole in the glass door). The townspeople then turn back to the now open front doors to see the Maestro standing there, laughing. He asks if they all had a good time, and the townspeople realize they did. They figure he isn't so bad after all and make peace with him. The story ends with one of the children asking with a vicious look on his face, "Is this scary?"; he grips his lower face, and the camera moves to a long shot of the mansion while terrified screams are heard.

During the credits, backstage footage of Jackson's make-up sessions and green screen shots reveal how he was able to play five different roles within the film; indeed, the Cast list credits him as "Maestro", "Mayor" (which explains the mayor's impeccably Jacksonian dance moves), "Mayor Ghoul" (the horribly transformed mayor), "Superghoul" (a giant and grotesquely deformed version of Jackson) and "Skeleton" (a CGI dancing skeleton, animated by Jackson through motion capture). The Film also uses a young Michael Jackson from the time he was in The Jackson 5.