Friday, Jul 25, 2008
The wacked-out singer has a Halloween special that's a fright, but not the way he intended. Plus: Emeril loses 10 pounds of scary fat and, on MTV, a crazed fan is allowed to run amok, Mandy Moore style.
Oct 31, 2001 |
Monday, Oct. 29
Dear Diary:
You know Halloween is here when all around you is Michael Jackson.
First there was his silent surprise appearance on the MTV Music Awards, followed by the "Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Solo Years," a two-night tribute he threw for himself at Madison Square Garden early in September. (The pared-down version is now scheduled to air on CBS Tuesday, Nov. 13.)
The self-homage featured all Jackson's scary friends acting scarier than usual. Marlon Brando regaled the audience with gruesome stories of little foreign children meeting grisly, untimely deaths. "Sick children -- that's what this evening's all about," he declared, as if there could have been any doubt.
Jacko's posse is packed with former child-stars who feel his pain. Little boy wrecked Macauley Culkin came out for it, as did Liza Minnelli, looking bloated and greenish. Whitney Houston was there as a skeleton. And for a touch of that where-are-they-now mystery, "50 Legendary Ladies of the Silver Screen," including proto kinder-star Margaret O'Brien, provided emotional support for the aging, noseless and reportedly financially strapped former "King of Pop."
Where other stars have colleagues, peers and admirers, Jacko seems to have fellow survivors and tacit character witnesses. His friends say it all without saying anything: You want scary? Get really famous, really young. You want really scary? Wait seven years to produce an album, and then spend $30 million making it. And just to make sure everyone's primed and ready for the release of the modestly titled "Invincible" this week, endless Jacko videos on MTV and VH1 were punctuated by repeated showings of his Halloween special, "Michael Jackson's Ghosts."
If you really want to know what it feels like to be Michael Jackson but you still aren't clear on the sensation, why not hunker down in front of this 38-minute horror/musical directed by Oscar-hogging creature creator Stan Winston? The screenplay, originally written for Jackson by Stephen King in 1993, was temporarily shelved soon afterward (Boy, sleepover, allegations, shit-storm, etc.) and eventually rewritten. A full 15 minutes of material was cut, but still the resulting piece would make a decent NAMBLA commercial.
In it, Michael Jackson is a well meaning but (apparently psychotically sensitive) "loner" who likes to scare adorable little neighbor-boys with ghost stories. He is suddenly thrust into an AYSO referee's worst nightmare when a mob of angry suburban parents led by the mayor of "Normal Valley" accost him in his creepy hilltop home, "Somewhere Else." As the torch-wielding PTA approaches castle, a little boy pleads, "Can't we go? He hasn't hurt anybody!"
If Michael had a nose, we'd say this was right on it. "There's no place in this town for weirdos," declares the mayor, busting through the gate. (Jackson, with the help of some makeup wizards, plays a lot of the parts himself, and overacts accordingly.) Inside, the mob is met by a cloaked figure wearing a skeleton mask who at first elicits gasps then, inexplicably, sighs of relief when he reveals his face -- along with a rather striking lack of self-awareness.
But such is Jackson's Weltanschauung. Parents accuse him of corrupting their children ("See what you've done?" one woman says, "Young people are impressionable!") and threaten violence ("We'll get rough with you if we have to!") while the children themselves respond with the kind of glee child actors usually reserve for pizza commercials. More cheese!
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