"I have something I want to tell you - I'm not like other guys."

I would have to agree - turning into a werewolf with fangs, two-inch nails and yellow cat eyes while wearing a tight, red jacket doesn't quite qualify as being like other guys. And we won't even talk about his high-pitched voice.

Michael Jackson is not just a singer - he is a master of entertainment. One of his most memorable moments at the peak of his career was his Thriller video, released Dec. 2, 1983.

If the Thriller video is so scary and creepy, why haven't we been able to stop watching it in the past 14 years? Because of its extravagant, mesmerizing costumes. Sure, Michael's unique voice makes us shimmy to the right, but it's the grey goblins, detachable arms and mouthfuls of blood that make our eyes prisoners of the screen when Thriller comes on.

Your Body Starts to Shiver

In Thriller, looking into someone - or something's - eyes is not romantic. Instead, it's a way to scare the begeezes out of them. Who would have thought that just merely changing someone's eye color could make you pee your pants? Watch Thriller and look into MJ's yellow eyes with a slim, vertical black pupil and see how long you can stare at them without being spooked.

It isn't just the yellow eyes that make you shiver. Early in the movie, MJ's eyes are wide open (and often twitching). The dilating of the eyes is a genius trick of makeup artists/costume directors. It makes the person seem like they're staring straight at you.

Rick Baker, Director of Special Makeup effects, is able to portray the human side of Michael Jackson with his dark eyebrows and dark, curly hair but at the same time, turn him into a horrid creature - which Baker calls a "cat monster" - with yellow eyes and sharp teeth.

The Funk of 40,000 years

Blood: essential for any scary prank, video or movie (See Scary Movie Makeup by Kevin Terrell). Usually, blood in horror movies is bright red like a tomato, but the blood in Thriller is more realistic and scary because it is a deep, dark red. When one of the zombie's burnt and torn face is brought to light, we see that his mouthful of blood is quite realistic and similar to one we may have had the when we got our tooth pulled in third grade. In a successful horror video such as Thriller, the makeup should be so convincing that you can smell the funk of the dead goons as they crawl from the graves to get their groove on.

Grizzly Goons from Every Tomb

The costumes of the nasty little demons in Thriller are not all that complicated. They seem extravagant because they provoke fear in us, but are actually, for the most part, quite simple. Costume Designers Kelly Kimball and Deborah Nadoolman keep things that way because it connects the viewer to the movie. The zombies and demons are wearing clothes that many of us might wear - skirts, vests, ties and even dress pants. What makes the costumes scary is their dark colors, shredded threads and the fact that we may have just worn that same shirt yesterday.

If you watch the entire Thriller video, you'll notice that besides the opening scene - when Michael is watching a movie where he turns into a werewolf - Michael's clothes never change from a red jacket and skin-tight, red hot pants. Why are we creeped out by a man in hot pants? It's his over-exaggerated strong, high cheek bones, dark grey makeup around his eyes and dark hair hanging in his face that make us jump.

This Halloween, I encourage you to rent Thriller and watch it on a big screen. Watch for the simplicity in the complex costumes, the realness of the blood and the power of creepiness - compliments of rotten teeth. And if that's not enough to make you squirm, think of how many "costume-changes" Michael Jackson's face has been through.