Has anybody ever finshed this game? Is it very long? How many stages, if it is indeed divided in stages?

I only managed to see the two first stages, the tree and the cinema. I'm not sure; but maybe the third is a cemetary?, I don't remember clearly if I get thorugh this screen...

Pretty damn hard game!

Wow, you actually beat the first level? ^_^

IIRC, it will show all the levels in the demo mode if you don't start any game. Not much demo going on there though :-) I think there were about 6.

During my MSX childhood, I reached the final stage... cheating with a poke of course ...
IIRC there are five stages...

Forest
Cinema
Ghetto
Cemetary
Mansion (I am not sure if this is its real name, but I am sure the last stage shows a mansion in the background).

I remember that manual told about just four screens... in last screen there was your poor girlfriend and when you reached her, you had to walk all the way back to your car in the first screen to escape! (OF COURSE!! Would you like to stay in haunted house with your girl and get both killed?)

by the way... if someone ever have wondered how the game got it´s name, here´s solution:

Commodore 64 version´s original theme tune was from Michael Jackson´s new music video "THRILLER"... and then.. as you may guess it... someone found that out, and programmer was forced to write new tune for game, and so game got free publicity because of using Thriller music without permission... You can find both tunes from http://www.c64.org/sidfind/ if you like to compare them. I like MSX arrangement more than c64 version2.

Indeed, I like the music a lot, it's a curious tune!

Doesn't the game demonstrate all screens and even explain that you have to go back?

yes it does.

I used to pay a lot this game, as this was my very second (or third?) game.
As per instruction manual, if you reach and finish the screen with the house, you should go back all the screens with your girlfriend. You must catch the blue crosses and your girlfriend the pink ones. You can swap control to both characters pressing SPACE, but this feature did not worked at all !!! , so i am afraid that finish this game is impossible

Just found this. 5 Levels.
INSTRUCTIONS
The night fills you with untold terror, you fear for yourself and
for the woman you love who has been spirited away to the haunted
mansion by the ghouls that now threaten you. As you approach the
forest in search of your beloved, your car coughs to a halt and
the engine dies. You have run out of gas.

You have to continue your plight on foot through the perilous
undergrowth if a ghoul, zombie, ghost or bat touches you they
drain your energy. You can walk or jump, each requiring more
energy. You can boost your energy by eating the mushrooms (BEWARE
of the mushrooms which turn out to be poisonous toadstools) Your
only chance of leaving the forest is by collecting all the
magic crosses. As your search continues and you near the haunted
mansion the danger increases. You will enter the cinema on the
edge of the forest where more spooks await you. Next is the
ghetto, next a graveyard and at last you will reach the mansion
where you will find your girlfriend. BUT your troubles have only
just begun, as you go to caress her cheek you realise that she
herself has become possessed by evil spirits. Panic fills your
soul and you have to escape back from whence you came through the
graveyard, the ghetto, the cinema and finally the forest. At each
step aware that behind you at any moment may be...

I have reached the second stage few times in my whole life. The game is extremely difficult.
And that's the most far I've ever been.

I think i still have the original tape. I will look for it and (maybe ) will type the manual.

By the way, if you are able to show the intro screen (ZX format) without colours, you will find a secret message from the programmer...

In fact, hacking this game is very aeasy. I once did !!!
You only have to find the screens inmemory, and fill them with crosses....