Michael Jackson dancing with the living dead.
As Michael Jackson was a practicing Jehovah's Witness at that time, the first scene includes a disclaimer by Jackson stating that, "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult."
In a serene 1950s setting, a teenaged Michael Jackson and his unnamed girlfriend (Ola Ray) run out of gas in a dark, wooded area. They walk off into the forest, and Michael asks her if she would like to be his girlfriend. She accepts and he gives her a ring. He warns her, however, that he is "not like other guys". A full moon appears, and Michael begins convulsing in agony—transforming into a horrifying werecat,[2] growling at her to "STAY AWAY!" in the process. The girl screams and runs away, but the werecat catches up, knocking her down and lunging at her with his claws.
The scene then cuts to a movie theater where Michael and his date, along with an excitable audience, are actually watching the scene unfold in a fictional Vincent Price movie titled "Thriller". Michael's girlfriend leaves the theater as Michael hands his popcorn to another moviegoer, catches up to her, and tells her that "It's only a movie". Some debate follows as to whether or not she was scared by the movie: she denies it, but Michael disagrees. They then walk down a foggy road as Michael teases her by singing the verses of "Thriller". They pass a nearby graveyard, in which the undead begin to rise out of their graves as Vincent Price performs his sprechgesang.
The zombies corner the two main characters threateningly, and suddenly, Michael becomes a zombie himself. The zombies then break into an elaborate song and dance number, followed by the main chorus of "Thriller" (during which Michael reverts to human form), frightening his date to the point where she runs for cover.
Michael (who has turned back into a zombie) and his fellow corpses chase the frightened girl into the corner of a nearby abandoned house. Michael then reaches for the girl's throat as she lets out a bloodcurdling scream, only to awake and realize it was all a dream. Michael then offers to take her home, and she happily accepts. As they walk out of the house, Michael turns to the camera with a sinister grin, revealing his yellow werecat eyes, as Vincent Price offers one last haunting laugh.
During the closing credits, a reprised scene of the zombies dancing is shown. At the end of the closing credits, a disclaimer appears, saying that "Any similarity to actual events or characters living, dead, (or undead) is purely coincidental." The same disclaimer appeared in An American Werewolf in London, also directed by Landis. After this, the zombies then dance back into their graves, ending with one of them (an uncredited Vincent Price, in full prosthetic makeup) giving the audience a terrifying grimace as the scene fades to black.