AI Thriller Dance: Lead the Zombie Crew

The most famous Halloween dance, performed by whoever is in your photo. Upload your cat, your dog or yourself and get them front and center in the zombie routine, with a whole crew of zombies behind them.

Add any photos
Pets or people
With the Thriller sound
No watermark

Start from:

Add the dancer as Image 1. Add more pets or people as Image 2, Image 3 and write them into the crew.

Sexually explicit (NSFW) content is strictly prohibited.

Rendering takes about 40s. Finished clips land in History.

Example: A street full of cats·@scottnblackcat on TikTok

AI Thriller Dance Videos on TikTok

Pets own this trend. Five of the most-played AI Thriller dances, from a street full of cats to a barn full of chickens.

A street full of cats

A whole crew of cats doing the routine in formation. 7.9M plays and 1.7M likes.

@scottnblackcat on TikTok

The OIIA cat leads

The spinning-cat meme meets the zombie dance. 8.3M plays.

@tori.segura on TikTok

Chihuahua Thriller

One chihuahua in the red jacket, a pack of zombie chihuahuas behind. 1.8M plays.

@yoquierochihuahua on TikTok

Thriller Nights

The chickens bring their own version to the barnyard.

@trendsbykayla on TikTok

Your photo in the red jacket

The person version: one photo, the jacket, the moves and a crowd of zombies.

@_soeditz on TikTok

What Is the Thriller Dance Trend?

The Thriller dance is the zombie routine from the 1983 Michael Jackson music video: hunched shoulders, claw hands, the head snaps and the shuffling side-step, performed by a lead dancer in a red jacket with a crowd of zombies behind. It is the most-copied Halloween dance there is, and searches for "thriller dance" jump every October.

This year the trend went AI. Instead of learning the steps, people turn a photo of their pet or themselves into a clip of them leading the routine, and the animal versions are the ones going viral, with cats, dogs and even chickens in the millions of plays.

The template here describes the routine move by move and puts the trend’s Thriller sound on the finished clip, so it is ready to post as it is.

How to Make an AI Thriller Dance Video

1
Upload one photo
Your pet or yourself, as much of the body as possible. A standing photo makes the dance look more natural.
2
Choose the dancer
Pet for animals, Person for you in the red jacket, Zombie me to dance as one of the undead.
3
Create and post
Ten seconds covers the head snaps and the lunge; fifteen gets the whole crew in. The clip comes with the Thriller sound the trend uses.

AI Thriller Dance Prompts

The prompts the template sends with your photo. They work in any image-to-video generator that takes the photo as Image 1.

Pet

Image 1 is the Dancer, an animal. A vertical music-video shot. The animal from Image 1 stands upright on its hind legs at the front and center, wearing a tiny red leather jacket, and leads the iconic 1980s zombie dance routine: shoulders hunched, arms raised stiffly and clawing to the side, a sharp head snap left and right, the shuffling side-step with shoulder shrugs, and the claw-hands lunge forward, all in perfect unison, on a foggy, moonlit street at night with a crowd of shambling zombie backup dancers in torn clothes behind, all doing the same moves; the backup zombies are the same kind of animal, with grey fur and glowing eyes. Keep the Dancer's breed, fur color, markings and eye color exactly as in Image 1. Full body in frame, the camera slowly pulling back to reveal the crew. No text, no logos. Audio: a funky 1980s synth-pop horror groove with a walking bassline.

Person

Image 1 is the Dancer. A vertical music-video shot. The person from Image 1, wearing a red leather jacket with black stripes and slim red trousers, dances at the front and center and leads the iconic 1980s zombie dance routine: shoulders hunched, arms raised stiffly and clawing to the side, a sharp head snap left and right, the shuffling side-step with shoulder shrugs, and the claw-hands lunge forward, all in perfect unison, on a foggy, moonlit street at night with a crowd of shambling zombie backup dancers in torn clothes behind, all doing the same moves. Keep the Dancer's face, hairstyle, skin tone and build exactly as in Image 1. Full body in frame, the camera slowly pulling back to reveal the crew. No text, no logos. Audio: a funky 1980s synth-pop horror groove with a walking bassline.

Zombie me

Image 1 is the Dancer. A vertical music-video shot. The person from Image 1 has turned into a stylish zombie - grey skin, dark circles, glowing yellow eyes, a torn red leather jacket - but is still clearly recognisable by their face and hair, and dances at the front and center leading the iconic 1980s zombie dance routine: shoulders hunched, arms raised stiffly and clawing to the side, a sharp head snap left and right, the shuffling side-step with shoulder shrugs, and the claw-hands lunge forward, all in perfect unison, on a foggy, moonlit street at night with a crowd of shambling zombie backup dancers in torn clothes behind, all doing the same moves. Full body in frame, the camera slowly pulling back to reveal the crew. No text, no logos. Audio: a funky 1980s synth-pop horror groove with a walking bassline.

Tips for a Better Thriller Dance

Full body photos

The dance is all arms and legs. A photo that cuts off at the chest leaves the model guessing.

One subject per photo

Crop out other pets and people so the right one leads the crew.

Keep the sound on TikTok

Post with the clip’s own audio rather than a new sound, so it lands on the same sound page as the rest of the trend.

Pricing

Each Thriller dance video costs credits by length: 10 seconds: 400 credits, 15 seconds: 600 credits. The price is on the button before you start, and nothing else is added.

Credits come in packs, starting at 600 credits for $9.90. A render that fails is refunded automatically.

Use it responsibly

Only upload photos of yourself, of people who said yes, or of your own pets.
Do not use it to make someone look like they did something they did not.
Label the result as AI when you post it; TikTok and Instagram both have an AI-generated tag.
Do not upload photos of famous people, including the original performer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the AI Thriller dance trend?

A Halloween TikTok trend where people use AI to make their pets or themselves perform the zombie dance from the 1983 Thriller video, leading a crowd of zombie backup dancers.

How do I make my cat or dog do the Thriller dance?

Upload a clear, full-body photo of your pet, choose Pet, pick a length and press Create. Your pet leads the routine in a tiny red jacket with zombie animals behind.

Does the video come with the Thriller song?

Yes. The finished clip carries the Thriller sound the trend is posted with, so it is ready to upload as it is.

Is there a Thriller dance AI template on CapCut?

CapCut templates for the trend paste a face onto a fixed dancer. Here the whole dancer is rendered from your photo, so pets and full bodies work.

How much does it cost?

By length: 10 seconds for 400 credits, 15 seconds for 600 credits. Failed renders are refunded.

What happens to the photos I upload?

They are stored in your account so you can reuse them, sent to the video model only for your render, and never shown to anyone else. You can delete them from your history at any time.