Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief Description:
On November 1, 2008, the Alamo Drafthouse will be gunning to break the world’s record for the largest group synchronized Thriller Dance. Practice with us during Fantastic Fest.

Full Description:
Over the past year or two, YouTube has been filling up with groups of people performing the zombie dance from Michael Jackson's Thriller. There are videos of newlyweds performing that choreography as part of their first dance together at wedding receptions, and of course there's the clip of the 1,500 inmates of the Cebu Prison in the Phillipines. We were watching those videos last winter and thought to ourselves, "What if we could make that even more awesome?" This fall, that's exactly what we're going to do.

We've joined forces with Ines Markeljovic, a dance teacher and founder of ThrillTheWorld.com, to help her complete her task of setting a Guiness World Record for having the most people around the world doing the Thriller dance at the exact same time. For the past seven months, we've been hosting Michael Jackson Sing-Alongs at the Alamo Ritz, then following the music video orgy with two hours of dance instruction that gets everyone in the crowd up to speed on how to do the Thriller dance themselves. We've partnered with local theater groups, dance companies, and schools as well, and we're convinced that when it comes time to participate in the Thrill the World dance, on Saturday, October 25th, we'll have more people in one place than anywhere else on the globe.

Of course, we're not stopping there. Together with Mexic-Arte and Red Bull, we're taking our Thriller zombies onto the streets of Austin, where we'll be part of the Day of the Dead processional and street party. Our goal is to have upwards of 2,000 zombies walk down Sixth Street, then stop in front of the Alamo Ritz. Thriller will start playing out of speakers lined up and down the street, and all of a sudden each and every zombie will become synchronized, perfectly choreographed zombies. Then we'll march down the street and do it again at the block party.

We fully expect these events to become historical touchstones, and we'd like for you to be a part of it with us. We're putting on a special Michael Jackson Thrill the World Sing-Along and dance lesson during Fantastic Fest, and even if you're in from out of town and can't make it to the Day of the Dead parade in person, we'd love to have you come out and learn the dance, then take that back to your hometown where you can put together your own group to join in on the Thrill The World record-breaking attempt. Plus, just the experience of singing along and dancing around the movie theater to all of Michael Jackson's best music videos, sorry - "short films" - is something that everyone should have as much of as possible. (Henri Mazza)