When the video begins, Michael is taking his girlfriend for a ride in his car. Unfortunately, the car runs out of gas deep in the woods. Michael and his date begin to walk down the road when Michael decides to ask his date to be his one true girlfriend. He gives her a ring to make it official. Michael confesses to his girlfriend that he is different from other guys, but before he can fully explain, he turns into a werewolf. The girlfriend flees and the werewolf chases after her.

The scene changes suddenly, and we discover that Micheal and his girlfriend are in a movie theater. The previous scene was actually from a movie that they are watching. The girl doesn’t like scary movies so she decides to leave. Michael reluctantly follows her out of the theater and begins teasing her about being scared.

They are walking down the street when they pass by a graveyard. After passing the cemetery, zombies begin coming out of their graves and walking the streets of the town. Michael and his girlfriend suddenly find themselves surrounded by zombies and it’s at this point that Michael does his famous zombie dance sequence.

The song itself is a tribute to horror movies, which are sometimes called “thrillers.” Any movie can be called a thriller if it fully engages the viewer and heightens their emotions. The director of the video, John Landis, said that there wasn’t any grand plan for how to make this video. Michael just wanted to dress up like a zombie and make a fun video, and everything just evolved from there.