Snap Judgment: ‘Thriller’ night

Nicole Berrong, 29

Contestant on “Step It Up and Dance”
Farmington Hills, Mich.

Is dressing up as an old zombie lady in a torn dress your preferred way of presenting yourself?
It’s fun. It’s something I’ve never done before, but getting into this took a long long time, and I’m kind of impatient.

Did they give you a zombie character?
No, they just kind of did it, but then once we were done, we came up with the way we died. I had my husband killed and then he came back for revenge. Either that or I got buried alive.  

What do you remember about “Thriller” 25 years ago?
I remember being scared out of my freakin’ mind. I loved it, obviously, but I was watching it with hands over my eyes. It creeped me out, especially seeing Michael turn into a zombie, and at the end when he turned  around, I was like, “Mom! I don’t like Michael anymore. Take his records back.”

Ah, records.
Yeah. See, there you go. I had the “Thriller” record. I played it over and over again until it warped.