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'Thriller' re-enactment boasts a record cast of 200

Photos by Pablo Alcala — Text by Scott Shive Herald-Leader Staff

"It was one of these things where we said: 'Ah, this would be a fun little thing to do,'" Teresa Tomb said in 2002, the first year she helped organize a re-creation of Michael Jackson's legendary Thriller video. "The response has just been tremendous."

What an understatement.

Friday night, the street performance, now a Halloween tradition in Lexington, will lurch its way through downtown for the seventh straight time. This year, the 25th anniversary of the original Thriller video, it will have a record cast of 200 people playing zonked-out zombies, googly-eyed ghouls and the decaying dead.

Also in the mix will be Micah Isaacs as Jackson. Since originating the role in 2002, when he was 17, he has played the part every year but one: 2007, when he was stuck in Canada, where he now lives.

So why is this thing so popular?

"I just feel like Thriller was an iconic video," Tomb said. "That album was so huge. It holds its iconic strength."