In the end, no records were broken. But for a few minutes late Sunday afternoon, zombies stomped out the steps of a familiar dance in a courtyard between shops at the Marketplace at Birdcage, welcoming Halloween early.

The community participation dance, patterned after Michael Jackson's 1983 "Thriller" video, drew 79 dancers, from the very young to the elderly, and a whole lot of observers.

The local performance came a day after the international "Thrill the World" event, which attracted an estimated 20,000 zombie wannabes simultaneously dancing to "Thriller" around the globe, including a reported 76 in Yuba City.

" 'Thrill the World' was pretty much the inspiration for this," said Bertram Chatham, who owns the shopping center's Halloween Express costume shop and organized Sunday's event. "We scheduled ours before we knew about 'Thrill the World.' But it's in the same spirit."

A video of 1,500 orange-suited Filipino prisoners performing the dance has become an Internet sensation as well as a flash-from-the-past pop culture landmark combining campiness and grace.

Why "Thriller"? Why now?

"It's a fun dance, and it's pretty nostalgic for a lot of people," Chatham said. "Even when Michael was alive, 'Thriller' was a thing."

Jon Nutting, 39, a Fair Oaks graphic designer, didn't really remember how to do the dance.

"I should," he said, "But I'm following my daughter's lead."

That would be 8-year-old Haven, her hair ratted and her face painted a spooky white, with black lips.

"She got it right away," he said.

Haven and her 10-year-old sister, Amethyst, and their friends, Alayne Voss, 9, and Czeslawa and Elvie Belson, 11 and 8, made up one of the younger packs of zombie dancers.

"Michael Jackson is one of my favorite singers," said Czeslawa. "And I really like the dance."

Nearby zombies included a spectacularly costumed C.J. Hamilton, 60, who said he got off work early from Costco for the event, as well as Linda Pfister, 57, a grandmother in a vivid red dress, with the requisite ghastly white makeup. "I'm a Michael Jackson fan," Pfister said.

"Isn't everybody?" asked Hamilton.

Kristal Mathews, 15, certainly is. The high school sophomore from Antelope wore ghoulish makeup and a Michael Jackson tribute T-shirt and said she learned about the event when her sister brought home a flier.

"After Michael died, I watched all his videos and everything," she said. "Now, I'm just in love with him. I'm all into him. He's a good singer."

Chatham originally planned the event as an attempt to break Guinness World Records numbers for "Thriller." The most recent international record – 13,597 dancers in Mexico City on Jackson's birthday in August – proved far too daunting. And, in the end, so did the more modest national record of 242.

"We're trying to beat Yuba City," he announced to the crowd, as the Capitol Pops Concert Band played the introduction to "Thriller."

And the dancers rose from the ground, arms swinging more or less in rhythm and more or less in sync, smiling a whole lot more than your ordinary zombies might be expected to smile.

Nutting and his pack of young zombies were in the back, swaying to the music. Aisha McCullough, a 35-year-old American River College student who said she was here for extra credit in dance class, performed expertly enough that she and two friends won an award for best dancers.

Chatham announced, "Yesterday, Yuba City, 76. Today, Citrus Heights, 79!" And the crowd cheered.

"I'm an old camp director," Chatham said. "There's a communal element to meeting people you don't know and sharing something cool. It's like being around the campfire singing campfire songs."

Only with zombies.

Call The Bee's Anita Creamer, (916) 321-1136.