Viewfinder: "Thriller" Performance Puts Chill in Merrill Gardens Halloween Bash

About 10 ghoulish residents of in Kirkland put the fright into the retirement community’s Halloween Bash Monday, performing their version of "Thriller" in full creepy costume before a crowd of staff, family members and visitors.

“I loved every minute,” a spirited and spooky Eleanor Pramok, one of the cast members, said after the performance, “just to get together with everybody and be here with all the people.”

Family and visitors were welcome at the show and party, and a good crowd turned out, many in costume as well.

“Oh, it was fabulous,” said Pramok’s daughter, Joanne Schilling, who arrived dressed as a prisoner in a black and white striped costume. “It’s really great to have the support of the community here.”

The idea to do their own version of the famous Michael Jackson video dance was the brainchild of Merrill Gardens’ high-energy activities director Charlie Dillon, who has a background in entertainment.

“It went well, despite one mishap,” he said, referring to a resident who slipped off her chair but was uninjured. “I had worked at University Merrill Gardens last year and we tried it in a limited way. So when I came here to Kirkland I wanted to do it bigger."

Dressed as vampires, goblins, ghouls and ghosts, the cast was downright maniacal... Well, OK, they were having too much fun to be very scary. But they looked every bit the part.

"I think the audience really brought out the creepiness in them," Dillon said. "I’m proud of them.”

Check out the photo gallery here of the performance; a video was also made and we will add it to the story as soon as it becomes available. You can check out their .