About 1,500 dancing Filipino inmates smashed the efforts of Northwestern students this summer, breaking the record for the most people performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance.

While 78 NU students danced to Jackson’s two-and-a-half minute 1980s hit to raise publicity for Dance Marathon last February, the Filipino prisoners danced as an alternative exercise experiment – one that has made them not just world record holders, but also Internet superstars.

According to a CNN report, the prisoners included accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers from the Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines.

The choreographed routine has gotten more than 6 million hits on YouTube, and is one of several dance videos they have filmed, including performances of “Hail Holy Queen” from the movie “Sister Act,” Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” and Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga.”

The report says that every “able-bodied prisoner” must dance. If they refuse, they could lose certain privileges, primarily conjugal visits. The dancing occupies up to five hours of a prisoners’ day.

But the swarm of orange prison uniforms rolling out to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller” is a far cry from the ragged clothing, zombie makeup and fake blood of NU students, who claimed to break the world record for the most people dancing to “Thriller” on Feb. 7 to raise awareness for Dance Marathon.

But even before the Filipinos performed their rendition, NU’s DM never entered itself officially as the previous world record holder, leaving 62 Canadians in the top spot.

Krysta Kauble, the executive co-chairwoman for DM and a Communication senior, said DM decided to pass up entering because it would have cost money that the group would rather give to charity.

“We figured once we got the publicity we wanted, it wouldn’t be worth the adjudication,” said Kauble, who was last year’s media and public relations co-chairwoman and who organized the Thriller dance.

But according to the Guinness World Records Web site, it usually does not cost anything to make the record official.

Still, the Web site says payment could be necessary if a group uses the Fast Track or Fast Review service or if Guinness World Record staffers attended the event. There’s also a cost if a group requests copies of a certificate recognizing its achievement.

While there is still no word on whether the Filipino prisoners have entered themselves as the current record holders, NU’s choreographer, Communication junior Mark Underhill, said he thinks only about 25 prisoners did the actual ‘Thriller’ dance that about 80 NU students performed.

“They did a good job with the choreography and looked really good in the lines, (but) I just think that it’s hard to compare the two because (DM) had more people doing the real thing,” he said.

He stressed that NU’s priority was to get DM publicity, not to break the world record.

“Either way, no matter who gets (the world record), it’s pretty cool that so many people did the dance,” he said.

Reach Emily Glazer at [email protected].