Heidi Klum Reveals Inspiration Behind Thrilling Michael Jackson Halloween Costume

Heidi Klum may be the queen of the runways but for Halloween, she was the werewolf in Michael Jackson’s classic 1982

The model, 44, wowed fans and followers with her choice of elaborate costume this year by transforming into the werewolf in Michael Jackson’s classic 1982 music video for “Thriller.”

Once again, Klum teamed up with special effects make-up studio ProRenFX to create her hair-raising look that took a total of seven hours to complete.

“It takes a long time to lay the prosthetics but then putting it all together, it took seven hours,” the Project Runway host told PEOPLE at her 18th annual Halloween party inside Moxy Times Square in N.Y.C.

“Michael Jackson is such an icon and the ‘Thriller’ video is such an iconic video and I was like, ‘I have to redo that,’ ” Klum said of why she chose this year’s garb. (She even had an entourage of zombies!)

Though she has the look to match, the mother of four admitted that her dance abilities are not on the same level as the music legend.

“Obviously it’s difficult because I can’t dance like Michael Jackson. I don’t think anyone can dance like Michael Jackson, but I tried my hardest,” Klum told PEOPLE.

And the dancing wasn’t the only difficult element of her overall look.

“It’s always hard when you have contact lenses,” Klum said. “I don’t wear contact lenses so anything that goes in the eye … we had to do it a few times.”

Earlier in the day, the star documented her getting-ready process for the party six hours before it even started. She shared videos on Instagram of her makeover, getting her face done and prosthetics applied.

In September, the America’s Got Talent judge caught up with PEOPLE after the season finale and explained her decision to go with a scary costume. “This year I’m going to be scary,” she explained. “Not Scary Spice, but I’m going to be scary because last year I was just me, and I had five clones.”