My wife and I read a review of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater production of Urban Death several years ago. Being huge horror fans we were intrigued enough to drive out to North Hollywood for one of the midnight showings. The tiny theater simply adorned with ZJU is almost impossible to find unless you are actively looking for it, and that seems to work for the company that performs inside of it. This is not theater for the masses; it’s intimate, shocking, intense, and perspective changing.
Perhaps the best way to describe Urban Death is by describing what it is not. This isn’t a play filled with dialog. This isn’t a narrative to piece together as you watch it. It doesn’t need a broad storyline; this is a raw disturbing experience by design. It’s several small vignettes that appear out of total darkness with light used as a theater curtain. There are moments of far-out comedy, there are outright scares, there is occasional nudity, and repeated shock factor. If you don’t briefly turn your eyes away at least once or twice to try and grab a handle on the moment, I would be very surprised. Most wonderfully it’s the kind of adventure in theater that you have to revisit repeatedly, mentally process, and dig deeper into for several days. In all honesty after our first visit, my wife, who is an avid horror fan, was so disturbed by the whole experience, that I did not think she would ever want to return again.
BUT, Having said that, My wife and I recently visited for our 4th show and we took friends who had experienced a taste of the immersive and inventive nature of the piece when they performed an extract at the recent ScareLA convention. Rarely have I encountered an innovative experience that has so successfully continued to improve and innovate as well as Urban Death. We were delighted all over again this year (so much so that we hope to revisit a few more times before the current season ends.)
The current October 2015 version of the show features three complete parts for the amazingly low price of $13 per person, and includes a most unconventional maze that must be traveled both into the theater before the show, and out of the theater after it. (Amazingly it’s a completely different experience both times!) I won’t give away what you will encounter during your pitch-black journey, but you must navigate through the corridors with only a dimly lit flashlight, and it isn’t the typical jump scares you will encounter; its the wickedly twisted darkness that lives in the recesses of your mind.
Two by two patrons make their way through until everyone is nervously seated in a tiny completely black box theater. Once through the maze portion we were invited to sit on tiny risers. Yellow caution tape placed in the center of the floor indicted the stage area before us. When we all were safely ensconced, the large rolling door we entered through was slammed shut, the lights turned off and for several minutes scenes seemingly appear before us, like clicks of a ViewMaster – the shutter closes, the disk rotates, and there is some new wonder to observe. As soon as it was over, we were once again handed our flashlights and sent back into the maze.
Our friends who were with us were quick to point out, that it left them wanting more, but then again even in previous longer versions of the show, we have felt the exact same way. If you are looking for something different and unique, and aren’t afraid of something different and unique, this is must see theater.
Zombie Joe’s Urban Death Tour of Terror runs Friday and Saturday Nights, October 2nd through the 31st. The maze and show times are 8pm, 9pm 10 pm, 11pm and midnight. For more information and tickets visit http://zombiejoes.com.
