Specialities
ZJU is thrilled to unlock its doors for Halloween 2022 unleashing the twisted creatures of Urban Death: Tour of Terror upon North Hollywood in a triumphant return to the Los Angeles Haunt Season. Prepare for a raunchy, terrifying and entirely unique experience. Urban Death: Tour of Terror will shock and delight even the bravest of souls. Do not come alone! All performers and ZJU staff have been fully vaccinated. Masks optional. Warning: Graphic content, trigger warnings & full nudity. ages 17+
History
Established in 1992
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group aka Z.J.U. was born in August of 1992 in a small industrial garage in Northridge, California. 29 years later, The Underground continues to push the limits of live progressive theater as a vital experimental art form in honor of the famous Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, The Matrix, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and George Lucas. ZJU believes in equality, freedom, opportunity, pride and passion for all, with much support from and employing many performers of the LGBTQ+ community.
- Website: http://www.zombiejoes.com
- Phone: (818) 202-4120
- Address: 4850 Lankershim Blvd North Hollywood, CA 91601
Highest Review
Where to begin… for those with a faint heart, paint it black before you dare your eyes to see what you cannot unsee.. Fear not the knowingly unknowns any longer, for you are about to witness what is left of your innocence grow bat wings and flutter off into the dark parts of your mind that has always been there, yet abandoned by your busy go life. I can not willingly write what I saw, you will undoubtedly have to imagine the best of the worst human flaws and perversions ever staged in sessions between 15 to 30 seconds. Nudity will be vain, so respect the art in what you think you will see, try not to bring your teenage mind and drool over the body parts, just bring your natural human instincts and don’t forget to howl at the moon or pitch darkness. Thank you zombie joes for helping crazy people like myself feel normal for one night a year… ohahahahah(evil laugh) Happy Halloween.
Lowest Review
I’ve attended Urban Death tour of terror multiple times and I was looking forward to it this year now that we are past the pandemic. I went to be frightened, intellectually challenged, exposed to unique fear techniques and to be entertained. I don’t mind the nudity and I don’t mind the discomfort with some of the scenes… HOWEVER (spoiler alert and trigger alert)
There is a fine line and this year’s show crossed it. Here’s the thing – Halloween is about fear and terror, which I did experience in this show (like the weird noises in pitch black, the suicide scene, etc). I also enjoyed seeing cool techniques like the actress convulsing her body, the huge cloth engulfing the woman etc
But then you randomly throw in a man performing oral sex on himself and ejaculating in his mouth and a woman defecating into the mouths of men _ I ask: for what purpose? This is supposed to be terror not taboo pornography. This simply made me feel disgusted. And to top it off on the way out we are confronted with a man holding a “baby” and masterbating! This to me is not art, theater, creative, scary, etc. I didn’t feel fear, I felt disgust and anger. I felt like scammed into supporting or condoning something I do not. Now, I don’t know if these pieces were added as a “joke”? are they the writer’s deep, perverted fantasies? Did they just go astray due to a perceived need to “shock” their audience?
I don’t know. And because I don’t know, I will not go back to support next year. Even if there were pieces I loved, the pedophilia (with no actual commentary) is the end of it all for me. I know this place will continue to thrive, so I’m writing this review in hopes that other patrons will voice their concerns with the material enough for some change to happen. I will not be returning, but I hope this change happens for future patrons.
