Zombie Joe's Attack of the Rotting Corpses: 2022 Review

Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre, North Hollywood, CA

Welcome to September! While we're not huge fans of Christmas creeping in earlier and earlier each year, we certainly don't mind an early influx of Halloween treats even when the weather is a trick and touching atmospheric barbecue levels. Thus, last Saturday, we dipped our feet in the possibly contaminated water of the first of two Zombie Joe's Underground Theater productions being created for this haunt season as part of ZJU's 30th anniversary extravaganza.

Gina Rizzo Bishop as Mack and Billy Minogue as Vic.
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

Attack of the Rotting Corpses is a classic Zombie Joe show making its fifth-ever appearance--and first in seven years. Set in a fictional condominium complex at 50 Peachtree and based on a real-life residence in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn for which writer and producer Zombie Joe was a doorman once upon a time, this no-intermission play tells a wildly absurd, terrifyingly funny tale of an evil microbe in the water supply of this long-running establishment that may or may not be responsible for turning the residents into flesh-eating Rotting Corpses of the undead!

The plot is straightforward enough, and given that it's a Zombie Joe show--where happy endings aren't exactly the norm (unless it's the other happy ending, in which case, it's probably being accompanied by something shocking and messy anyway)--one can probably guess that the final result won't be too kind on the denizens of 50 Peachtree. But the true joy of Attack of the Rotting Corpses comes in marvelling at the performances of the zany and ridiculous characters who inhabit this quirky residence and in following their various reactions to the ominous and growing threat. Attack of the Rotting Corpses isn't about getting to the end to reveal the big mystery. It's about enjoying the laughable, ridiculous, outrageous ride along the way.

Vic and Liz, played by Maria Carrion, enjoy their tempestuous affair.
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

The show jumps right into the brash and eccentric by going dark and cuing a vigorously enthusiastic beat-boxing performance, put forth by Vic, one of two staff members of the Blue Caribbean Concierge (played bombastically on full throttle by the energetic Billy Minogue, who starred in this show as the opposite concierge character a decade ago). With him is the much more fatalist, long-suffering Mack (portrayed melodramatically forlornly by a very sympathetic Gina Rizzo Bishop), who takes over the night shift setting for the play. Vic and Mack are a dynamic duo, working in tandem together, though Mack seems to yearn for something more than platonic (not to mention an increasingly apparently deserved raise). And it's Mack who is stuck with the lion's share of dealing with the quirky and bizarre residents and visitors of 50 Peachtree.

Over the course of the first half of the production, various personas filter through 50 Peachtree, each with their own outlandish personas and behaviors.

Nicole Craig as Doria and Misheel Erdenetsogt as Cindy, with their dogs, Paisley and Skittles, played by Annegret Steioff and Samuel Baron, respectively.
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

There's Liz (Maria Carrion), a sexy, middle-aged vamp who strolls around in her bathing suit while intimating activities in her birthday suit, and serves as the object of Vic's lustful desires, much to Mack's chagrin. Doug (Alex Press), or "Dougie Fresh," as Vic enjoys calling him, lecherously takes aim at Mack while also repeatedly coming up with new and creative and occasionally off-putting uses with an endless supply of disposable underwear made in Sri Lanka. Miss Ferranello (Patty Sherman) is an aging film star grasping back to her days of fame and relevance, all while expressing demanding needs for the well-being of her wardrobe.

Catarina and Damon (Bess Jane & Steve Alloway) seem to be the resident stoners / dysfunctional couple / do-nothings who really enjoy eating... a habit that comes in helpfully to them and detrimentally to everyone else once the microbe starts affecting the residents. The moments when Catarina stumbles in to collect her food and then call out what it is in a dead tone droll (even before she becomes a zombie-like creature) are hilarious through the shear commitment the actress takes to the bit. Doria (Nicole Craig) and her dog, Paisley (Annegret Steioff) and Cindy (Misheel Erdenetsogt) and her dog, Skittles (Samuel Baron) engage a sassy rivalry that culminates in a over-the-top and sometimes slow motion catfight that pairs with their pets matching an equally comical dogfight. And there's also Googoosh (Abel Horwitz), a dry cleaner who serves the residents of 50 Peachtree while carrying around his grandmama's ashes and living in fear of Miss Ferranello and her hairpin demands, yet rambles and exercises strange customs like a mix of Balki from Perfect Strangers and Borat from, well, Borat.

Bess Jane as Catarina and Steve Alloway as Damon.
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

The structure of the play almost feels like a sitcom at times, with each character making a stirring entrance, monologuing in a way that reveals some aspect of their personal background, and laying their emotional baggage at poor Mack's feet. In an alternate universe where this was a recurring series, one could imagine a mighty, whistling audience applause upon each character's entry. The fast-talking scenes whip around with an energy and fervor that adds to the ludicrous feel of the entire play, because every character is a character, with Mack residing in the eye of the storm as possibly the most grounded person at 50 Peachtree. Somehow, though, their diversions are distracting enough that Mack never seems to completely pick up on the growing threat from the dangerous microbe, not even when hired plumber Blane (Samuel Barron) lays it all clearly out in a disconcertingly specific speculative speech that leaves Mack stunned. But that's all part of the ironic wackiness that resonates through this play.

Abel Horwitz as Googoosh.
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

As the horror part Attack of the Rotting Corpses begins to take hold, the show takes on moments familiar to fans of Zombie Joe's other, more episodic, disconnected vignette horror productions. There's the campy gore as the microbes begin to turn residents into mindless flesh-eaters, not to mention goofy zombie portrayals and a diverse and hilarious set of reactions from different characters as they face the reality of this spreading infection--some horrified, some non-plussed, some angry, some rebellious. There are messy scenes featuring bodily discharge that would be at home in a gross-out moment in Urban Death or Bloody Alley. And when it all ends (poorly, of course), the climactic scene bears similarities to similar zombie swarm scenes in various ZJU productions. Surprisingly, though, there is a remarkable abundance of clothed people throughout the show. In fact, there is no nudity at all, making this an all-ages ZJU production—though Zombie jokes that the wardrobe budget makes this one of the more extravagant Zombie Joe shows!

But at its core, Attack of the Rotting Corpses is an irreverent character study at people inspired by actual residents at Zombie Joe's doorman job half a lifetime ago, mixed with a gander at how they might react if horrific and monstrous calamity struck (the real-life connection of this show runs strong, as partner Denise Devin also directs the play). Zombie Joe's shows have always retained a comedic element even amidst some of the darkest horror they explore, but this production almost exclusively focuses on the humor and preposterous. It's an escape that allows the audience to witness an environment slowly succumb to the grips of its plague and laugh in glee at how the end of the world (for these folks) is tackled so absurdly.

The whole cast!
(Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)

The running time for Attack of the Rotting Corpses is 50 minutes, but it flies by feeling much shorter than this. The result is a show that is definitely different than any other ZJU show we've seen (there have been other shows with a linear plot and structure, but we just happened to have missed them), but one that is wildly enjoyable regardless. As a flipside to the more intimate and disturbing and unnerving Urban Death: Tour of Terror, coming later this month, Attack of the Rotting Corpses brings a real treat to Zombie Joe fans who enjoy the entertainingly farcical nature of ZJU productions. The tricks will be taken care of soon enough, though.

Attack of the Rotting Corpses runs two more weekends, Fridays and Saturdays with one 8:30 show per night. Tickets are $20+ fees online or $25 at the door. And Urban Death: Tour of Terror returns and runs September 30 - October 31, with five shows a night on Fridays and Saturdays plus Halloween evening. An experience at Zombie Joe's is never forgettable, and we definitely encourage haunt fans to support this amazing and longstanding fixture of the North Hollywood theater scene this haunt season--and beyond!

(Image courtesy of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre.)