Oakland’s ‘Night’ revives zombie horror

By Milan Paurich

The set and the cast create an atmosphere guaranteed to freak out audiences.

The world is a scary place. Between endless Middle Eastern wars, the looming threat of nuclear Armageddon, urban terrorism, the economic free-fall on Wall Street and even demagogic Alaskan hockey moms, it’s easy to see why audiences are so anxious to escape into the relative safety of a horror movie where bogeymen politely disappear as soon as the lights come up.

In recent years, the popularity of torture-porn flicks such as the repellent “Saw” franchise has only increased the communal fear factor. It takes a lot to compete with the waking nightmare of 21st-century life, and the things that used to spook us no longer do the trick. Take zombies.

When the ravenous walking dead first materialized on cinema screens 40 years ago in George A. Romero’s horror masterpiece “Night of the Living Dead,” zombies seemed like the freakiest, scariest things imaginable. But zombie ubiquity in the ensuing decades — thanks to countless sequels, rip-offs, spoofs and Michael Jackson videos — has clearly taken its toll on their fright-o-meter rating.

Now people are more likely to laugh at zombies — their ambling gait has really taken it on the chin — than run shrieking in the opposite direction.

The stage production of “Night of the Living Dead” that opened to an SRO crowd at the Oakland Center for the Arts on Friday night goes a long way toward rehabilitating the reputation of zombies. Director Chris Fidram’s decision to play the material straight — minus the self-reflexive irony that’s ruined so many post-modern creature features — proves to be a smart one. You could hear a pin drop in the packed auditorium during the artful, swiftly paced performance.

Clearly, these Oakland zombies had succeeded at freaking everyone out.

Fidram’s stellar achievement doesn’t exist in a vacuum, however. A fiendishly committed cast, an effectively eerie monochromatic set (heavy on the grays, blacks and whites), ingenious “Whacky Shack” lighting effects (lighting designer Ellen Licitra serves up more red lights than you’ll find in a New Orleans brothel) and Kerri Rickard and Melissa Smith’s ghoulishly effective zombie makeup all contribute to the gruesome Halloween vibe. I also liked how Fidram shrewdly incorporates every inch of the Oakland’s intimate space — both on and off stage — to create an ambient, theater-in-the-round effect. His zombies are much closer than you’d think; and possibly a lot closer than many of us would like.

The familiar story line remains creepily minimalist. Barbara (Laura Phillips of “The Runner Stumbles” fame) and Johnny (Ric Panning) are visiting their father’s grave when a rejuvenated corpse surprises them. Although Johnny is nibbled to death in the zombie attack, Barbara manages to make her way to a nearby farmhouse where she teams up with Ben (a terrific Chazz Sutton) to fend off the hungry interlopers. Soon they’re joined by a bickering married couple (Daniel Black and Anna Frabutt), their seriously injured young daughter (Selena Phillips) and local yokels Tom (John Garzanich) and Judy (Lisa Skerkavich). “Kill or be eaten” seems to be the mantra of the day — or “Night” — but learning how to kill someone, or something, that’s already dead proves to be an acquired skill. The ending faithfully replicates the nihilistic spirit of Romero’s original and still has the power to shock in its bleak and utter cynicism.

Fidram sets a deceptively naturalistic tone in the opening cemetery scene and maintains it throughout the evening. He also does an admirable job of conveying the sticky-palmed claustrophobia of the play’s central farmhouse setting.

And although the cast is mostly first-rate (Laura Phillips gives former “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis a run for her money in the high-decibel department), I sort of missed the rank amateurism of Romero’s performers who helped make the movie version so unnervingly, frighteningly real. They were all such lousy actors that they had to be “real” people, right?

If the thunderous ovation that greeted the cast and crew Friday night is any indication, the Oakland just might have a hardy new perennial to join the ranks of their Yuletide drag show as an annual holiday fundraiser.

X”Night of the Living Dead” runs through Saturday at the Oakland Center for the Arts. For tickets and show times, call (330) 746-0404.