Horrorworld’s Into the Black and ZJU’s Urban Death Review

I’ll admit I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for lower-budget haunts. I love the bigger ones, too, with their elaborate sets, long, twisting journeys through nightmarish tableaus, and movie-grade props and sound design are all recipes for a good time. But it’s always really interesting to see what people come up with when they don’t have the resources to make their creation stand on production value; instead having to rely on ingenuity and efficiency to create a memorable experience.

They also, frankly, tend to be easier on the wallet. Most of us can only shell out $100+ for high-end haunt tickets so many times a season, so if you’re feeling a little tapped out after splurging on the latest Creep LA or Delusion production it can be nice to find some scares that don’t demand as much from your bank account.

Enter Horrorworld’s Into the Black: Haunted Market and Zombie Joe’s Urban Death: Tour of Terror – a pair of no-contact, walk-through haunts that provide plenty of nightmare fuel that doesn’t involve overdraft fees. Into the Black is a solo or two-person walkthrough that’s on the shorter side, clocking in at around 10-15 minutes. Urban Death, meanwhile, is for small group audiences (about 15 guests per show) that runs closer to 30. The tight runtimes make both options a good way to start or end a night, rather than being something to build a whole evening around.

It’s Dark in Here

Darkness is a staple of low-budget haunts, and for good reason. Depending on what you’re going for, it can be at least as effective as gore-spattered walls and ornate ritual chambers. And, more germane in this case, it saves time and resources from a creator’s perspective.

Both Into the Black and Urban Death rely heavily on darkness to set the tone of their experiences. With Into the Black, guests meander through the labyrinthine, barely lit hallways of a neglected Victorian mansion where demons conjured from the bowels of Hell itself have a habit of leaping out from the shadows the moment you let your guard down. In Urban Death, meanwhile, guests have only a dim flashlight to guide them through a maze dotted with grizzly vignettes. Once through, they take their seats in Zombie Joe’s Underground’s black box theater for a series of skits I’d describe as a charcuterie board of nightmares before heading back out the way they came.

Different Fears for Different Dears

Past the price point ($25 for Into the Black and $20 for Urban Death) and reliance on blackness as a key part of the décor, though, these are both very different haunts.

Into the Black is a more standard haunt maze, similar in structure to those you’ll find at Halloween Horror Nights or Knott’s Scary Farm. Guests wander through sharply-twisting hallways, punctuated by glow-in-the-dark painted scenes that may or may not have a new friend lying in wait. But it’s more likely that you’ll turn a corner and lose a year or two off your life from a sudden shriek, growl, or looming presence – courtesy of the haunt’s devilish scare actors. Into the Black is about fear and terror, being alone in the dark with your creeping dread until something horrid bursts out of the shadows.

Urban Death is more about being creepy and disturbing, leaning into a different kind of scary than most mazes. At its core, Urban Death is about real, naked (sometimes literally) horror – that revulsion that comes from laying eyes on something monstrous. Sometimes it’s literal monsters. But in several places the horror is comes from things that are uncomfortably relatable: sex gone wrong, mental illness, or all-too-normal people involved in senseless brutality. Some of these scenes may hit close to home, so it may be worth checking about potential triggers before you go.

So, Are We Doing This?

Ultimately, one of the questions I try to answer in my reviews is “should you go?” And, as is often the case with haunts, the reality is that it depends on a couple things.

A big determining factor of whether Into the Black makes sense for you is its location. Situated inside the Haven Market out in Rancho Cucamonga, it’s probably a tough sell on its own if you’re coming from L.A. proper. But if you’re already in the area, it’s a decent way to sneak some jump scares and a handful of spooky vendors in with your dinner. The $25 might seem a little steep for the amount of content, but part of what you’re paying for is that at most two people go through it at a time. You are very much alone in the dark.

Urban Death’s North Hollywood location is more accessible, and the $20-per-person tickets mean it’s got a bit more bang for your buck. So here, it’s going to come down to whether you’re okay with the content. It definitely gets raw in places. But if you’re open to haunts that lean into the unsettling and transgressive, Urban Death is a solid choice.

A Note on Safety

Unfortunately COVID-19 is still a thing, and something else to consider may be your comfort with maskless indoor gatherings. Both shows follow local guidelines, but as of this review those differ quite a bit between Orange County (where Into the Black can be found) and L.A. County (home to Urban Death).

For Haven Market, and therefore Into the Black, masks and social distancing are optional. And at least when I went, it seemed like the majority of people in Haven Market chose not to exercise said options.

For Urban Death, masks are required for entry, the show is operating at reduced capacity, and all performers and staff are vaccinated.

Tickets, Please

If one or both of these sound like your cup of tea, tickets are available online and both shows run through Halloween.

Into the Black tickets are $25 per person available through the Hauntpay app or through their website here. While there are set entry times, there’s some wiggle room if you end up running a little late. Timeslots are available from 7pm to 9pm through October 31^st, and you can find out more about via their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Urban Death tickets can be bought for $20 each through the Zombie Joe’s Tix storefront here. Timeslots run from 8pm through 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays in October, Halloween, and November 1^st. To learn more about Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater, you can visit their website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.