Night of the Deadly Funny Living Sendup

Look out, boys and girls--it’s “Zombie Attack!”

Not to be confused with the perpetual onslaught of “Halloweens,” “Friday the 13ths,” “Stepfathers” or “Nightmare on Elm Streets,” comes Justin Tanner and Andy Daley’s “Zombie Attack!” at the Cast Theatre in Hollywood. It’s a seven-character play that manages to cram in all the thrills, chills, laughs and gore (count on a couple of severed arms, but a tasteful allowance of blood and guts) of your favorite slasher film.

The setting is, of course , an isolated cabin in the woods. Aunt Eva died there recently, and it’s time to clear it out for the real estate agents. A group of 30-ish show up to help out with the work. One of them brings along an old, dusty book on the occult. And then . . .

The idea for a Halloween show began when Tanner, Daley and a group of buddies took a camping trip to a friend’s snow-bound cabin and ended up playing hide-and-seek with a zombie theme. “We do it now in the theater too,” said Tanner, 25. “One person is it , and everyone else hides. All the lights are off, and depending on how willing you are to let yourself be frightened, it can get pretty scary.”

Although its most obvious satirical target is horror flicks, Tanner--who also co-directed with Daley--admits that he had another agenda in mind: “We’re spoofing ‘The Big Chill,’ spoofing ‘thirtysomething,’ spoofing those commercials for Gallo White Granache. All those self-serious people getting together, drinking and talking and having fun. It’s a little nauseating to me. So more than zombie films, that’s what I was really skewering.”

Since hooking up in Los Angeles City College’s acting program, Daley, 27, and Tanner have worked together often, divvying up the duties on Tanner’s “Changing Channels” and “Barbie and Ken at Home (Still Life with Vacuum Salesman).” For this, Tanner wrote the first draft; Daley came in on rewrites. Daley set the early blocking and direction, then Tanner took the reins. Since Daley has a good-paying construction job, he finances the shows. (“Zombie” came in at $1,000.)

Although free lumber is a definite perk, Daley’s heart clearly isn’t in construction work: “If I could quit my day job, I would. But since I’m doing producing, I need to have money--so I can lose it. Doing theater is sort of my recreational hobby. I’m not racing motor bikes, I’m not buying art. I’m just finding junk and slapping it on a stage.” Of those set decorations, he says, “It’s such a kick when I find something in the garbage in the morning and put it on stage, and someone says, ‘Ooh, that is so amazing.’ ”

The official result of the duo’s collaboration has been the creation of Open City Productions.

“It’s not definite,” said Tanner, “but we kind of have an agreement with the Cast Theatre that I’ll do as many plays as I can next year--hopefully 10. I want to form a company of about 18 actors, so some of the smaller work will be taken over for us. And I’ve encouraged other people to start writing, so eventually I can give up directing and start acting again. I want a company almost entirely devoted to new works, plus some classics.”

For now, “Zombie” continues its popular run indefinitely; on Dec. 10, it will be joined at the Cast by Tanner’s “Happy Time Xmas”--described as “a play about the hypocrisy of the family unit at Christmastime.” (“Xmas” will play at 8 p.m.; “Zombie” will move to a late-night slot.) “We’ll use the same set,” Daley said cheerfully. “Any set I took $50 bucks to build, I’m not going to throw out. But we’ll take some stuff off the walls, put in a new carpet, a new couch cover. . . .”

Audience members, they say, tend to be between 20 and 35. “Who knows where they come from?” Daley said. “They come from Hollywood, they come out of the cracks. It’s a very mixed crowd. A lot are just freaks, especially late at night.” On Halloween, Tanner said, the only person who showed up in costume wore a glitter gold dress, a glitter wig and carried a skull: “She was a scary woman. Never laughed or smiled, then sort of slunk out when it was over--and left her glitter all over the seat.”

Hoping to build on the show’s inherent party mood, Daley recently installed a beer garden at the side door of the stage, where audience members can drink beer and soda before and after the 70-minute show. The idea, Daley said, is not to get people drunk--well, not really. “But it is fun to have a place where people can hang out, kind of a little club. It definitely gives the place atmosphere . And sure, it’s nice to have happy people seeing the show.”