On July 6th 2002, we had the pleasure of visiting Zombie Xtreme in Seaside Heights NJ. While less noticeable from the boards, the attraction is quite a sight from the street. The exterior walls bear a horror themed mural (that surprisingly enough was completed in 3 short days), featuring the aforementioned zombies and are a unique site to the shore town.
Speaking with one of the owners, Jerry D’Agastino, the partners had intended to build an attraction in Sleepy Hollow, NY but found it more cost effective to set up shop in the Garden State. While financially advantageous, (the 2200 square foot attraction was completed @ a cost of $10,000) they found the largest obstacle was obtaining the necessary permits in the state where the industry has literally gone up in flames. This past January we lost “Dracula’s Castle,” September of 1987 we lost Brigantine Castle to fire (the event was no longer in operation and the fire was started during the demolition process being done by the state), June of 1986 brought the demise of Brigantine’s sister in Long Branch, the Haunted Mansion, again by fire, and in 1984, 6 people were killed when the Haunted Mansion at 6 flags caught fire.
Jerry was quite cheerful in rattling off his haunt’s statistics. At the beginning of our interview, 33 people had chickened out (including the group “Naughty By Nature” who were in town visiting MTV’s shore house, located just a few blocks down the boards from Zombie Xtreme), 7 women had peed themselves, 1 girl passed out, and his greatest compliment was being able to have a cast member from the “Jason’s Woods” Haunt in tears as she left. Before leaving for the evening, we would see 4 more people “chicken out.” Not something one can do discreetly when the proprietor sees fit to taunt you with a rubber chicken as you make your way to the exit. Well, in all fairness, 3 people chickened out; one poor woman was pulled out of the event by her 2 teenage daughters.
While I have heard these claims from other houses in the past, I was always a bit skeptical, never really seeing this reaction in an attraction; I was far less skeptical when we left.
Our group had gone thru the attraction once to view it as any one else would. I was very impressed with the staff, they were most enthusiastic and the props were extremely well done. It was while admiring these settings that Jerry managed to “get” me. I had mistaken him for a prop!!
We were then honored with a trip thru the house with the house lights up, allowing us a full view of the scenery and even in full light, the scenes were impressive. They walked us though, explaining what items had been purchased, and what had been created from the many treasures available at Home Depot, such as air vent hoses (for your dryer), paint pans, air filters, etc. The crew even “hand painted” black and yellow caution tape along the top of the walls because they liked the way it looked, but could find it nowhere. The guys were awaiting the arrival of their “hospital scent,” which would allow them to imbue the building with the scent of decaying flesh.
Our next trip thru was with the video camera and another group of victims. Our fellow travelers, two young women and their young male escort joined us as we ventured into the zombie world, but they didn’t get far. Two feet into the corridor after the door closed behind us, they stopped, refusing to venture forward, urging us to go ahead. Wanting to capture the reactions of others, we really did not want to get ahead of them with the video camera, however after a period of several minutes, I was forced to venture forward, allowing the rest of the group to follow behind.
Around the corner I went, and past the first Zombie who let me pass unmolested in order to terrorize the “fresh meat.” Before leaving, I would be banged up, have my feet stomped on, and I have this sneaking suspicion the bruise I discovered on my leg 2 days later, was from the young ladies attempting to get behind me or to use me as a shield.
The final corridor is infested with chainsaw wielding zombies. The walls, plated with sheets of metal, allow the cast to bang their bladeless chainsaws against the wall with a resounding clatter, leaving behind so many indentations they could almost be mistaken for a textured wall, and as Jerry tells us with a smile, “each dent representing a scream.” The cast has managed to perfect the technique of trapping the visitors between 2 members, forcing them to walk closely past one of the zombies in order to exit. The two young ladies, trapped, crumpled to the floor like pile of puppies, and stayed huddled against the wall. The zombies continued with their tirade, I think until they got tired, and then allowed the girls to get up and leave.
While the staff was a decent size for this attraction, 6 or 7 actors working the night we visited, the entire event can be done with 2-3 people if necessary, and has been at times. Using a scare zone technique, the house contains corridors within corridors that allow the characters to move within the house unseen, appearing in one area, and then later appearing elsewhere. Invited into this inner sanctum, it was from the vantage point of the “office” as we got a little more background on Jerry and his partner Jack, that we were able to catch several groups as they went thru one of the scare zones.
We asked Jerry how he became involved in this industry. He claims that at age 5, he bugged his mother to see Jaws, until she acquiesced, and he has been hooked on the horror genre ever since. He started building dummies for a house in Brooklyn NY that decorated for Halloween every year, but parted ways with the family when the celebration became a little “too extreme.” Apparently the people were butchers by trade and began putting meat (intestines and such) in their displays. Feeling it was just a matter of time before the yard haunt would be shut down, Jerry moved forward. He began decorating his own home, and as he moved around, the show moved with him. At one point he was spending $200 on Halloween candy to accommodate all of his visitors. (He would have up 400 trick or treaters)
Plans to attend school (on a scholarship) to further his skill in special effects were shelved after he lost nearly everything he owned in a house fire. Ironically, he managed to save his beloved props. To recover his losses, he became a stockbroker by trade, and he hated it.
1 ½ years ago, Monster Mayhem Productions began, offering video tapes of haunted attractions.
Married last year, post 9/11, Jerry and his wife had decided to cancel their trip to the islands. Staying closer to home, they had chosen the “romantic” Niagara Falls. Jerry’s wife, who does not “share his enthusiasm” for the industry (but to her credit, she was seated behind the window of Zombie Xtreme, offering her support, the night we visited), she was less than thrilled when they stumbled across the strip of haunted attractions located at the Falls, and their honeymoon became a “working vacation,” because “honey, we’re HERE and we DO have the camera…” (I can feel a little of her pain….). Jerry had been fascinated with tapes of other attractions, and not necessarily the ones done RIGHT, but the ones done WRONG, so he would know what to avoid.
According to the owners, Zombie Xtreme has drawn a crowd of repeat visitors, some returning so often that Jerry told them that he no longer felt right taking their money. He had the group return late one night, where they switched things up a bit, to include having the group enter thru the exit to disorient them a bit from the routine they were familiar with.
The youngest member of the crew that night was a young man whose father owned several boardwalk establishments. He had returned to the event so often, they finally offered him a position in the house, much to his excitement.
This talented crew intends to shut down the house for three weeks at the conclusion of the summer season to revamp for the pending Halloween season.

We’re sorry to say that we did not have the opportunity to return this fall to see what changes had been made, but we hope to visit with Jerry, Jack and the gang once again when we visit the shore this summer. A fun filled haunt, at a great price, ($5 for adults, $4 for children), with the perfect location, right off the ocean and downwind of that amazing smell of sausages, onions and peppers, it is a perfect evening out. We hope you’ll stop out to visit them, and if you do, tell them HauntFreaks sent you! ?