A 12 day festival that is founded on the concept of offering 100% unjuried, 100% uncensored, 100% accessible theatre, music, dance, art and madness to all types and ages where 100% of the box office ticket sales go directly back to the artists within The Fringe. The Orlando Fringe is the longest running US Fringe.

I’ve haven’t heard of it before but apparently its a pretty big deal and it sounds awesome.  Besides, how could a theatre festival with a play named Zombie Girlfriend go wrong? It started last week but it will continue until the 28th. Orlando Weekly has an excellent survival guide with descriptions and showtimes for all the performances.

28 Weeks Later takes place 28 weeks after Britain’s original infection. The movie draws many parallels with the war in Iraq – London is occupied by a US led NATO military force and London even has its very own Green Zone. The references are clever but the movie doesn’t really make any over all statement about the war. Instead, zombie ravaged London acts as a stage to explore the breakdown of society as crisis emerges.

In terms of just pure zombie terror 28 Weeks Later doesn’t disappoint. 28 Days Later pretty much reinvented the zombie genre with the “fast zombie” and 28 Weeks Later pushes this brave new world of zombie cinema to new heights. 28 Weeks later is with out a doubt one of the most terrifying zombie movies ever made. The 10 minute opening sequence that takes place during the first infection and delivers the films backstory ranks as one of my top 3 zombie scenes ever. Other notable parts was a Grindhouse-esque zombie slaughter using the blades of a helicopter and the finale that sets up another sequel, creatively named 28 Months Later.

Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later’s director, did not direct its sequel but did serve as a producer. Juan Carlos Fresnadllo directed instead. While the movie takes place almost entirely in London and provides eerie long sweeping shots of abandoned downtown London none of them are as beautifully as done as Boyle’s shots in the original. The film also tested my suspension of disbelief with some glaring mistakes made by the military including leaving the last infected person alive and the back door of the civilian containment zone unguarded. One thing that does remain intact is the movies amazing soundtrack that may even be better than the first movie.

I’m giving 28 Weeks later 7.5 infected humans out of 10.

Planet Terror

Robert Rodriguez’s zombie flick is an over the top action film that is low on plot but makes up for in zombie kills. The movie reminded me of Lucio Fulci’s 80′s zombie films more than anything else. The action was amazing and Freddy Rodriguez’s fight scenes were awesome.

Death Proof

I can tell Tarintino had a blast making this film. It’s basically half classic Tarintino dialogue and half awesome car scenes. The main car chase ends up being 20 minutes of American muscle awesomeness. While I was watching the film I thought it was a bit too slow (its much slower than Planet Terror) but looking back, it seems just about right. It kind of reminds me of Reservoir Dogs in its pure simplicity.

click continue for thoughts on the trailers and my conclusion

The fake trailers that held the movies together were incredible and got just as much if not more audience reaction than the two films. Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and Don’t were the two that stood out for me. Rodriguez’s Machete played before the two movies to ease the audience into Grindhouse’s bizarre world and had the best narrator dialogue ever. In the end, the movies were a lot funnier than I expected them to be and I have to give them props (especially Rodriguez) on some of the insane things they thought of to put into this movie. These movies won’t win any awards for best picture but if you are looking to have some fun, you won’t be disappointed by Grindhouse.
hector’s rating – 8 decapitated zombies out of 10