The rumors are true! John Wilson’s The History of Concrete is coming to The Frida Cinema!

The plot is super normal and simple: after attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, filmmaker John Wilson tries to use the same formula to sell a documentary about concrete.

Don’t miss this extremely informative documentary on the big screen!

Enhanced Accessibility: this film has Closed Captioning capability!

Kwaidan has been given the 4K restoration treatment via our friends at Janus Films, so of course we’re kicking off our October programming with it! 

After more than a decade of sober political dramas and socially minded period pieces, the great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi shifted gears dramatically for this rapturously stylized quartet of ghost stories. Featuring colorfully surreal sets and luminous cinematography, these haunting tales of demonic comeuppance and spiritual trials, adapted from writer Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folklore, are existentially frightening and meticulously crafted.

Please note: the DCP version of Kwaidan is a 4K restoration of the original three-hour cut.

We’re screening the brand new 4K restoration of František Vláčil’s Marketa Lazarová starting on October 1st! 

In its native land, the film has been hailed as the greatest Czech film ever made; for many U.S. viewers, it will be a revelation. Based on a novel by Vladislav Vančura, this stirring and poetic depiction of a feud between two rival medieval clans is a fierce, epic, and meticulously designed evocation of the clashes between Christianity and paganism, humankind and nature, love and violence.

Vláčil’s approach was to re-create the textures and mentalities of a long-ago way of life, rather than to make a conventional historical drama, and the result is dazzling. With its inventive widescreen cinematography, editing, and sound design, Marketa Lazarová is an experimental action film.

It’s time for the finished cut of Tommy Wiseau’s Big Shark to be unleashed on Orange County! As an added bonus, we’ll be throwing it on a double feature with his 2003 cult classic The Room! And if that all weren’t enough, star of The Room and best-selling author of The Disaster Artist, Greg Sestero, is joining us for all the fun to introduce both films in person!

First up, you know the drill! Bust out those plastic spoons! Wiseau’s peerless magnum opus finds the auteur who shaped a generation taking on the arts of acting, writing, casting, directing, editing and more. What’s even more remarkable: he’s mastered them all. The multi-talented director stars as Johnny, a big-time banker working in gorgeously shot San Francisco. His fiancée Lisa, seemingly a happy part of a successful relationship, has wandering eyes…for Tommy’s best friend Mark. Cinema has never witnessed such betrayal!

And then finally…the Big Shark arrives here at The Frida Cinema, with only a mysterious tagline attached to it: three firefighters must save New Orleans from a gigantic shark. That’s it! Don’t miss this awesome double feature on the big screen with a packed house!

Just added: Horror movie legend Brian Yuzna will be joining us to moderate the Q&A after Bloody Bridget!

Come one, come all to an evening of voodoo, vampires, revenge, and bloody burlesque as The Frida Cinema is teaming up with Peepshow Menagerie and Anastasia & Richard Elfman to present a ghoulish double feature extravaganza of 1990’s Frankenhooker and 2024’s Bloody Bridget! 

7:30PM – Frankenhooker: A grief stricken med student builds the perfect woman from dead prostitutes…then discovers his resurrected bride has a killer mind of her own.

9:30PM – Bloody Bridget: Anastasia Elfman plays a “Valentine Vampire,” sucking blood only whets her appetite…she must eat their beating hearts! LIVE MUSIC & BURLESQUE PRE-SHOW with Richard Elfman and the Mystic Knights of the Forbidden Zone. Q&A with Richard and Anastasia after film!

Make sure to get there early for the first feature, as we have the Peepshow Menagerie pre-show, a burlesque performance from Pinky Petite as Frankenhooker, AND as an introduction for the film by Fangoria writer Pat Jankiewicz!

Tickets for this event are $25. Frida Cinema member discounts and comp passes do not apply.

The Frida Cinema welcomes back Richard Elfman’s unforgettable midnight movie Forbidden Zone!

Director Richard Elfman’s wild, insane cult classic. LIVE PRE-SHOW featuring Anastasia Elfman in upcoming Forbidden Zone 2 number!

Tickets for this event are $15. Frida Cinema member discounts and comp passes DO apply.