Charlie Chaplin was already an international star when he decided to break out of the short-film format and make his first full-length feature–The Kid. The movie doesn’t merely show Chaplin at a turning point, when he proved that he was a serious film director—it remains an expressive masterwork of silent cinema.

In it, he stars as his lovable Tramp character, this time raising an orphan (a remarkable young Jackie Coogan) he has rescued from the streets. Chaplin and Coogan make a miraculous pair in this nimble marriage of sentiment and slapstick, a film that is, as its opening title card states, “a picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.”

Just added: at the 5:30PM screening on November 29th, Creepy AF will be opening the screening with a raffle/giveaway! For every movie ticket purchased, they will supply you with one raffle coupon for a chance to win a special prize!

The Addams are back—and this time, they’re raising hell!

Barry Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family Values returns to The Frida, bringing America’s favorite macabre family to deliriously funny new heights.

When Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) welcome a new baby, little Pubert, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley aren’t thrilled—so they hatch a plan to “play” with their new sibling…permanently. Enter Debbie Jellinsky (a gloriously unhinged Joan Cusack), the kids’ new nanny and a gold-digging serial killer who’s set her sights on Uncle Fester.

From a summer camp of WASP nightmares to candlelit gothic mansions, Addams Family Values turns family dysfunction into a dark art form.

Charlie Chaplin’s silent comic masterwork, The Gold Rush, is the next film up in our Art House for Families series!

Set during the Klondike Gold Rush, the film follows Chaplin’s iconic Little Tramp as he searches for fortune in a frozen wilderness filled with comic catastrophe. Along the way come some of the most legendary moments in film history, from the famous “dance of the rolls” to a cabin teetering dangerously over the edge of a cliff.

Shot partly on location in the Sierra Nevadas and featuring such timeless gags as the dance of the dinner rolls and the meal of boiled shoe leather, The Gold Rush is an indelible work of heartwarming hilarity. Our friends at Janus Films have granted us the rights to Chaplin’s definitive 1942 version, for which the director added new music and narration.

Our Art House for Families series celebrates the magic of moviegoing across generations all summer long. From silent comedy and international classics to science fiction and fantasy adventures, the series invites longtime cinephiles and first-time art house audiences of all ages to discover some of cinema’s most enduring films together on the big screen. This event is sponsored in part by the City of Santa Ana. 

Jonathan Demme’s 1984 concert film masterpiece Stop Making Sense is coming back to The Frida in April! Doors open at 7:15PM and the party starts at 7:45PM!

Stop Making Sense is an iconic concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, while on tour for their 1983 album “Speaking in Tongues.” The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning, cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals. Featuring masterful performances by David Byrne and photography by Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner), Stop Making Sense is a concert experience at its most colorful and life-affirming.

Stop Making Sense will continue with regularity at The Frida Cinema as long as we keep selling it out! Don’t miss this once in a lifetime cinematic experience!

They say you can’t outsmart the farmers—but nobody told Mr. Fox. Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox scampers back to The Frida just in time for Thanksgiving.

George Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a dashing ex-thief turned family fox who can’t resist one last heist against the fearsome trio of farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. When his plan goes spectacularly awry, Fox and his eccentric woodland neighbors must band together to outwit their human enemies and dig their way to freedom.

Adapted from Roald Dahl’s classic story, Anderson’s version is both faithful and boldly his own—every frame a diorama of autumnal wonder, every line of dialogue dry and delightful. With a pitch-perfect cast (Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe), Alexandre Desplat’s jazzy score, and stop-motion that feels alive with personality, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a triumph of craft and heart.

Bust out those plastic spoons! The Room is back at The Frida Cinema!

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!

An intense, sensual thriller, at least as it was intended by Wiseau, The Room is an intricately knit web of sweet secrets and bitter lies that interrogates the very form of drama itself, as well as a truly unforgettable piece of cinema.

Celebrate 40 years of mad science and midnight movie mayhem as we present encores of Stuart Gordon’s cult classic Re-Animator in a brand new 4K restoration!

When brilliant but deranged medical student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, in a career-defining performance) discovers a serum that brings the dead back to life, his experiments spiral from groundbreaking to grotesque. Soon, morgues overflow, limbs twitch, and body parts revolt in one of the most deliriously gory and darkly hilarious horror films ever made.

Re-Animator is the gold standard for splatter horror and shouldn’t be missed on the big screen!