Now Playing & Coming Soon

One...last...plan.  At long last, Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie is finally going to play at The Frida Cinema!  As the long-gestating feature expansion of the cult Canadian series Nirvanna the Band the Show, created by and starring Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, the film continues the misadventures of the two best friends. As relentlessly delusional Toronto musicians, their main goal in life is to “play a show at the Rivoli.” When their plan goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Yes, that is the plot synopsis of this feature film we are running for a full week at our theater. Like the series, the movie blurs fiction and reality, staging elaborate public pranks with unsuspecting bystanders while escalating the characters’ schemes to increasingly absurd and self-destructive extremes. If you love comedy that feels like it might collapse at any second, or perhaps maybe even get its creators thrown in jail, boy do we have a movie for you and your friends to come see! 

A slow-burning masterwork of the early 1990s, To Sleep With Anger is a singular piece of American mythmaking that we are honored to include as part of our Three By Charles Burnett series! In a towering performance, Danny Glover plays the enigmatic southern drifter Harry, a devilish charmer who turns up out of the blue on the South Central Los Angeles doorstep of his old friends. In short order, Harry’s presence seems to cast a chaotic spell on what appeared to be a peaceful household, exposing smoldering tensions between parents and children, tradition and change, virtue and temptation. Interweaving evocative strains of gospel and blues with rich, poetic-realist images, To Sleep with Anger is a sublimely stirring film from an autonomous artistic sensibility; a portrait of family resilience steeped in the traditions of African American mysticism and folklore.

Akira Kurosawa's three hour epic, Red Beard, is screening at The Frida Cinema with a brand new 4K restoration via our friends at Janus Films! Red Beard chronicles the tumultuous relationship between an arrogant young doctor and a compassionate clinic director. Toshiro Mifune, in his last role for Kurosawa, gives a powerhouse performance as the dignified yet empathic director who guides his pupil to maturity, teaching the embittered intern to appreciate the lives of his destitute patients. Perfectly capturing the look and feel of 19th-century Japan, Kurosawa weaves a fascinating tapestry of time, place, and emotion.

Does anything ever happen in Burbank, CA? Find out at Frida Cinema, followed by a Q&A with director Emmanuel Duga at both screenings. Ever sat down with a couple of friends, doing nothing? Where nothing gets accomplished and having conversations? Those conversations don’t really lead to anything significant, just totally random. Yet...you don’t seem to mind. You enjoy the sensation of being in good company with your friends. This is a day in a life in Burbank, CA, for young Gen-Z. Through a series of short vignettes, we get a glimpse of the anxieties, joys, hopes, dreams and expectations from today's young adults. Nothing Ever Happens in Burbank, CA is a quietly funny, intimate portrait of a single day in the lives of Gen-Z young adults. Told through a series of short vignettes, the film captures the anxieties, small joys, drifting hopes, and unspoken expectations of growing up in Los Angeles. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff. Membership discounts and comp passes do not apply.

Hey dude, this is no cartoon! We're rolling out some encores of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 1990!  Before superheroes ruled the multiplex, four brothers from the New York sewers saved the world with martial arts and heart. Director Steve Barron’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a box-office surprise and a practical-effects marvel. Produced on the edge of indie ingenuity, the film blended Jim Henson’s Creature Shop wizardry with street-level grit, creating a tone that felt mythic. Beneath the pizza jokes and wisecracks was something sincere...growing up in a hard (shelled?) city.

Our Classic Movie Nights pick in February is Pillow Talk—the endlessly charming Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedy that helped define the golden age of Hollywood rom-coms. Playboy songwriter Brad Allen's succession of romances annoys his neighbor, interior designer Jan Morrow, who shares a telephone party line with him and hears all his breezy routines. After Jan unsuccessfully lodges a complaint against him, Brad sets about to seduce her in the guise of a sincere and upstanding Texas rancher. When mutual friend Jonathan discovers that his best friend is moving in on the girl he desires, however, sparks fly. Directed by master craftsman Michael Gordon and decked out in glamorous costumes and jazzy set design, Pillow Talk is studio-era comfort cinema at its most fun and quotable. The film earned Doris Day her first Academy Award nomination and cemented one of the most beloved screen pairings in movie history. Make sure to get to the screening early, as our Marketing Director Bekah will be doing a very informative and entertaining presentation on the film before it starts!

Just Our Heart collects rituals and stories of human, ecological and colonial grief in order to set the experience of loss in a context of meaning for us who remain. Please join us for a special screening of the film, introduced by director Maartje Nevejan, on February 19th at 5:30PM! This feature documentary by Amsterdam-based filmmaker Maartje Nevejan dives into the deep waters of grief—not only personal, but ecological, colonial, and spiritual. Sparked by the loss of her partner and the grief of her children in the face of ecological collapse, Nevejan resists centering her own story. Instead, she opens a space for something larger: a cinematic ritual that gathers four remarkable women—grief doulas, ritualists, spiritual disruptors—who guide others not toward closure, but transformation. In collaboration with visionary ecologist Dr. Monica Gagliano and Zen priest and grief pioneer Roshi Joan Halifax, Just Our Heart expands the mourning room. It invites voices that are usually silenced: the dead, the exploited, the Earth herself. This is a film that doesn’t offer answers—it invites participation in something older than language: ritual as a way of relating to loss, and as a method of resistance. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

On February 19th, our friends at Flickrhappy invite you to experience the unforgettable romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time on the big screen. Starring the iconic duo of Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, the film follows a modern playwright who becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman from the past, and attempts an extraordinary experiment to reach her across time. Elegantly shot at Michigan’s historic Grand Hotel and featuring a sweeping, iconic score by John Barry, Somewhere in Time blends romance and speculative fiction into a uniquely haunting experience. A beloved cult classic, the film rewards viewers with one of cinema’s most enduring themes: whether love can truly transcend time. Just added: as a fun bonus, Flickrhappy is making this screening completely FREE for Frida Cinema Film Club members!

See It On 16mm is back this February to dust off some well-loved (worn) prints of ignored exploitation, horror, and other off the radar films as we present another entry into our Secret Grindhouse series! What's that mean? They're gonna dig up some decaying prints and thread them up for genre fans! Most titles are either in a rights limbo, forgotten, or just need to be shown more appreciation. They'll be playing blaxploitation, vansploitation, nunsploitation, kung fu, made-for-TV terrors, and everything else between! Grab a ticket and watch as the secret movie unspools loud and proud on the big screen!

Nominated for a record-shattering 16 Oscar nominations, writer-director Ryan Coogler's Sinners comes to The Frida in celebration of Black History Month, and as part of our 12th Anniversary Weekend selection of films. Set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) as they return home after years away trying to leave their troubled pasts behind. With plans to open a juke joint for their community using money earned in Chicago, the celebration takes a dark turn when supernatural forces are awakened and begin to menace the town. A towering modern classic in the making, Sinners has unheard of levels of ambition in the modern Hollywood landcape. Whether you've seen it already or are experiencing it for the first time, there's no denying that the big screen is the best place to celebrate its massive success.  Programmed in honor of Black History Month, celebrating the creativity, innovation, legacy, and enduring cultural impact of Black filmmakers and storytellers.

It's time to dust off those dancing shoes, because Jonathan Demme's 1984 concert film masterpiece Stop Making Sense is back just in time for The Frida Cinema's birthday weekend! 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 Cinem as long as we keep selling it out! Don't miss this once in a lifetime cinematic experience!

Hundreds of Beavers, one of the most entertaining and enduring independent films of the past decade, is coming to The Frida Cinema just in time for our 12th Birthday Weekend!  Called “gonzo cinema distilled from Buster Keaton to George Miller” (LA Times), “one of the most inventive comedies in years” (RogerEbert.com), that “puts most big screen comedies to shame,” (The Daily Beast), this impossible indie has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon — selling out theaters, melting Letterboxd & Rotten Tomatoes, and putting audiences worldwide into stitches. Equal parts silent-era stunt work, Looney Tunes energy, and pure filmmaking lunacy, this is a cult hit that’s too much dam fun to stream alone at home!

Writer/Director Mark Fischbach's (known to so many people around the world as @markiplier) brand new science fiction horror film Iron Lung is back at The Frida for some final encores! Set in a post-apocalyptic future where an event known as "The Quiet Rapture" caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear, a convict is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a small submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung".

If you've got a taste for terror…take Carrie to the prom. We're celebrating The Frida Cinema's 12th birthday with a very special 50th anniversary screening of Brian De Palma's horror masterpiece Carrie! Put your best tux or dress on and join us for a night of music, photo ops, vendors, a Prom court crowning, and so much more! Based on Stephen (Prom) King’s debut novel, Carrie centers on Carrie White, a shy, socially isolated high school girl who lives under the oppressive control of her fanatically religious mother. After enduring relentless bullying at school and humiliation at home, Carrie begins to discover she possesses powerful telekinetic abilities. As her classmates plan a prom night that promises acceptance and normalcy, unseen forces set the stage for one of the most devastating final acts in cinema history. Tickets are limited, so get them before they're gone! No encores. Frida Cinema member discounts DO apply. Doors open at 7:00PM. Movie begins at 8:00PM sharp! Stick around after the movie for the official Carrie Prom Night After Party!

Our first Film Club Members Only screening for the month of February is Clint Bentley's Train Dreams, now nominated for Best Picture at The Academy Awards in 2026!  Based on Denis Johnson's novella, Train Dreams follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton in a classic Joel Edgerton role), a stoic laborer in the early-20th century American West who struggles with profound loss and rapid modernization of the Idaho wilderness, haunted by trauma and the changing landscape. The film recently secured 4 Oscar nominations at the 98th Academy Awards (2026), including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Adolpho Veloso), and Best Original Song ("Train Dreams" by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner). Thank you to Netflix for allowing us to play this film where it deserves to be seen: on the big screen.  Not a member yet? Sign up here! 

Evil takes many forms. Play It By Fear (@playitbyfear.33) continues their brand new Sunday Scaries series by delving into the dark world of Robert Eggers' 2016 New England nightmare The VVitch.  In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways. Never too far from our programming line, The VVitch has stood the test of time over the past ten years, forever changing the landscape of Indie Horror as we know it.

Do you know anything about witches? A technicolor nightmare bathed in neon light and scored to the pounding, otherworldly rhythms of Goblin, Dario Argento’s Suspiria is back to play as part of our Sunday Scaries series, presented by Play It By Fear (@playitbyfear.33)!   Suzy (Jessica Harper) travels to Germany to attend ballet school. When she arrives, late on a stormy night, no one lets her in, and she sees Pat (Eva Axén), another student, fleeing from the school. What happens after that is a descent into colorful mystery madness that only Argento could deliver. Released in 1977 and still unlike anything before or since, Suspiria is the film Argento will be remembered for: a Giallo that transcends the genre, dripping with dread, saturated in color, and terrifying in ways that defy logic. It’s horror as high art. Don't miss this certified Frida Cinema favorite loud and proud on the big screen where it belongs!

Just added: Robert Daniels, the Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com, will be giving a pre-recorded introduction before each screening of The Annihilation Of Fish! Robert has also written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Reverse Shot, Screen Daily, and the Criterion Collection. He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto to the Berlinale and Locarno. He lives in Chicago, and is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association The final film in our Three By Charles Burnett series is his charming 1999 drama The Annihilation Of Fish, now restored in a beautiful 4K restoration! Lynn Redgrave plays Poinsettia, a former housewife with an imagined lover in the form of 19th-century composer Giacomo Puccini. She moves into a Los Angeles boarding house with an energetic landlady (Margot Kidder) where she meets a Jamaican widower, Fish (James Earl Jones), who has recently been released from a mental institution despite his continued battles against unseen demons. In the face of personal challenges and differences, the couple grows together and begins to discover new things about themselves and the nuances of love and happiness. Released in partnership with Milestone Films, restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

William Wyler's 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights is coming to The Frida Cinema as part of our Page To Screen series! Based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, the timeless story follows orphan Heathcliff, as he is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back. This adaptation remains one of the definitive screen versions of Brontë’s novel and a landmark of Golden Age Hollywood romantic drama, admired for its visual poetry and enduring performances from Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.

Think you’ve got what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the film nerds of Southern California? Then it’s time to put your cinema knowledge to the ultimate test at The Frida’s monthly Film Trivia Night! Each month, we challenge cinephiles with five meticulously crafted rounds of film trivia, plus a special bonus round for those who truly know their stuff. Expect everything from deep dives to cult classics, iconic soundtracks to infamous flops. 

Our Hallucinations series kicks off its four film sub-series of Seaside Horror with the 1981 shocker Dead & Buried! The story follows a small town sheriff (James Farentino from The Final Countdown) who is baffled by a sudden series of grisly murders. A familiar plot to some, but director Gary Sherman ups the creepiness factor with a spooky setting and uniquely morbid sense of humor. Unfairly ignored during its original theatrical release, Dead & Buried is one of those movies that was lucky enough to find a second life in the home-video market and is now considered a cult classic. Nearly forty years later, Grindhouse Releasing has released a brand new 4K restoration for us to enjoy on the big screen!  Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.

In 1993, invited by David Lynch to come up with a low-budget genre movie, filammaker Michael Almereyda recombined characters from Bram Stoker and set them loose in contemporary New York. The result? A cult classic known simply as Nadja.  Nadja (Elina Löwensohn) is a disillusioned “young” vampire who imagines herself liberated by the death of her father, Count Dracula, but the unhinged Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Fonda) wants to destroy her as well, interrupting her reunion with twin brother Edgar (Jared Harris) and pursuing them into “a netherworld of shadows” (J. Hoberman). Part seductive reverie, part spoof, Nadja is a delirious mashup of Andre Breton’s 1928 surrealist novel of the same name and Universal Pictures’ Dracula’s Daughter (1936). Simon Fisher Turner’s ethereal score is offset by propulsive pop songs from My Bloody Valentine, The Verve, and Space Hog. Executive producer Lynch fully financed the film when other investors faded out and even has a cameo as a hypnotized morgue attendant. This 4K restoration was generated from the print in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the version of the film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1994, three minutes longer than the commercial release. 

Some girls will do anything to meet their idols. Our Staff Pick series has brought us to Robert Zemekis' I Wanna Hold Your Hand, brought you courtesy of our staffer, Isa, who will be introducing the screening! The story follows a group of wide-eyed New Jersey teenagers who descend on New York City in hopes of getting close to their idols. What begins as a simple plan (to see The Beatles) spirals into a chaotic, cross-town odyssey filled with manic Beatlemania-fueled hijinks. More than just a period comedy, I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a joyous time capsule of a cultural turning point. Come see this rarely screened gem on the big screen with fellow Beatles fans!

Two hunts. Two eras. One ultimate killing machine. Join us on Thursday, February 26th as we present both the original 1987 Predator with its 2025 predecessor Predator: Badlands in an awesome double feature hosted by Jordan Morris, the author of the upcoming Marvel comic Predator: Bloodshed! First up is John McTiernan’s Predator (1987), which drops a team of elite commandos into the Central American jungle on what should be a routine rescue mission, only to reveal they’re being stalked by something far deadlier than any human enemy. Then, after a short intermission, it's time for Predator: Badlands! This contemporary sequel brings the hunt roaring into a new frontier. Trading dense jungle for harsh, open terrain where old rules no longer apply. Doors open at 6:15PM and the films will start at 7:00PM after a brief introduction. Tickets are $15, there will be a ten minute intermission between the films, and our host for the evening, Jordan Morris (co-host of the excellent and long-running podcast Jordan Jesse Go) will be selling and signing comics in the lobby before, between, and after the films! 

A powerful socialite and a promising ballet dancer begin a dangerous affair. When he secretly crosses the US-Mexico border, she takes desperate measures to protect their future together.

Only monsters play God. Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, the movie he was born to make, is finally coming alive at The Frida Cinema starting on February 27th! The story follows a brilliant but egotistical scientist (played by Oscar Isaac) who brings a monstrous creature to life in a daring experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation. The film has now received 9 Academy Award nominations for the 98th Academy Awards (2026), including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Jacob Elordi's transformative performance as The Monster. The film also scored major technical nominations for cinematography, original score, costume design, makeup/hairstyling, production design, and sound.  Thank you to Netflix for allowing us to play this gorgeous creation where it belongs to be seen: on the big screen.

The past, present, and future. One man's dreams...for every dreamer. We are concluding our fourteen film retrospective paying tribute to the great Akira Kurosawa with his surrealist masterpiece Dreams. Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on childhood, art, mortality, and humanity’s uneasy bond with nature. Dreams holds a unique place in Akira Kurosawa’s career and reputation. It’s often regarded as one of his most personal and spiritual works--a literal painting of his imagination come to life. Don't miss a chance to see it on the big screen!

Our award-winning resident performance troupe K.A.O.S. returns for their celebrated all-costumed, all-choreographed, all-leg-kicking live shadowcast presentation of 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, performed on stage in front of the film! Director Jim (Don’t squeeze the…) Sharman’s cult classic stars Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon as Brad and Janet, two virginal small-town lovers whose car breaks down in the shadows of a creepy old castle, where they encounter an odd collective of “unconventional conventionalists” gathered to witness transvestite scientist’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s latest creation – a muscular man named Rocky. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including tap-dancing Columbia, rocking biker Eddie, and of course, the castle’s “Sweet Transvestite” himself, Frank-N-Furter! Adapted from the 1973 stage musical by Richard O’Brien, this glam cult classic is a cinematic experience unlike any other. Sing-along (and shout-along!) to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a classic that still packs houses 50 years after its initial release! Get your tickets now before it sells out! Doors open at 11:00pm  Official K.A.O.S. preshow starts at 11:30pm!  Movie at midnight! SENSORY WARNING: Flashing Lights and Fog effects may be used during the event. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff. Member discounts and Frida Cinema comp passes not valid.

We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of one of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, with a Film Club Members Only screening! The film vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today. Not a Frida Cinema Film Club Member yet? Sign up here! 

Join us on Saturday night, February 28th, as we screen Grease 2, the Michelle Pfeiffer star-making sequel to the iconic 1978 musical.  It's 1961, two years after the original Grease gang graduated, and there's a new crop of seniors and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Michael Carrington is the new kid in school...but he's been branded a brainiac. Can he fix up an old motorcycle, don a leather jacket, avoid a rumble with the leader of the T-Birds, and win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie? Grease 2 isn’t Grease. We get it. But we love it because it’s louder and messier, two adjectives used to throw it under the bus upon its initial release. But what was once a punchline has become a midnight movie favorite: a sequel that failed on release but succeeded, decades later, as gloriously ridiculous cult entertainment. The music and feeling go on forever!

Be afraid. Be very afraid. HorrorBuzz is kicking off their Horror Movie Night series in 2026 with a special 40th anniversary screening of David Cronenberg's notorious body horror classic The Fly! When eccentric scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum in a career-defining physical performance) cracks the secret of teleportation, he does what any self-respecting mad genius might: he tests it on himself. What he doesn’t know is that he wasn’t alone in the pod. A housefly slipped in at the final moment… and the machine fused man and insect into one evolving organism. As Brundle’s transformation accelerates from curiosity to nightmare, journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) becomes witness to both his brilliance and his unraveling. Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

The penultimate film in our Akira Kurosawa retrospective is his epic 1985 masterpiece, Ran, now restored in glorious 4K thanks to Rialto Pictures! A grand and visually breathtaking epic that transposes Shakespeare’s King Lear into the chaotic feudal era of 16th-century Japan of Shakespeare’s King Lear, Ran stars screen legend Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging warlord who decides to divide his vast domain among his three sons in hopes of securing peace in his final years. Instead, his decision ignites a violent power struggle, as betrayal and ambition shatter his family and plunge the region into civil war. Stripped of power and driven into madness, Hidetora becomes a ghost of his former self, wandering through the wreckage of a world he once ruled. With its masterful use of color, and meticulously staged battle sequences, Ran is both an intimate tragedy, and a large-scale historical spectacle.  In delivering his haunting and majestic summation of his lifelong explorations of power, betrayal, and the devastating consequences of human ambition, Kurosawa employs sweeping landscapes, intricate battle sequences, and vivid color symbolism to create a world teetering on the edge of chaos. About the Restoration Ran’s original 1985 production was made possible through a French-Japanese collaboration between Kadokawa and French producer Serge Silberman, with distribution later handled by companies such as Orion and Studiocanal. That international partnership was rekindled decades later when Kadokawa and Studiocanal brought on French laboratory Éclair to restore the film in 4K under Studiocanal’s supervision, using the original negative as its source. Much of the restoration was completed manually, frame by frame, with color grading approved by Masaharu Ueda, one of Ran’s three cinematographers and a longtime collaborator of Kurosawa.

Brothers by blood. Enemies by chance. Killers by nature. Welcome to the birth of the Heroic Bloodshed era of Hong Kong cinema as we are proud to present John Woo's masterpiece A Better Tomorrow! When a deal goes disastrously wrong, loyalty is tested, friendships fracture, and revenge becomes unavoidable. As Ho attempts redemption and Kit is pulled deeper into moral compromise, the film builds toward a tragic reckoning where honor, survival collide in a storm of gunfire. A Better Tomorrow's influence is impossible to overstate: slow-motion violence, tragic brotherhood, trench coats, and moral codes, the list goes on and on. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

Darren Lynn Bousman’s 2008 cult classic Repo! The Genetic Opera is back at The Frida, brought to life with a live shadowcast performance by our resident Repo! performance troupe Addicted To The Knife! Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a rock opera set in a dystopian future where a megacorporation, GeneCo, provides organ transplants for a society ravaged by organ failures. Those who cannot keep up with their payments face the terrifying fate of having their organs repossessed by Repo Men. The story follows Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega), a young girl with a rare blood disease, who uncovers a dark family secret: her father, Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head), leads a double life as a Repo Man! Featuring an ensemble cast including Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman, and Paris Hilton, all of whom deliver powerful musical performances that blend horror, drama, and dark humor, Repo! The Genetic Opera quickly developed a dedicated cult following for its unique style and bold storytelling. The film’s soundtrack, featuring original songs that range from rock to operatic ballads, complement the film’s elaborate gothic visuals and set it apart from more conventional musicals.  Join us as the costumed players of Addicted To The Knife bring this dark fantasy to life! Please note: this performance is being recorded for an eventual 4K blu ray re-release, so guests will be asked to sign a very standard video release form prior to entering the auditorium! This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff. Member discounts and Frida Cinema comp passes not valid. Doors open at 11:30PM. Movie begins at midnight!

Your luck just ran out. Celebrate St. Patrick’s day at The Frida Cinema with a special screening of Leprechaun, presented by our friends at Nostalgic Nebula! Arrive early for a retrospective pre-show video, Leprechaun trivia with prizes, a spooky photo op, chocolate gold coins! But beware of the Leprechaun…try as you may, try as you might, who steals his gold won’t live through the night! As a special treat, there will be a tele-Q&A with actor Mark Holton at the start of the show, so prep those Leprechaun questions! Dan O’Grady (Shay Duffin) steals 100 gold coins from a leprechaun (Warwick Davis) while on vacation in Ireland. The leprechaun follows him home, but Dan locks him in a crate, held at bay by a four-leaf clover. Ten years later, J.D. Redding (John Sanderford) and his daughter, Tory (Jennifer Aniston), rent O’Grady’s property for the summer. When their new neighbors accidentally release the leprechaun, he goes on a murderous rampage to reclaim his gold. Doors open and pre-show begins at 7:00PM! Movie and Q&A starts at 7:30PM! This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

Join 18th & Grand and FanMail Cinema Club in a special event screening and the Santa Ana Premiere of 18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story. The documentary delves into the history and cultural significance of an infamous downtown Los Angeles arena through first-hand accounts from attendees and stars of the Olympic’s ring, rink, and stage! The Olympic was a hub of outrageous entertainment for generations, where heroes and villains often came from the neighborhoods of the city. 18th & Grand was the closing film for Slamdance, lauded in Hyperallergic and Film Threat, and the inspiration for a major museum exhibition at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.  Told through the distinctive voices of wrestlers, boxers, punks and skaters, 18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story remembers a lost, and more interesting L.A. Featuring John Doe (X), Julio César Chávez, Carlos Palomino, Mando Guerrero, The Destroyer, Gene LeBell, Roddy Piper and more! Enjoy a post-film Q&A, meet World Champion boxers Carlos Palomino and Danny “Little Red” Lopez, shop from themed-vendors, including Keely’s Cake Studio, VideoHero VHS, facepainting from La Rainbow Fiesta, and take photos in our boxing-themed photo-op. Q&A to follow the film including World Champion Boxer Carlos Palomino, Boxing Historian Gene Aguilera, family of luchador Mando “Superstar” Lopez! Moderated by LA Times Columnist and Reporter Gustavo Arellano! Doors: 1:00PM Vending: 1:00PM-6:00PM Film: 2:00PM Q&A: Right after the film! This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

Join us for To Have and Have Not—the film that introduced the world to the electric pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall! Set in wartime Martinique, Bogart plays a tough American boat captain trying to stay neutral while Bacall arrives as a mysterious young drifter with a cigarette, a razor-sharp wit, and a look that could stop the story cold. What begins as a smoldering battle of nerves soon pulls both into a dangerous resistance plot. Directed by Howard Hawks and written in part by William Faulkner, To Have and Have Not belongs entirely to its stars, launching one of cinema’s most iconic romances. Make sure to get to the screening early, as our Marketing Director Bekah will be doing a very informative and entertaining presentation on the film before it starts!

Echoing everything from Herk Harvey's Carnival Of Souls to Mario Bava's Kill, Baby...Kill!, Messiah Of Evil is a swirling vortex of Lovecraftian terror and grisly bloodshed from the team who'd later go on to make Howard The Duck! That perfect storm of madness makes it a perfect entry into our Hallucinations series! After receiving a string of unsettling letters from her father, Arletty arrives in a sleepy California coastal town called Point Dune. Dad is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Arletty finds a town full of drugged-out burnouts, barren shopping centers, and...something else.   Marianna Hill (High Plains Drifter), Michael Greer (Fortune And Men's Eyes), and Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon) star in this unjustly overlooked major work of independent American horror that's primed for (re)discovery. Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.

One Vicious Hitman. One Fierce Cop. Ten Thousand Bullets. Step into the operatic heart of Hong Kong action cinema with John Woo’s The Killer! Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim's sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right. What unfolds is a tragic dance of loyalty and doomed brotherhood, escalating into some of the most iconic slow-motion gunfights ever put on screen. See it how it was meant to be seen: loud and emotionally overwhelming. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

The Frida Cinema is proud to present a special 75th Anniversary screening of The Day the Earth Stood Still, one of the most important science fiction films ever made whose message has only grown more urgent with time! Plus, get there early and see the iconic 8-Foot-Tall Gort Robot live-on-stage! Starring Michael Rennie in his unforgettable performance as Klaatu, this 20th Century Fox landmark follows an alien emissary who arrives on Earth with a message that could save humanity…or doom it! At his side the towering Gort Robot whose silent presence became a legend of science fiction design. Directed by Academy Award winner Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound Of Music, The Haunting, Star Trek: The Motion Feature) The Day the Earth Stood Still rejected spectacle in favor of moral urgency during a time of high-anxiety, making it evergreen filmmaking at its finest.  Bernard Herrmann’s revolutionary score, featuring eerie theremins and groundbreaking electronic instrumentation, forever changed the sound of Science Fiction cinema. Lauded worldwide and praised by critics for its intelligence and restraint, the film was selected by the National Film Registry for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic importance. Arnold Leibovit, a personal friend of Robert Wise, will host the evening and present two more of George Pal's Academy Award-winning Puppetoons he's restored: "A Hatful of Dreams" featuring a DC Comics use of Superman and "The Gay Knighties" with a mischievous Ogre.  Also: please join us for Bonus pre-screening of The Puppetoon Movie – A Legacy Revisited, at 5:00PM, a behind-the-scenes look into the making of The Puppetoon Movie with Joe Dante (Gremlins),  Floyd Norman(Walt Disney animator – Sleeping Beauty,  The Jungle Book),  Peter Lord (Aardman Animations – Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit),  Dennis Muren (Star Wars, Jurassic Park),  Phil Tippett (Starship Troopers), Mick Garris (Critters 2), Bob Kurtz (Animation Director), Marc Caballero & Seamus Walsh (Screen Novelties Directors), Art Clokey (Gumby Creator), Dallas McKennon (Actor), Jerry Beck (animation historian) and others. Produced & Directed by Arnold Leibovit with archival narration by Paul Frees. This showing will coincide with the new restoraton Blu-ray release of The Puppetoon Movie. 4:00PM Doors Open  5:00PM A Puppetoon Movie: A Legacy Revisited documentary (introduction by Arnold Leibovit) 7:00PM Two Puppetoons shorts + The Day The Earth Stood Still (introduction by Arnold Leibovit) Tickets are $20 to this event. Frida Cinema comp passes and member discounts do not apply. 

Alright, see...join us for April's Classic Movie Nights pick: the James Cagney gangster flick Angels With Dirty Faces! Cagney plays Rocky Sullivan, a two-bit punk who grows into a full-blown gangster with the whole neighborhood full of kids. Trying to set him straight is his old pal Father Jerry, played by Pat O’Brien, now on the right side of the law and sweating bullets over whether those kids are gonna follow the wrong horse. Directed by Michael Curtiz of Casablanca and White Christmas fame, this is an old school, real-deal Warner Brothers gangster picture, culminating in one of the greatest endings in cinema history. Make sure to get to the screening early, as our Marketing Director Bekah will be doing a very informative and entertaining presentation on the film before it starts!

The good news is your date is here. The bad news is...he's dead. HorrorBuzz continues its 2026 Horror Movie Night series with a 40th anniversary blast of pure ’80s genre joy: Fred Dekker’s Night of the Creeps! In the 1980s, two college freshmen unwittingly unleash slug-like parasites that turn anyone they infect into walking corpses. As the outbreak spreads, it’s up to hardboiled detective Ray Cameron (the legendary Tom Atkins) and a group of panicked students to save the night...or at least go down swinging! Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

Our seaside horror Hallucinations mini series continues with a brand new 4K restoration of the 1961 gem Night Tide! Night Tide presents a world in which undefined realms float around, blurring boundaries between reality and fantasy. Dennis Hopper is profoundly charming in his portrayal of Johnny, a young sailor who is spellbound by Mora, an enigmatic woman who performs as a mermaid at the Santa Monica Pier carnival. Set near the water in Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Night Tide dives into the purgatory domain of dreamy love, which is cursed by doomed imagination, like a beautiful nightmare underwater. Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.

He thought he knew the risks of going undercover. We are stepping away from the lens of John Woo to explore the eye of Ringo Lam, as we present his iconic 1987 action thriller City On Fire! Ko Chow is an undercover cop who is under pressure from all sides. His boss, Inspector Lau, wants him to infiltrate a gang of ruthless jewel thieves; his girlfriend wants him to commit to marriage or she will leave Hong Kong with another lover; and he is being pursued by other cops who are unaware that he is a colleague. Chow would rather quit the force, feeling guilty about betraying gang members who have become his friends. Stripped of glamour in favor of sweet, sweet desperation, City on Fire replaces operatic heroism with fatalism and realism, helping define a harder edge of Hong Kong action cinema that would echo for decades. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

Our Hallucinations series heads to the seaside one final time (for this sub-series, at least) for director Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout! Adapted from Robert Graves’ short story, The Shout follows a mysterious traveler, Crossley, who takes advantage of a young couple’s hospitality. Claiming to have learned an Aboriginal ‘terror shout,’ Crossley threatens the couple’s safety and sanity.  Skolimowski’s film is dreamlike and disorienting, playing out like a hallucination (see what we did there?). It's not a conventional horror movie by any means, using fractured timelines and the barren English coastal to slowly create an existential nightmare.  Hosted by Polygon’s editor-in-chief Chris Plante, Hallucinations is a monthly event that spotlights movies that challenge our expectations of story, style, and “good taste”. We invite guests to bond over films that change what we expect from the medium, the world, and themselves. So come early, stay late, make friends, and watch something strange, surprising, or just shamelessly sick.

Witness action cinema pushed to its absolute physical limits with Police Story + Police Story, a double featuring Jackie Chan, the filmmaker-performer who redefined what a movie star would risk for the camera. A smash hit that made him a worldwide icon of daredevil action spectacle, the director/star/one-man stunt machine plays Ka-Kui, a Hong Kong police inspector who goes rogue to bring down a drug kingpin and protect the case’s star witness (Chinese cinema legend Brigitte Lin) from retribution. Packed wall-to-wall with charmingly goofball slapstick and astoundingly acrobatic fight choreography, including an epic shopping-mall melee of flying fists and shattered glass, Police Story set a new standard for rock-’em-sock-’em mayhem. Then, after a quick ten minute intermission, Jackie is back! Having been demoted to a lowly traffic cop for his, ahem, unorthodox policing methods, Chan’s go-it-alone officer Ka-Kui quits the force in protest. But it isn’t long before he’s back in action, racing the clock to stop a band of serial bombers and win back his much-put-upon girlfriend May (the phenomenal Maggie Cheung, reprising her star-making role). Boasting epic explosions, an awesomely 1980s electro soundtrack, and a showstopping finale that turns an abandoned warehouse into a life-size pinball machine of cascading oil drums, collapsing scaffolds, and shooting fireworks, Police Story 2 confirmed Chan’s status as a performer of unparalleled grace and daring. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

People of Earth: your planet is about to be destroyed...we're terribly sorry for the inconvenience. Our friends at HorrorBuzz are back to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the most gloriously bonkers creature features of the 1980s: TerrorVision! When the ultra-quirky Putterman family installs a new satellite dish, they accidentally beam in more than late-night cable. A grotesque alien known as the Hungry Beast materializes in their home, and soon the eccentric clan is fighting for survival as the creature slithers through their pastel nightmare of a mansion, devouring everything in sight! Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

A lethal secret arsenal was left behind in the jungle of Vietnam. Their job: find it and destroy it! Legendary actor-director Sammo Hung delivers a bazooka blast of pure adrenaline with Eastern Condors, an exemplar of Hong Kong action cinema at its most entertaining. Drawing inspiration from Hollywood war films like The Dirty Dozen, Eastern Condors follows a ragtag band of Asian American prisoners dropped into Vietnam on a secret suicide mission to prevent a cache of weapons from falling into the hands of the Viet Cong, who are more than ready for a fight. Propelled by a dynamic ensemble cast that includes the ever-charismatic Yuen Biao as a black-market trader and a superhuman Yuen Wah as a giggling martial-arts monster, this rip-roaring spectacle offers a nonstop barrage of turbocharged set pieces that defy gravity itself. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

Each holds a secret power...together they face the ultimate evil! We're harnessing the supernova star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and Anita Mui in a gloriously unrestrained action extravaganza double feature of The Heroic Trio + Executioners! From genre maestro Johnnie To, the story follows three knife-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung-fu-fighting super-heroines who must overcome their dark pasts in order to defeat an evil, baby-snatching eunuch who is terrorizing Hong Kong. Eye-popping motorcycle stunts, brain-exploding skeletons, infant cannibals, and kinetically choreographed wire work are all part of the delirium in this unstoppably entertaining cult favorite (referenced in Cheung’s international breakthrough Irma Vep), a kick-butt showcase for three of the coolest women warriors to ever hit the screen. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

He's not Freddy, he's not Jason...he's real. HorrorBuzz continues its 2026 series with the 40th anniversary of one of the most unsettling and influential films of the 1980s: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. Loosely inspired by the confessions of real-life murderer Henry Lee Lucas, the movie follows drifter Henry (played by iconic silver screen "that guy" Michael Rooker) and his volatile accomplice Otis as they navigate a bleak Chicago landscape. When Otis’s sister Becky moves in, Henry’s flat affect and unpredictable behavior begin to reveal something far darker beneath the surface. Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

Never was a Hero needed more... Once Upon A Time In China, Writer-producer-director Tsui Hark’s sprawling vision of a changing nineteenth-century China, is coming back to The Frida Cinema! This blockbuster hit cemented Jet Li’s status as the greatest martial-arts superstar of his generation. Li displays his stunning, fast-and-fluid fighting style as the legendary martial-arts teacher and doctor Wong Fei-hung, who, with a band of disciples, battles a host of nefarious forces, foreign and local, who are threatening Chinese sovereignty as British and American imperialists encroach upon the Mainland. Once Upon a Time in China’s breathtaking blend of kung fu, comedy, romance, and melodrama climaxes in a whirlwind guns-vs-fists finale that is also a thrilling affirmation of Chinese cultural identity. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series is  growing larger, darker, and more operatic with each and every chapter. There's no better example of this with our special double feature of A Better Tomorrow II + A Better Tomorrow III! Directed by John Woo, A Better Tomorrow II picks up in the aftermath of betrayal and loss, following survivors pulled back into a violent underworld they can’t escape. As old wounds reopen and new alliances form, the film pushes themes of brotherhood and sacrifice to even more operatic extremes, all building toward action staged on a mythic scale. And then after a quick 10 minute intermission...Tsui Hark’s A Better Tomorrow III rewinds the clock, re-centering the saga around the rise of its most iconic figure amid political upheaval and shifting power structures. Steeped in romantic fatalism, this prequel is less about crime than about identity and the cost of survival. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

After a decade of silence...the buzz came back. HorrorBuzz is slicing up our October lineup with a 40th anniversary party of unhinged insanity: Tobe Hooper’s gloriously deranged sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2! When late-night DJ Stretch accidentally records a pair of murders committed by the Sawyer clan, she teams up with the unhinged Lieutenant “Lefty” Enright (a chainsaw-wielding Dennis Hopper in one of the wildest performances of his career). Their mission: descend into the Sawyer family’s subterranean lair of meat, madness, and twinkling Christmas lights to put an end to the carnage once and for all. Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.

The penultimate film in our Hong Kong Action Essentials series is Bullet In The Head, which also happens to be our final John Woo film in the series, as well. There's no better way to end his chapter in this lineup than with his most brutal and personal film to date. Three friends fleeing Hong Kong after a violent crime find themselves trapped in the chaos of the Vietnam War, where their loyalty and morality are tested beyond repair. What begins as a desperate bid for escape descends into a harrowing portrait of friendship under unimaginable pressure. As war strips away ideals and innocence, the bonds between the men fracture, leading to betrayals that cut deeper than any bullet. Fueled by rage and grief Bullet in the Head trades balletic elegance for raw emotional devastation. This is heroic bloodshed turned inward, and a legendary filmmaker pushing himself into completely new territory. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

"Like Lethal Weapon only far funnier and with more chainsaw action." -Total DVD After so much emotion and violence, we are choosing to close our Hong Kong Action Essentials series by cutting loose with little bit laughter and...uhhh...more violence. Directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Chow Yun-fat, Tiger on the Beat follows a pair of mismatched cops on the trail of a violent drug dealer, a case that escalates from street-level comedy into something far more savage and unhinged. What begins as a rambunctious action/comedy steadily sheds its humor, morphing into a full-throttle collision of gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and sheer physical excess. By the time it reaches its infamous finale, the film has abandoned restraint entirely, delivering the perfectly brutal and messy ending to our series. Our Hong Kong Action Essentials series explores the time from the mid-’80s through the early ’90s, where Hong Kong filmmakers rewrote the grammar of action cinema forever. Directors like John Woo, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Ringo Lam, and Lau Kar-Leung fused balletic gunplay, risky stunts, martial arts virtuosity, and raw emotional intensity into a new cinematic language that would be oft-imitated but never replicated. (sorry, The Matrix, we love you too!) Join us every month in 2026 as we explore this golden age where style and emotion collided to change movies forever.

A singing plant. A daring hero. A sweet girl. A demented dentist. It's the most outrageous musical comedy ever made! HorrorBuzz caps off its year of 40th anniversary screenings with the show-stopping musical Little Shop of Horrors! Meek flower-shop clerk Seymour Krelborn (Frida favorite Rick Moranis) discovers a mysterious plant after a solar eclipse and names it Audrey II, after his coworker-crush Audrey (Ellen Greene). But this plant doesn’t want sunlight or water....it wants blood. As Audrey II grows from a cute little sprout to a fast-talking menace, Seymour must choose between fame, fortune, and doing the right thing…preferably before the plant eats the whole block. Horror Movie Night takes filmgoing to another level with a full night of entertainment, including a themed HMN Video Pres-how, Trivia, Games, Prizes, and another outstanding horror short from HorrorBuzz’s The Screaming Room Film Festival at Midsummer Scream. Doors open and video pre-show video begins promptly at 7:30 pm. Games, prizes, and short film begin at 8:00PM. Feature starts at 8:30PM. This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.