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It’s been a while, but Frida After Dark is back! Dating back to well before the pandemic, FAD was one of The Frida’s earliest recurring series. Inspired by the bizarre, often low-budget movies that frequently played late nights at theaters during the 70’s and 80’s, the series seeks to bring this experience to audiences who are too young to remember it as well as those who remember it fondly. Many of the movies featured have become cult favorites since their initial release, with some tending towards the avant-garde while others strive for silliness. All, however, are weird in their own, entertaining way, and definitely worth watching on a big screen after the sun has gone down and your parents (or kids) have gone to bed!
El Topo – Mar 3 & 4
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky | 1970
Starring Jodorowsky as the titular gunfighter, the film sees El Topo set out on a quest to defeat four sharp-shooting rivals. At the same time, the cowboy tries to navigate a bizarre path to allegorical self-awareness and resurrection. Joining him on this strange journey is his son, played by Jodorowsky’s real-life son Brontis.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Mar 10
Directed by Jim Sharman | 1975
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!
Phantom of the Paradise – Mar 17 & 18
Directed by Brian De Palma | 1974
After record producer Swan (Paul Williams), owner of popular concert venue The Paradise, steals the music of songwriter Winslow Leach (William Finley) and gives it to one of his bands, he frames Winslow and ruins his life, setting in motion a chain of events which leads to Winslow becoming horribly disfigured. Eager for revenge and desperate to save singer Phoenix (Jessica Harper) from a terrible fate, Winslow dons a costume and becomes the Phantom, haunting the rafters of The Paradise and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
The Warriors – Mar 24 & 25
Directed by Walter Hill | 1979
When the Gramercy Riffs — the most powerful gang in New York City — propose a truce to unite every gang for collective control of the city, the leader of the malicious Rogues responds with violence. News of the crime makes its way to the Warriors, who are falsely implicated in the act, causing the Riffs to place a hit on the group. The only way to redeem their name results in a thirty-mile trek from the Bronx to their home in Coney Island, in which they find themselves against the entirety of New York’s most dangerous groups.
Eraserhead – Mar 31 & Apr 1
Directed by David Lynch | 1977
In a film where character and narrative is as essential as its surreal style might suggest they are irrelevant (as is the case in the best of surrealist films), Henry (John Nance) resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. When he discovers that an earlier fling with Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) left her pregnant, he marries the expectant mother and has her move in with him. Things take a decidedly odd turn when the couple’s infant turns out to be…well, one of the more infamous babies to haunt the silver screen…
