A 4K restoration of the anime classic Ninja Scroll is coming to The Frida Cinema for two days only!
When Jubei saves a young ninja woman from the unthinkable, he assumes that’s the end of it. To his surprise, it’s only just the beginning. Together, the two investigate the mysterious deaths of an entire village which uncovers a conspiracy of demonic proportions! Getting closer to the truth, the demonic forces will stop at nothing to silence Jubei and his companion for good!
Written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Ninja Scroll was originally released in 1993 and is now considered a truly seminal work in anime filmmaking. The restoration, a meticulous process that involved a 4K scan (3840 × 2160 pixels) of the original 35mm negative, was supervised by director Kawajiri.
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Get ready for a Guillermo del Toro comic book double feature featuring Blade II and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, hosted by our buddy Jordan Morris!
First up, Wesley Snipes goes full vampire-hunting badass as Blade, forced to team up with his sworn enemies to battle a terrifying new breed of vampire. Then, after a ten minute intermission, Ron Perlman’s beloved Hellboy returns alongside Liz and Abe Sapien to stop an ancient prince from unleashing an unstoppable army of supernatural creatures. Both films were directed by del Toro, showcasing the monster-loving imagination that would go on to define one of cinema’s most distinctive auteurs.
Two comic-book classics. Two armies of monsters. Two awesome movies. Don’t miss these bad boys on the big screen!
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Hope, the wild new sci-fi epic from The Wailing director Na Hong-jin, is coming to The Frida Cinema!
In the remote South Korean village of Hope Harbor, police chief Bum-seok and officer Sung-ae are called to investigate a mysterious creature wreaking havoc on the community. But all is not as it seems, and perceptions can be misleading. What begins as ignorance plants the seed of disaster, escalating through human conflict into a tragedy of cosmic proportions.
Starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell, Hope is a sprawling, genre-bending monster movie that mixes Korean thriller intensity with wild sci-fi spectacle. The film premiered in Competition at Cannes, where it received a six-minute standing ovation, and has already been hailed for its ferocious action and audacious filmmaking.
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Calling all Warriors, Furies, and Rogues out to play in the city of Santa Ana for a FanMail Cinema Club screening event of The Warriors (1979) on Sunday, September 13th! Doors: 5:30pm, cosplay contest and film at 7:00pm!
The film follows members of a street gang known as The Warriors must fight their way from the Bronx to their home turf on Coney Island when they are falsely accused of assassinating a respected gang leader.
Dress up like your favorite posse from the film for our The Warriors-inspired photo-op and a chance to win the cosplay contest! Themed vendors will be set-up by 5:30pm and after the film!
Snag your $15 ticket before a rival snags your seat from under you!
Can you dig it?
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“Get the funk up!” Our Unsung 80’s Soundtracks series continues with Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman – or what happens when a movie studio also owns the recording contract of a pop superstar!
One of the defining films of its decade, Batman stars Michael Keaton as billionaire Bruce Wayne, who secretly spends his nights stalking the streets of Gotham City as the costumed vigilante Batman. As Batman closes in on dastardly villain Joker (Jack Nicholson, oozing charismatic menace), he also finds himself drawn to photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger). With Burton’s gothic visual style, Danny Elfman’s soaring score, and Oscar-winning Art Direction-Set Decoration by Anton Furst and Peter Young, Batman proved that a comic-book movie could be dark, stylish, and strange, while also humorous and wildly entertaining.
Batman is something of an unusual entry in the soundtrack canon, with two very different albums coming out of the film. Danny Elfman’s orchestral score became one of the most recognizable superhero themes ever written, while Prince was brought in to create a separate album of songs inspired by the film. The resulting Batman soundtrack became a massive commercial success, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and spawning hits including “Batdance,” “Partyman,” and “Scandalous.” The album was conceived around the Joker and Vicki Vale, with Burton reportedly giving Prince a rough cut of the film to inspire the songs. Elfman’s score and Prince’s album rarely appear together in the film, but both became essential parts of the movie’s identity, making Batman one of the biggest soundtrack phenomena of the 1980s.
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Yeon Sang-ho’s global phenomenon Train to Busan is coming back to The Frida Cinema to celebrate its 10th Anniversary!
What begins as a simple birthday trip for a father and daughter turns into a high-octane fight for survival when a zombie outbreak ravages South Korea. Trapped on a speeding train, they must navigate a landscape of terror to reach safety. Experience the relentless action and heart-wrenching drama on the big screen like never before.
A pure action spectacle that secretly doubles as an emotional family drama, Train to Busan succeeds because it never loses sight of the people at its center. Its breakneck pacing and inventive set pieces make it one of the great zombie films of the 21st century and one hell of a time on the big screen!
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Nu-Classics is back at The Frida Cinema, as this time around, our beloved host Maggie Mae Fish is joined by novelist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis for a very special screening celebrating thirty years since the release of Independence Day!
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world’s major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
Upon its release in 1996, Independence Day became a global phenomenon, redefining what audiences expected from summer movie spectacle. Its earnest patriotism and larger-than-life action paved the way for many blockbusters that came after. Whether you’re revisiting it for the hundredth time or experiencing it on the big screen for the first time, this is the kind of movie that reminds us why theaters were built to be loud! Also…come on, a movie with Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum?
Lindsay Ellis is a novelist and video essayist residing in Long Beach, CA. After studying Cinema Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she earned her MFA in Film and Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a focus in documentary and screenwriting. As a video essayist she wrote and co-hosted the fiction-focused web series It’s Lit! for PBS Digital Studios. She continues to make video essay and documentary content for YouTube and the streaming service Nebula. Her novels include Apostles of Mercy, Truth of the Divine and Axiom’s End, which was a New York Times best seller. Her nonfiction debut, Degenerates, a survey of how fascists and authoritarians appropriate and censor the arts, is slated for release in 2028.
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Few classics of Indian cinema are as exhilarating as Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. Join The Frida Cinema as we celebrate Indian Independence Day with a special presentation of the film on the 51st anniversary of its original release on August 15, 1975, presented in a stunning new 4K restoration.
One of the foremost examples of the dacoit Western, the film follows two ne’er-do-wells, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), recruited by an old frenemy Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) to rid his village of the villain Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). This genuine marvel riffs off Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Westerns, Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and even influenced various Hong Kong action titles of the 1980s, many of which we’ve been playing all year long at The Frida.
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Sippy Films. Funding provided by Sippy Films. This restoration of the film in 4K includes the original ending as well as two deleted scenes and with the original 70mm aspect ratio of 2.2:1.
This film will be presented in its original Hindi language with English subtitles.
Enhanced Accessibility: this film has Assisted Listening!
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You have the right to remain silent…dead silent.
Prepare to question everything you thought you knew about roundhouse kicks, thongs, and katana beheadings as Samurai Cop is finally coming back to The Frida Cinema! And as an extra special added bonus, stick around after the screening for an in-person Q&A with the stars of the film: Matthew Karedas, Cranston Komuro, and Gerald Okamura!
Joe (Matt Hannon, Sylvester Stallone’s one-time bodyguard) is the Samurai Cop, a rock of a man who will do literally whatever it takes to punish criminals—even if that means taking dozens of innocent lives in the process. Teamed with a truly hilarious partner (Mark Frazer), Joe embarks on a mindmelting sex-and-violence-fueled adventure against evil ninjas, drug dealers, and genre legend Robert Z’Dar (Maniac Cop)!
Directed by prolific Iranian ex-pat Amir Shervan, this reckless and outrageous gem is a true treasure of the trash-action pantheon! Don’t miss out!
Our guests will be setting up when doors open at 5pM for a meet-and-greet signing opportunity. The film will start at 7PM. Q&A will be around 8:45PM!
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He’s nacho average hero.
Celebrate 4th of July weekend with some encores of the 21st century cult classic Nacho Libre!
Jack Black stars as Ignacio, a monastery cook with big dreams of wrestling glory. By day, he tends to orphans with meager meals and modest means, but by night, he dons a homemade mask and cape to become “Nacho”, a bumbling yet big-hearted fighter who enters the chaotic world of Lucha Libre. Teaming up Esqueleto (Héctor Jiménez), a wiry street thief with zero wrestling skills but plenty of scrappy determination (and a firm belief in science), Nacho must balance his secret life in the ring with his devotion to the children he cares for, all while chasing respect. Oh, and the heart of the beautiful Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera).
Wildly silly yet surprisingly sincere, Nacho Libre is a raucous underdog tale showcasing Jack Black at his most gloriously unhinged. It has become one of the defining cult films of the 2000s, begging for a re-visit on the big screen with a crowd of cheering Nacho fans!
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