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.
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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, Blue Underground 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.
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The Vanishing (1988) is our second Volunteer Of The Month pick for February, courtesy of the wonderful Julia!
A young man embarks on an obsessive search for the girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared while the couple were taking a sunny vacation trip, and his three-year investigation draws the attention of her abductor, a mild-mannered professor with a clinically diabolical mind.
An unorthodox love story and a truly unsettling thriller, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer’s The Vanishing unfolds with meticulous intensity, leading to an unforgettable finale that has unnerved audiences around the world.
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Frida Cinema Film Club Members are invited to special 60th anniversary screening of Michelangelo Antonioni’s voyeuristic masterwork Blow-Up!
Set amid the hum of Swinging London, Blow-Up follows Thomas, a coolly detached fashion photographer played by David Hemmings. After casually photographing a couple in a park, Thomas enlarges (hmm is there another word for this?) his images and begins to suspect he has captured evidence of a murder.
Sixty years after its release, Blow-Up remains one of cinema’s most intoxicating riddles and must be seen up crystal clear on the big screen. Happy New Year to our members that have been waiting for us to screen this art house classic.
Not a member yet and want to gain access to this screening? Sign up here to become one!
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Live for tomorrow. Die today.
The Frida Cinema is excited to partner up with our friends at GKIDS to present All You Need Is Kill, the action-packed new anime film from director Kenichiro Akimoto!
When a massive alien flower known as “Darol” unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population of Japan, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them.
All screenings will be presented in the film’s original Japanese language with English subtitles.
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Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who has gifted us such films as Aquarius (NYFF54) and Bacurau (NYFF57), returns with the thrillingly unpredictable The Secret Agent.
A dynamic, shape-shifting epic set in Mendonça’s hometown of Recife during the late 1970s, The Secret Agent won Best Director award at Cannes. Wagner Moura was also deservedly honored as Best Actor at the festival for his magnetic performance as a widowed former university researcher whose life has been violently upended by the greed and vengeance of a government bureaucrat.
On the run and living under an alias during the country’s military dictatorship, he tries to escape, while also reconnecting with the young son he had to leave behind. Even this brief description cannot fully prepare the viewer for the zigzagging subplots and delights of Mendonça’s eccentric and affectionate ode to the movies and the Brazil of his youth—and to maintaining individuality amid abuses of power.
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Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
Moviebusters are taking us back to the coldest corner of horror history with some encores of John Carpenter’s The Thing–now in a new 4K restoration! And as an added bonus, Alan Howarth, a frequent collaborator with John Carpenter, will be joining us for a post-screening Q&A hosted by Scott Zilner! Alan worked closely with composer Ennio Morricone and contributed additional synthesizer-based musical pieces and sound design work for the film. He will be signing autographs in the theater lobby before the film!
What begins as a simple rescue mission at a remote Antarctic outpost quickly dissolves into a nightmare of shape-shifting terror. When a mysterious organism infiltrates U.S. research station Outpost 31, it doesn’t attack its victims…it becomes them. With no way out and no way to tell who’s human, the team must confront an enemy capable of wearing any face…including their own.
What can be said about The Thing that hasn’t already been said? This 1982 masterpiece redefined paranoia horror, practical effects (by the incredible Ron Botin and his team), and the art of keeping an audience on the very edge of its seat in only a way that the master of horror, John Carpenter, can do.
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. Frida Cinema member discounts and comp passes do not apply.
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Join us for some cheeky encores of Charade—Stanley Donen’s irresistible mix of romance and suspense that pairs two of Hollywood’s brightest stars at the height of their powers.
After Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) falls for the dashing Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been murdered. Soon, she and Peter are giving chase to three of her late husband’s World War II cronies, Tex (James Coburn), Scobie (George Kennedy) and Gideon (Ned Glass), who are after a quarter of a million dollars the quartet stole while behind enemy lines. But why does Peter keep changing his name?
Often dubbed “the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made,” Charade pairs up Hepburn and Grant along with some witty dialogue and glamorous locations for some of the most flirtatious thrills of all time!
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An annual holiday tradition unlike any other, Bekah’s Cozy Christmas Double is back for a third year! And this time, she’s picked the dynamic duo of The Thin Man and After The Thin Man!
The Thin Man: Retired detective Nick Charles (William Powell) and his quick-witted, glamorous wife Nora (Myrna Loy) return to New York for the holidays, only to get swept into a murder investigation involving a missing inventor, a nervous family, and a trail of clues that only Nick’s reluctant brilliance can untangle. Their martini-fueled banter and impeccable chemistry turn a standard whodunit into one of the era’s most sparkling comedies.
After The Thin Man: Picking up right where the first film ends, Nick and Nora return to San Francisco, where a family dinner quickly spirals into another murder case—this time involving Nora’s unstable cousin, her missing husband, and a lovesick third party played by a young James Stewart. Once again, Nick reluctantly takes the case, and once again Nora dives in with enthusiasm, cocktails in hand.
Seen together, these films showcase the rare magic of screen icons William Powell and Myrna Loy: two actors whose charm mixed so well with soft cynicism. Their style defined a whole era of sophisticated studio comedies and shaped the DNA of the modern mystery-romance, proving that a detective story could be as much about love as it is about clues.
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Natalie Erika James’ haunted house film Relic was near the top of our list of movies to play in 2020, but regretfully never made it to the big screen here. As part of our Lost Films Of Covid series, we are finally able to make good on that idea!
When a daughter and granddaughter return to their family home to care for an aging matriarch, they discover that the real terror isn’t what lurks in the walls—it’s what’s slipping away inside them.
Anchored by powerful performances from Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, and Bella Heathcote, Relic turns decay and dementia into a slow, aching metaphor for inheritance and love. Five years later after its initial release, it stands as one of the most affecting horror films of its era.
Thank you to our friends at Filmbot for their support in presenting this amazing series.
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