Trash-Mex is closing our their series of four classic Mexican horror films with one of the wildest films ever made: Chano Urueta’s El barón del terror (1962), aka The Brainiac!
In 1661, the Inquisition sentences Baron d’Estera (Abel Salazar) to be burned at the stake for his sorcery. Three hundred years later, the Baron returns to Mexico City on a comet, to exact a peculiar form of vengeance upon the descendants of his tormentors… by sucking out their brains!
Starring Abel Salazar as the resurrected aristocrat with a taste for gray matter, El barón del terror is a deliriously demented slice of Mexican horror, serving up grotesque creature effects and one of the wildest monster designs in the genre. Come for the cursed Baron, stay for the brain buffet!
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Get ready to shrink down and relive the wild adventure of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with Friends of the Mouse!
Eccentric inventor Wayne Szalinski’s (Rick Moranis) experimental shrinking ray accidentally miniaturizes his teenage kids and their next-door neighbors. The four tiny children are mistakenly thrown out with the trash and must navigate the perilous, jungle-like terrain of their own backyard. To make it back home safely, they have to dodge giant lawnmowers, treacherous sprinklers, and backyard insects, all while their frantic parents launch a desperate search to find them before it’s too late!
Along with prizes and a special cartoon, star Amy O’Neill (Amy Szalinski) will be joining us for a post-show Q&A as well as a meet & greet/autographs before the film.
Tickets for this event are free but you must RSVP each attendee. Priority seating is available for Friends of the Mouse members.
Memberships are available for $20/yr per family and can be purchased at this link.
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SHE’S ALIVE!
After a weekend of vampires, werewolves, mummies, mad scientists, and invisible men, there’s only one way to bring Universal Monster Movie Weekend to a close: Bride of Frankenstein!
Having survived his own creation, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is once again drawn into the experiments of the sinister Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who has a new proposition: create a mate for the Monster (Boris Karloff). But while the Monster longs for companionship, Henry’s new creation (Elsa Lanchester) may have a mind of her own.
James Whale returned to the world of Mary Shelley for this extraordinary 1935 sequel, expanding the original’s themes and making them somehow more tragic. From Elsa Lanchester’s unforgettable entrance as the Bride to Karloff’s heartbreaking performance, Bride of Frankenstein is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made, and one of the rare sequels that surpasses its predecessor.
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Just added: Bekah Phillips, The Frida Cinema’s Director of Marketing, will be introducing this screening!
Universal Monster Movie Weekend disappears into the shadows one of our all-time favorites: James Whale’s The Invisible Man!
A mysterious stranger arrives at a remote English inn, his face completely hidden beneath bandages and dark glasses. But there’s more to Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) than meets the eye…literally. After discovering a way to make himself invisible, Griffin begins to lose his grip on morality, using his newfound power to terrorize anyone who stands in his way.
Based on H.G. Wells’ groundbreaking novel, The Invisible Man was a technical marvel in 1933, with effects that still impress nearly a century later. But what really makes the film unforgettable is Claude Rains, whose entire performance is delivered through his voice, turning Griffin from brilliant scientist into an increasingly unhinged menace. Add James Whale’s darkly comic touch, and you get a Universal Monster movie that is as funny as it is frightening.
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Just added: Author Julian David Stone will be joining us to introduce the film and sell copies of his novel, It’s Alive!, in the lobby!
One man. One monster. One of the greatest horror films ever made.
Our Universal Monster Movie Weekend continues with James Whale’s Frankenstein, the 1931 masterpiece that gave the movies one of their most enduring monsters.
Obsessed with unlocking the secret of life, the brilliant but reckless Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) robs graves and assembles a body from stolen parts, bringing his creation to life with a bolt of lightning. But the creature (Boris Karloff) is not the mindless monster Henry expected. Rejected and feared by everyone he encounters, he soon becomes the target of a terrified mob.
Adapted from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein remains one of the foundational works of American horror, balancing genuine terror with a surprising amount of sympathy for its misunderstood creature. Boris Karloff’s performance turned the Monster into an icon, while James Whale’s striking production design and unforgettable laboratory sequence helped define the visual language of the Universal Monsters for generations to come.
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They came. They Shopped. They saved the world!
See It On 16mm is back at The Frida to unspool the 1984 sci-fi horror cult classic Night of the Comet!
When a mysterious comet passes close to Earth, nearly everyone on the planet is reduced to piles of red dust…or transformed into bloodthirsty zombies! Among the few survivors are Valley Girl sisters Regina and Samantha, who emerge from their steel-lined shelters to find Los Angeles completely deserted.
Zombies, machine guns, deserted malls, killer ’80s fashion, and a killer soundtrack…what else do you want from a movie!?
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The second feature directed by Todd Haynes, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of Far from Heaven and Carol, Poison is the next film up in our Art House 101: Global Queer Cinema series. Thank you to our friends at OC Pride for presenting these screenings!
This groundbreaking American Indie was the most fervently debated film of the early 1990s and a trailblazing landmark of queer cinema. A work of immense visual invention, Haynes’ spectacular follow-up to his legendary Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is audacious, disturbing and thrillingly cinematic.
Inspired by the writings of Jean Genet, Poison deftly interweaves trio of transgressive tales-“Hero,” “Horror” and “Homo”-that build toward a devastating climax. “Hero,” shot in mock TV-documentary style, tells a bizarre story of suburban patricide and a miraculous flight from justice; “Horror,” filmed like a delirious ’50s B-movie melodrama, is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment which unleashes a disfiguring plague; while “Homo” explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates.
A runaway hit which made national headlines when it was attacked by right-wing figures including Dick Armey, Ralph Reed and minister Donald Wildmon, Poison is unsettling, unforgettable and thoroughly entertaining.
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We are paying our respects to horror legend Reggie Bannister with a one night only screening of Don Coscarelli’s horror classic Phantasm!
Like The Shining and Dawn of the Dead, Phantasm is a cerebral nightmare that we never want to end. Written, produced, directed, shot, and edited by Don Coscarelli when he was only 23-years-old, the movie follows a group of small-town friends as they battle the “Tall Man”—a mysterious force of cosmic horror who wields flying silver murderballs. This Lovecraftian vortex deftly combines gothic horror, surrealism, and a killer prog rock score into a concoction that horror fans have never stopped worshipping.
Thanks to a stunning restoration and 5.1 surround sound mix produced by J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot and Coscarelli, Phantasm has never looked or sounded better.
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Come celebrate the new movement of young filmmakers devouring the medium with their intense, cinematic visions with this double feature of two bold, boundary pushing, & incendiary debut feature films that compliment each-other: the hot-boiled angst of the timely ABRAXAS (Written, Directed, Edited, & Starring Charles Tyler Kinder) & the synthetic, neon-drenched, liminal nightmare fuel that schizoids out of the screen into your senses with FaceTape (Written, Directed, Edited, Shot, Sound Designed by Manny Liotta).
Made in unison with each other with a blend of cast members between the two films, this is a double feature that you won’t walk away from feeling the same as when you entered the theater!
ABRAXAS (85 min): Struggling to complete his college thesis, a frustrated environmentalist starts to receive “divine inspiration” which liberates him from writer’s block. However, as his ideas intensify, he spirals into a dangerous fixation, crafting an enraged manifesto against techno-industrial civilization. Watch the trailer for it here!
FaceTape (84 min): A junkie decides to come clean from abusing an analog VR drug called FaceTape only to find his life outside of his addiction is far from stable. Watch the trailer here!
There will be a 10 minute intermission between each film and an introduction by the filmmakers!
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An entire civilization must confront its destiny in alternative-animation pioneer René Laloux’s final feature, Gandahar, a cult classic of mind-bending science fiction that has been restored in 4K thanks to fine folks at Janus Films!
In a distant world, a merciless army of automata attacks Gandahar, turning its peace-loving people to stone. Hoping to discover the source of these Men of Metal, a council of matriarchs enlists the brave yet inexperienced warrior Sylvain (Pierre-Marie Escourro), who, while journeying through his planet’s outer regions, teams up with the Deformed, a race cast out from Gandahar after failed science experiments rendered them mutants. Soon, Sylvain learns that a gargantuan brain called Metamorphis (Georges Wilson) is responsible for his utopian society’s strife, and together with the beautiful Airelle (Catherine Chevallier), travels through time to defeat him, in the process risking their lives and Gandahar’s very existence.
Featuring stunningly surreal creatures and wondrously bizarre environments designed by renowned comic-book artist Caza, Gandahar is a visceral, visionary head-trip in which animation opens a gateway to the furthest reaches of the imagination.
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