POP UP CINEMA BRIGHTON
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
WEEKLY FILM SCREENINGS IN BRIGHTON
UPCOMING EVENTS
8PM FRIDAY OCTOBER 16TH
YOUR MONSTER
Spooky season kicks off with some fun at WWC this year, with a film that is brave enough to ask the question: what if there WAS a monster hiding under your bed, and what if he was kinda’ f***able? The debut feature from director Caroline Lindy, Your Monster creates the sort of easy-going Millennial/Gen Z popcorn horror rom-com that pitches itself somewhere between Beauty & the Beast and Lena Dunham’s Girls.
When musical theatre actress Laura Franco, played by Scream franchise stalwart Melissa Barrera, finds herself dealing with the triple blow of cancer recovery, a split with her boyfriend and no job prospects, she takes refuge in her mother’s New York townhouse. There, she discovers that her long forgotten childhood monster in the closet is still in residence. Once she gets over the initial shock, Laura finds strength in her new companion and finds a way back to the stage.
Mixing genres with ease, Your Monster is an enjoyable comedy, romance and horror (with a few musical elements) that provides a smart take on how rage intersects with femininity, alongside its laughs and heartstring tugs.
A huge hit with audiences at London’s Sundance Film Festival and Dublin’s Horrorthon, critic Mark Kermode said:
“This is somewhere between A Monster Calls and The Substance, because it has the sort of psychological depth of the former, and the WTF! humour, ‘Where is this going?’ of the latter. I absolutely loved it… I loved the characters, I loved the use of songs, I loved the confidence of the writing and direction. It takes an old story and makes it new. It genuinely manages to get that balance between the dark and the light, the funny and the ghoulish, the frivolous and the profound… I can’t recommend this highly enough… it’s really well done, it’s got a very, very unpredictable spirit to it, it’s funny, it’s moving, it’s touching, it’s weird… it completely bowled me over.”
See it Friday, October 16th, for an early Halloween treat.
8PM FRIDAY OCTOBER 23RD
MYSTERY MOVIE NIGHT
SECRET MOVIE CLUB PRESENTS... 'DINING WITH THE DEVIL'
(MYSTERY MOVIE)
|| What is secret movie club? ||
Our "Secret Movie Club" project takes a movie you most likely haven't seen before (but will instantly love) and keeps the identity of the movie a secret, only revealing which film you are watching when the opening credits roll. The aim is to provide you with a brilliant forgotten or overlooked gem from cinema's past or present (or perhaps even a major, but lesser screened cult classic). Every time we do these events we get such phenomenal feedback from you guys. It's incredibly rewarding to have people say to us they had never even heard of the movie we screened for them, but that it is now instantly among their favourites!
|| Dining With The Devil ||
For this Halloween special we are showing something that couldn't be described as a horror movie but rather a devilishly funny, thought provoking hidden gem with a macabre sense of humour about meeting someone who could well turn out to be the most awful person you ever met. With its overlooked female director and cast featuring many a familiar face this film has only become more relevant since its initial release when it was criminally overlooked. Jet black humour, moments to make you squirm and plenty of food for thought about the world in which we live in it comes highly recommended as some pre-Halloween fun that offers a both a few gory thrills as well as a dose of enjoyable satire.
As ever the film will be kept a tantalising secret until the opening credits roll.
7.45PM TUESDAY OCTOBER 27TH
ROBERT ALTMAN'S IMAGES
Robert Altman was one of America's most influential directors and is almost single-handedly responsible for setting in motion a style that the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Richard Linklater, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Chloé Zhao and the Safdie Brothers would later directly ape. Right in the middle of the director's most critically acclaimed period, which would yield Americana classics like MASH*, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye and Nashville, Altman would take an unusual detour and create this rural British psychological horror film.
This outlier in Altman's prolific career follows children's author Cathryn (Susannah York – They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) who, after receiving a series of unsettling phone calls at her London flat, decides she needs some time away from the city. Her husband Hugh whisks her away to his remote cottage in the Irish countryside in the hope that she can return to working on her upcoming book. But the isolation seems only to heighten Cathryn's sense of unease, as the world around her begins to fragment and reality appears to shatter into a confusing series of hallucinations involving her former lovers. A relaxing weekend in the country it is not!
Lead actress York is brilliant as the sometimes terrified, often paranoid and frequently dissociated lead of the film, winning the Best Actress award at that year's Cannes Film Festival. York also co-wrote the script with Altman, creating a kaleidoscope of terror built around the central character's inner psyche. Rich in visual metaphor and thick with cinematic atmosphere, the film's disturbing, dream-like quality falls somewhere between Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs and Ingmar Bergman's Persona.
Despite sharing some DNA with other Altman explorations of troubled female psychology, like That Cold Day in the Park (1969) and 3 Women (1977), Images is a completely unique film in cinema history. The iconic cinematography of regular Altman collaborator Vilmos Zsigmond (the visual maestro behind Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate and Blow Out) gives Images its haunting and sometimes visceral look. Even the ever-reliable comfort food of a John Williams score (Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T., etc.) becomes a suitably unsettling, one-of-a-kind artifact, with additional 'sounds' from Stomu Yamash'ta (best known for his musical pieces featured in The Man Who Fell to Earth).
Psychologically and cinematically haunting and complex, this early-'70s puzzle-box movie is both chilling and fascinating. Daring, engaging and uncommon in its remote countryside-set horrors, Images is well worth experiencing on the big screen.
7.45PM THURSDAY OCTOBER 29TH
RICHARD KELLY'S
DONNIE DARKO
25TH ANNIVERSARY
4K RESTORATION
* See Donnie Darko in conjunction with Richard Kelly's follow up film Southland Tales which is screening in it's notorious 'Cannes Cut' on December 2nd by getting discounted Richard Kelly Double Ticket. For more on Southland Tales go HERE **
It’s been 25 years since Richard Kelly’s directorial debut, Donnie Darko, opened in cinemas in the wake of 9/11, finding itself in the wrong place at the wrong time, only to steadily build a global following over the next decade and firmly cement its place as the key cult classic of its era. Still as potent as ever 25 years on, the hypnotic, poetic, nostalgic and yet joyously fresh sensibility of this miracle of a film remains firmly intact.
Set in the suburbs of Virginia in the late 1980s, Donnie is an awkward and troubled teenager who survives a freak accident, only to find himself having visions of a six-foot-tall bunny rabbit named Frank, who informs him that the world will soon end. As Donnie tries to unravel the mystery, a high-school bully, time tunnels, Halloween parties, a mysterious elderly neighbour and a burgeoning friendship with fellow troubled teen Gretchen all complicate matters.
The near-perfect atmosphere of the film, with its beautifully created rhythm and stylish storytelling, grabs you right from the off and never lets you go. The film features an outstanding ensemble cast, including a star-making role for Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie (alongside his real-life sister Maggie as his on-screen sibling), as well as Katherine Ross (The Graduate), Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing), Drew Barrymore (E.T.), Noah Wyle (The Pitt), James Duval (known for his work with Gregg Araki), and even Seth Rogen in his film debut. The film also boasts a brilliantly appointed soundtrack (which won’t make you doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion for one second), even spawning a UK Christmas No. 1 in the shape of Gary Jules’ haunting Tears for Fears cover of “Mad World.”
The first cult film of the 21st century, Donnie Darko is a perfectly formed mini-masterpiece that allows itself to be funny, sincere, mind-bending, compassionate, melancholy, ethereal and outrageously cool all at the same time. Set during the Halloween period, the film’s eerie vibes provide the perfect viewing for this year’s final spooky special on Thursday, October 29th.
See this enduring favourite on the big screen in its 4K remaster for its 25th anniversary during Halloween week.
7.40PM FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH
CAMERON CROWE'S
JERRY MAGUIRE
30TH ANNIVERSARY
4K RESTORATION
If we were gamblers, our bet would be that this is the year Tom Cruise wins his first competitive Oscar. But why has it taken so long? It can't be understated just how deep and broad Cruise's prowess as a movie star is, nor the exceptional quality of the creatives he has worked with. For our Tom Cruise season, we take a look at three different maverick directors' treatments of Maverick himself.
At a time when independent filmmaking reigned supreme and dominated the awards season, Jerry Maguire was the rare major studio production to break through with indie-minded voters and emerge a major winner. A modern classic, Cameron Crowe’s film is so much more than just another ’90s rom-com. It strikes the perfect balance between cynicism and sweetness, making it the finest film in the genre since When Harry Met Sally, while reaching for something deeper: a story about the fear of truly living, the courage to follow your convictions, and the struggle to define yourself in an indifferent world.
Jerry Maguire is the role Tom Cruise was born to play. Wisely drawing on the actor’s earnest, vulnerable side, Crowe subverts the cocky confidence and brooding intensity that had defined so many of Cruise’s earlier performances. Here is a man who is no longer entirely sure of himself, his success, or what success even means. A high-powered sports agent in the midst of a crisis of conscience, Maguire suddenly finds himself stripped of his status as a kingpin of the industry, left clinging by “a very thin thread” to the one client willing to stick with him: egocentric, no-hoper quarterback Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in an electrifying, Oscar-winning performance. The only employee prepared to follow Jerry into the unknown is Dorothy Boyd, brought to life by Renée Zellweger in her career-breakthrough role. A single mother balancing the demands of raising her young son with her own hopes and ambitions, Dorothy is drawn to Jerry’s moment of moral clarity, even as she risks everything by believing in him.
Written and directed by Crowe, whose remarkable body of work includes Say Anything…, Singles, Vanilla Sky and, of course, Almost Famous, the film bears all the hallmarks this director who is key figure in both the worlds of music and cinema. Crowe’s own extraordinary journey, from opportunist teenage journalist at Rolling Stone (as told in Crowe's Almost Famous, he's the main character) to eventually associate editor of the magazine in later life, creating some of the most defining chronicles of the biggest musical acts of the 1970s, lends the film a distinctive cultural authenticity, a lived-in quality that few Hollywood productions can replicate.
As with all the best Crowe films, the music is integral to the experience. The soundtrack is a beautifully curated collection of songs, featuring contributions from his then-wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart, alongside an inspired selection of artists that only Crowe could curate. The visual storytelling is equally assured, courtesy of legendary cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, whose work with Steven Spielberg has included every one of the director’s feature films since Schindler’s List in 1993. An exceptional supporting cast, including Kelly Preston, Jerry O’Connell (Stand by Me), Bonnie Hunt (The Green Mile), Regina King (Boyz n the Hood), Jonathan Lipnicki and Todd Louiso (High Fidelity), adds further depth, while a series of cameos from figures in Crowe’s own cultural orbit lends the film an extra layer of personality and charm. The result is a world that feels wonderfully textured, spontaneous and authentic.
Ultimately, Jerry Maguire is a genuinely brilliant piece of cinema: a film that champions personal conviction over corporate conformity and understands that forging meaningful human connections is a complicated, imperfect and often messy business. Beneath the romance and the comedy lies a deeply affecting portrait of people trying to find their place in the world, learning that success means little without a sense of purpose, and that genuine connection requires us to be vulnerable enough to let others in.
A worldwide smash that grossed $274 million against a $50 million budget, Jerry Maguire also gave us some of the most enduringly quotable lines in modern cinema, embedding itself firmly in the pop-culture lexicon. Thirty years on, its wit, warmth and emotional honesty remain undiminished. A bona fide classic that deserves to be rediscovered, revisited and, above all, experienced on the big screen for its 30th anniversary.
7.20PM WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 2ND
SOUTHLAND TALES
THE CANNES CUT
20TH ANNIVERSARY
2K RESTORATION
** See Southland Tales in conjunction with Richard Kelly's debut film Donnie Darko which is screening on Thursday October 29th by getting discounted Richard Kelly Double Ticket. For more on Donnie Darko go HERE **
Director Richard Kelly's follow-up to his debut feature Donnie Darko is the entirely remarkable but largely misunderstood Southland Tales. A response to the post-9/11 world and its new absurd political realities, this sprawling Los Angeles near-future dystopian black comedy thriller was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival to a disastrous reception. In a panic, the film was hastily re-edited, losing much of its core, and released to the public, only to be promptly dismissed.
Just as Donnie Darko slowly established a reputation as a bona fide cult classic over time after its own forgettable cinema run, something similar is beginning to happen with Southland Tales. What was once seen as a misguided, messy take on Bush-era policies has slowly become a prophetic and ever-more-relevant social commentary.
The story, set in 2008, sees the United States standing on the brink of social, economic, and environmental disaster, in the midst of a Fourth of July heatwave weekend. Action movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) finds himself suffering from amnesia as his life intertwines with pornstar Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who is developing her own reality TV show tackling the big subjects of terrorism, crime, poverty, and, yes, teen horniness. Added to this mix is LAPD officer Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott), whose identity seems to have been split in two.
Beguiling and baffling, Southland Tales is the ultimate postmodern film, concerned with the direction of capitalism intersecting with right-wing politics, the surveillance state, celebrity, and influencer culture. Everything from live-streaming and faux-progressive tech barons to ineffectual left-wing activist groups is lampooned in a world populated by Kelly's ultra-deliberate casting choices, including then-pro-wrestler The Rock, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Stiffler from American Pie, alongside two pop stars (Mandy Moore and Justin Timberlake), as well as a host of brilliantly offbeat character actors and comedians including Nora Dunn (SNL), Christopher Lambert (Highlander), Bai Ling (The Crow), Jon Lovitz (SNL), Cheri Oteri (SNL), Amy Poehler (SNL), Miranda Richardson (Blackadder), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), and well-known film director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma, Mallrats).
A maximalist satirical take on an ever-more-ludicrous USA, Southland Tales has finally come of age and is now ripe for rediscovery as we screen the original and uncompromised 'Cannes Cut'. The film calls to mind other political madcap masterpieces like Brazil, Dr. Strangelove, and even Alejandro Iñárritu's latest film Digger.
A rip-roaring hybrid of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick sensibilities, with an almost hypnotic mix of grandeur, etherealness, and downright absurdist, Republican Party-fuelled phantasmagoria. Miss the Cannes Cut at your peril.
MORE
SCREENINGS
ON THEIR WAY
IN 2026
RETURNING AUGUST 2026!
TO BE KEPT UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST ANNOUNCEMENTS PLUS EXCLUSIVE OFFERS & DISCOUNTS SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST NOW!
*By submitting your e-mail you agree with our privacy policy.
“INTERESTING, FUN, UNUSUAL, OVERLOOKED CINEMA, CLASSIC AND NEW, SCREENING
ALL YEAR ROUND.”
