Quad Cinema Independent Cinema on 13th Street: $16 Rep Shows

Quad Cinema opened on October 18, 1972 at 34 West 13th Street as the first theater in Manhattan with several screens under one roof, and today it is one of the Village's most reliable independent cinemas. A general ticket is $18, repertory screenings drop to $16, and the box office opens 30 minutes before the first feature of the day, so a 1:00 pm show of Case 137 means the window opens at 12:30.

The original newspaper ads promised "a new way to go to the movies," because the Quad could run four films at once when most rivals ran one. That model let the theater outlast many competitors that later copied it. The current owner, Charles S. Cohen, rebuilt the building but kept the name, the neighborhood spirit and even the head projectionist, a detail the theater still points out on its own about page.

The renovation turned each auditorium into something closer to a private screening room, with its own color scheme and seats imported from Norway. The projection booths hold 4K Christie and Barco digital projectors next to 35mm and 16mm machines, which is why the Quad can program a new festival documentary and a battered repertory print in the same week without apologizing for either format.

The late October schedule shows the range the Quad likes to call high and low, arthouse and grindhouse. New releases this week include Case 137, Winter of the Crow, Digger and You Can See Everything, and Making Marie Antoinette joins the lineup on Friday, October 23. The documentary You Can See Everything has the most daily slots, so it is the easiest title to fit around dinner.

The Masters of Horror retrospective runs through October 30, pairing Dario Argento's Deep Red and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street with David Cronenberg's The Fly and John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. The Fly plays at 8:15 pm on October 21 and 22. Prince of Darkness screens October 23 through 30, and one of those shows carries an introduction by Heather Landsman.

The longest-running habit on the calendar is The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast from Double Feature Productions. The audience is invited to shout callback lines and throw rolls of toilet paper, and first-timers, whom the cast calls virgins, get a short pre-show lesson before the film starts. It is the loudest room in the building and the one place where talking during the movie is encouraged.

If you want a quiet evening, pick a different screen that night. If you have never done the Time Warp in a theater, this is a gentler entry point than a midnight crowd, since the cast walks the room through the rituals first. Check the program page for the next shadow-cast date, as it is listed separately from the weekly grid on the homepage.

The price list is short. General admission is $18. Students, military members, federally disabled guests and group bookings pay $16, as do seniors 62 and up and children aged 5 to 11. Every repertory screening is $16 for everyone. The catch is that the student, military, senior and disability rates are sold only in person at the box office with ID.

So here is the honest advice: if you qualify for a discount, skip the website and buy at the window, because online checkout only gives you the full $18 rate on new releases. For a sold-out premiere, that trade-off flips, and paying the extra $2 online to guarantee a seat is worth it. Repertory nights are the bargain either way, since the $16 price applies to every buyer.

The lobby is built around two features: a video wall of 32 flat screens forming a twelve-by-six-foot display, and a 50-foot concession stand. Beside it, the Quad Bar is open every day from the first show to the last, pouring organic wine, craft beer and coffee with snacks. It is where you will find NYU, New School and FIT students arguing about the film they just watched alongside longtime Village residents, the mix the theater itself describes.

The bar is the right move when you arrive early or when a double feature leaves a 45-minute gap. Auditoriums and the bar can also be rented, mostly Monday through Thursday, which is worth knowing if you are planning a birthday screening for a group, as weekday bookings are the realistic window.

The Quad sits two blocks from Union Square, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R and W stop at 14th Street-Union Square, and the F and M stop at 14th Street on Sixth Avenue. Before an afternoon show, walk through the Union Square Greenmarket when it is running, then cut down to the Strand on Broadway at 12th Street for a used-book browse that suits a film crowd.

If the Quad is sold out, Cinema Village on East 12th Street is about a five-minute walk east and also books independent releases. IFC Center on Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street is about fifteen minutes south on foot. To plan ahead, the weekly bulletin sign-up on the Quad homepage sends the new grid each week, which beats refreshing the schedule on a Friday.

Address: 34 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011. Email: info@quadcinema.com. Box office: opens 30 minutes before the first feature of the day. Quad Bar: open every day from the first show to the last. Tickets: $18 general admission, $16 for repertory screenings, and $16 for students, military, seniors 62+, children 5 to 11, federally disabled guests and groups.

Discounted tickets require ID and are sold in person only. Projection formats include 4K digital, 35mm and 16mm, so the film page tells you which version you are buying. Ask the Karpo APP to match a Quad showtime with dinner nearby and it will build the evening around the start time you choose.