Welcome to See You at the Cinema, MovieJawn’s recurring column celebrating our favorite places to watch movies.

by Jill Vranken, Staff Writer

“Thanks for coming to the Prince Charles Cinema, the most depraved and beautiful movie theatre in London!”

London’s Leicester Square acts as a kind of nexus for cinema-going. At the centre of it stands the Odeon Luxe, the home of movie premieres in the UK, with branches of Vue, Cineworld, and another Odeon dotted around the square. But if you are, like me, an explorer in the further regions of cinema experiences (AKA a sicko, tone indicator complimentary), you will find your natural home to be located just off the square, on Leicester Place.

I suspect that I am not the only one whose relationship with the Prince Charles Cinema started with Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 disasterpeace The Room. The PCC is The Room’s UK home - it screens there every month, and at least once every year Tommy himself will grace the cinema with his presence, gamely answering questions from the audience while exasperating the staff with his… general essence. It was at one of these screenings, in 2013, that I first experienced the magic of the PCC. I have a vivid memory of walking down the stairs to the bar next to the screen. It was packed, and at the far end stood Tommy (wearing no fewer than three belts slung around his waist) and his co-star Greg Sestero, posing for pictures, signing autographs. There was such a sense of community, a little haven for people who wanted something deeper and more niche from their cinema-going experience and found it here.

The Prince Charles Cinema is the only independent cinema in the West End. It opened as a theatre in the sixties (and was decidedly unsuccessful) before reinventing itself a cinema that would show racy European arthouse fare like Just Jaeckin’s Emmanuelle (1974). While it gained a reputation as a porn cinema, it also was programming risky, controversial titles such as Last Tango in Paris and Straw Dogs. Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (1987) had its world premiere at the PCC (which, as an avowed Hellraiser fan, makes me even more convinced I belong there). Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead (1981) found a cult audience there.

When, in 1991, it introduced £1.00 tickets and moulded itself as the go-to repertory cinema, it gained a hefty cult following (director Edgar Wright, then new to London, to the industry and flat broke, frequented the cinema at this time). A second screen was opened in 2008, which allowed the PCC to screen twice as many movies, and really kicked the doors open for its current slate, a mix of rep classics, niche gems from across the globe, a dash of current arthouse releases and a plethora of themed events. You want to do the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-a-long? They’ve got it. You want to spend a whole night marathoning the movies of Wong Kar Wai? You best believe they’ve got it scheduled. You want to surrender yourself to a mystery movie marathon? The PCC will facilitate.

To me, you can feel a sincere love for cinema from the second you walk into the building. Scratch that, you don’t even need to walk into the building, you just need to stand outside and look up at the readograph telling you to “sod the sunshine, come sit in the dark” (one of many amazing PCC readograph messages). When you walk in, you’ll be welcomed by knowledgeable, passionate staff (who, in my experience, have the patience of a gaggle of saints). The interiors are not the sleek and modern vibe of the other cinemas on Leicester Square, and they’re all the better for it, because they feel like a warm, retro hug.

The screen upstairs is dark, with a ceiling dotted with tiny lights. Combined with the blue glow from the screen, it almost feels like you’re walking into another world. The screen downstairs has an honest to god curtain which pulls back when the screening starts, making you feel like you’re in a proper theatre. In the bar, a giant chalkboard encourages visitors to write down suggestions for screenings (they have yet to pick up my suggestion of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45). You feel like you’re among friends at every single screening, even if you’ve never met anyone there, because you are all there for the same reason: an unashamedly huge love of cinema in all its facets.

Shamefully, it took me until last year to get a Prince Charles Cinema membership. It is easily one of the best decisions I have ever made, and having one has made me fall even deeper in love with cinema. To have access to such a varied range of repertory cinema, for a price cheaper than most cinemas in the UK, in a place with such a storied history, makes my heart sing.

I was originally going to end my little love letter here, on a more optimistic note. But a worrying development has reared its head in recent days. And I can’t let it go unmentioned because it would be fundamentally dishonest to the very point of this article - that the Prince Charles Cinema is the beating heart of London cinema culture and preserving it is of the utmost importance.

The Prince Charles Cinema is under serious threat of closing, thanks to the building’s landlords demanding a break clause in their new lease (their current lease is up in September 2025). This clause would leave the cinema homeless with only six months notice if the landlords should receive planning permission to redevelop. It is a clear, craven attack on the arts at a time where so many cinemas in the UK are closing and others are having to hike up their prices significantly to keep afloat. But if you want an idea of just how loved the PCC is, a petition to save the venue started by its team has, as of writing, already garnered 75000 signatures and counting.

So, instead of ending on my original optimistic note, I would like to end instead on a hopeful note and ask you, dear MovieJawn reader, to add your name and help save my beloved little mischief of a venue. And if you’re ever in London, just off of Leicester Square, I encourage you to do the following: after you’ve gone into Chinatown and procured a toasty ube bilog from Mamasons, walk down to Leicester Place and eat it on the steps of the Prince Charles Cinema (as per my own tradition). Then, sod the sunshine and go sit in the dark. You’ll be among friends.

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