Participatory cinema can be a real gas. Take John Waters’ 1981 cult classic Polyester as an example. Currently screening in the Museum of Modern Art’s Sundance Film Festival-adjacent series, American Indies, 1980–1989, the film finds its audience pulling out cards and scratching and sniffing in unison along to prompts in the film. Waters called this wondrous low-tech participatory film experience Odorama™. Yes, he had it trademarked.

While Odorama™ cannot be rivaled, Polyester’s brief run at MoMA got us thinking of other fun, low-rent, participatory moviegoing experiences.

Audiences are a fickle lot and there’s no exact science to figure out what might transcend into this genre. Typically, the film either has a gimmick (like Waters’ Polyester), a fun soundtrack, outrageous characters, a wacky premise or is one of the most awful movies ever made. Below are some campy theatrical experiences that have cracked the code and are happening in New York City over the coming weeks. These are all great reasons to venture out to a movie theater.

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Polyester(1981)
Thursday, January 30 at 4:30pm
at the Museum of Modern Art
Waters’ 1981 melodramatic Odorama™ sensation stars Divine as Francine Fish paw, a Baltimore housewife going through a rough patch. With her family problems mounting, Francine turns to the bottle for solace. When she meets hunky Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), things seem too good to be true. Is he her savior? You’ll have to tune in to Waters’ Douglas Sirk riff to find out. The odoriferous elements of this film relate to Francine’s keen sense of smell. Audience members receive Odorama™ cards upon entry. The film explains how to use them. No scratching before it’s time.

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The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Friday, January 31 and Saturday, February 1 at midnight
at Cinépolis Chelsea
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the G.O.A.T. of low-tech participatory cinema. Audiences have been dressing up, yelling one-liners, singing along, and bringing an array of props to late-night theatrical screenings of the sci-fi, horror musical for over 40 years. The film, adapted from the London musical of the same name, is the tale of a newly engaged couple (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) who get caught in a storm and seek refuge in the home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a mad transvestite scientist. The couple’s timing couldn’t be better as Dr. Frank-N-Furter is ready to unveil his Frankenstein-style like stud-muffin Rocky. For a list of props to bring along to the Jim Sharman-directed film, go here.

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The Room (2003)
Friday, January 31 at 11:30pm, February 28 at 11:30pm and March 27 at 11:30pm
at Village East
Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is one of those rare films that audiences saved from obscurity and granted membership in the midnight movie participatory cinema gang. Starring Wiseau, the “drama” centers around a love triangle between a banker named Johnny, his fiancée Lisa, and his best friend Mark. In 2003, when the film first arrived in California theaters, critics panned it. They thought the movie’s acting, direction, narrative structure, and production values were lacking. However, audiences (including celebrities) rallied behind Wiseau’s passion project and turned it into an international cult sensation. Heck James Franco made a film about it that received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Fans come dressed as their favorite characters, talk back to the screen, throw plastic spoons, and more. For details on how to prepare for a screening, go here. And note, Tommy will not be attending these screenings.

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Cats Rowdy Screening
Friday, January 31 at 11:15pm and 11:45pm
Saturday, February 1 at 10pm and 11:25pm
Sunday, February 2 at 9pm
at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn
It must be true what they say about cats having multiple lives. Or, at least Tom Hooper’s Cats (2019) has been brought back from the dead after bombing when it opened last month. (Who didn’t see that coming?) Alamo Drafthouse, who hosts a range of fun participatory film parties, have programmed what they call Cats Rowdy Screening events. These are screenings where audience members can purr, hiss, and meow at the new film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamous musical. Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jason Derulo, Rebel Wilson, and James Corden star in this CGI-ified jellicle oddity.

Cats (2019)
Friday, January 31 at 11:59pm
Friday, February 7 at 11pm
Friday, February 14 at 11:59pm
Saturday, February 15 at 11:30pm
at Syndicated
Syndicated Bar in Bushwick is also hosting late-night screenings of Cats. We imagine they will be similarly catastical to those at Alamo Drafthouse.

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Shouting at the Screen
Thursday, February 20 at 9:30pm
at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn
Here’s another event that takes place at Alamo Drafthouse. This ongoing series hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show, Problem Areas) and rapper Donwill doesn’t require any advance preparation from the audience. In fact, you won’t even know what you’ll be watching. The only sure bet is that there will be plenty of laughs with Cenac and Donwill’s running live commentary over the film du jour. The pair usually curate some work of black cult cinema and try to loop in some special guest. Last summer, Eric André popped in.

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The Death of Dick Long (2019) with Q&A with Michael Abbott Jr
Sunday, February 9 at 4pm
at Film Noir
This event isn’t participatory like the others, but it involves a film that has the potential to be a talk-back-at-the-screen, midnight movie warrior. Directed by Daniel Scheinert (Swiss Army Man), The Death of Dick Long is a black comedy-cum-indie-thriller that will forever change your interpretation of what it means “to get weird.” Set in small-town Alabama, the film opens with the death of Dick Long. It then unfolds like a whodunit, as we follow Dick’s bumbling pals, Zeke (Michael Abbott Jr.) and Earl (Andre Hyland), who played some role in Dick’s unnatural demise. A24 released this smarter-than-your-average buddy comedy in theaters last year. It now returns with one of the actors in tow to answer questions. And we think you’ll have a few.