Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $6 

1hr 26min | R | Comedy | USA 

Two dopes rip their way from California to Mexico and back again, evading the cops entirely by accident in Up in Smoke, a countercultural comedy of errors. 

Starring the stoner comedy duo, Cheech & Chong, this scrappy, meandering, low-budget farce burned bright at the box office in 1978, virtually creating a cinematic subgenre. With its enormous popularity it blazed the trail for every half-baked flick that has since risen from the ashes of the 1970s and remains a touchstone for a certain kind of high-minded film fan. 

We’ll see you on Saturday, April 20. 

But before you come, we’ll be blunt. While we know these guys are going to light up the joint with laughter, THE SENATE REMAINS A STRICTLY NON-SMOKING ESTABLISHMENT. Thank you for your cooperation in advance. 

Snacks will be available at the concessions stand. 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Sat. Aug. 5 in the Senate Coney Lot  

Doors – 8:00 PM 

Film – Dusk 

Tickets – FREE 

1hr 37min | NR | Horror | USA 

We’re once again heading outside this summer for a FREE film screening in the Senate Coney Lot!

Just like last year concessions and bathrooms inside the theater are open, and you’ll have to be sure to bring your own chair. 

And, for the third year running we’re going to play the mother of all zombie flicks, Night of the Living Dead. It's a movie—much like an ambling, undead monster out for brains — that will never get old, thanks to a tense script and iconic, boundary smashing imagery.   

Most horror flicks have tended to lose their terrifying luster as the genre pushes ever onward into the realm of guts and gore, but Night of the Living Dead remains a frightening experience that will make you wonder if they really are, “coming to get you” whether your name is Barbara or not. 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Sat. Jul. 29 

Tickets – $6 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM  

First Film – 8:00 PM 

Second Film – 9:30 PM (approximately) 

The Screaming Skull 

1hr 8min | NR | Horror/Thriller| USA 

Manos: The Hands of Fate 

1hr 14min | NR | Horror | USA 

Our Hot, Sweaty & Weird summer cult film series wouldn’t be complete without a movie so bad it’s almost . . . good?

This year, we’re bringing you Manos: The Hands of Fate, a film so legendarily terrible that it makes Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space look like Citizen Kane. In no universe would this independently (and ineptly) made film be considered quality, but we can at least guarantee a quality time at the theater, provided you like laughing at bizarre and strangely unsettling cinematic failures. 

And, yes, much like on Mystery Science Theater 3000, the television series responsible for the film’s cult following, good natured heckling at the screen is encouraged! 

A unique and personal vision, the film was conceived by one man, Harold P. Warren, a fertilizer salesman who had never written, directed, or produced anything. To describe the plot of this cult film about a cult would be useless. That’s not the appeal. It is a strange glimpse into one man’s subconscious and a mood piece that has been described as a “brave experiment,” “a train wreck,” “unnerving outsider art,” “a crime against humanity,” and “made by people with absolutely no business making a movie.” 

In short, Manos: The Hands of Fate is an eccentric failure that fails so completely it just might be a triumph. 

And, since we know bad movie aficionados are nothing if not gluttons for punishment, you’ll be treated to a bonus piece of horror schlock, a not-so-classic of the drive-in era with a title that truly delivers, The Screaming Skull. This ghost story was intended as a psychological horror/thriller. Unfortunately, the road to audiences smirking at accidental humor on screen is paved with good intentions. 

We hope to see you all at the theater for this night of D-movie fun! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Polyester (1981)  

Sat. Jul. 15 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets – $6 

1hr 26min | R| Comedy/Satire | USA 

Summer is here, which means the Senate is once again getting Hot, Sweaty, and Weird. Our cult film series begins this year with a classic that has a decidedly . . . funky reputation. 

Prepare your eyes, ears, and—yes—YOUR NOSE for John Waters’ Polyester, presented in Odorama!  

You'll gasp. You’ll guffaw. You may even be scandalized by the sounds and sights on screen. But your mind won’t believe your sniffer as your nostrils collide with this, the most astoundingly aromatic gimmick to ever invade the unsuspecting schnozzolas of moviegoers anywhere. 

Don’t miss it! Sniff it!

(By “it,” of course, we mean the scratch and sniff card given to the first 100 patrons through the door, allowing them to “smell” the action on screen.) 

In keeping with its goofy marketing ploy Polyester is a sleazy comedy with ridiculous characters and a low-brow sensibility, starring Divine, the unmatched (drag) queen of garish flamboyance. Sure, we can’t deny it, this is an outrageous and crass piece of trashy cinema, but it is also a witty satire. (No, really, it is.) Lampooning the dramatic excess of the suburban melodramas of 1950s Hollywood, it tells a story of infidelity, murder, strange sexual addictions, and anti-social teenage angst.  And it does it all with a cheesy organ soundtrack right out of a daytime soap and a visual style that crudely apes the king of 50s melodrama, Douglas Sirk.  

It’s one of John Waters’ best. Cheap and gaudy, but also thoughtful and remarkably crowd-pleasing. We hope to see you there! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue