Seeing wide-release movies in Manhattan is generally a degrading and frustrating experience. Paying $12.50 to pile into the Regal Union Square, squeeze into a cramped seat, and end up with a lap covered with grease-splattered Cheezy Pretzel Bitez (I’ve been a victim. The shlemiel tripped. Nary an apology) is less than ideal. We’ve rounded up the best ways to score free passes to advance movie screenings in NYC—it’ll ease the multiplex pain, you’ll be ahead of the movie curve, and your wallet will thank you.

New York Observer: Free Reels

The Observer provides an ideal effort-to-free-stuff ratio: as soon as you sign up for the mailing list, you’re automatically notified for each upcoming screening. Fire off an email request for tickets, and you’re good to go. Free Reels caters more toward the indie-film crowd. Expect films like Away We Go, Whatever Works, or the latest Michael Moore flick.

NYCFreeMovieScreenings

Avoid signing up for the weekly newsletter—the real way for get passes is constant checking of their listings, which are updated pretty often. Films tend to be on the more mainstream/lowbrow side—I’ve snagged passes for Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, and The Fourth Kind, to name a few.

Director’s Series with Jeremiah Newton

Your Tisch film friends are your ticket to seeing fantastic free screenings at Cantor complete with director appearances. Easily my favorite was this summer, when I saw The Hangover a solid three weeks before its release. Zach Galifianakis, everyone’s favorite bearded baby-masturbator (see above), made a surprise appearance at Cantor with director and Tisch alumni Todd Phillips. To get in on this action, you can convince a Tischie to set up a filter that forwards all of Newton’s emails to you, email Newton yourself, or bookmark the calendar at the Tisch website to check the weekly offerings.