Northern Hills Cinema — Attraction in Spearfish

Welcome to the strangest time warp of a theater I’ve ever experienced. 🌀🎬 If you’ve been dying to overpay for a weird mix of 1990s nostalgia and 2025 price gouging, this is your spot.

Let’s talk about the experience: • 💡 Lights too bright — Apparently, this place believes in “safety over visibility.” The night scenes were so washed out, I started making up my own plot lines. Asked the manager to dim the lights… she said, “That’s as low as they go.” Ma’am, it’s a movie theater, not an operating room. • 🎥 Projector from the VHS era — I’m 90% sure they were projecting off a toaster. It definitely wasn’t high def. • 📺 Smallest screen ever — I’ve seen bigger iPads. • 💺 Squeaky seats — No stadium seating, no leg room, and if you’re blessed with hips, you’re gonna be in a war with the armrests. (Spoiler alert: the armrests will win.) • 🍿 Popcorn scam — Refillable bucket? Cute. It’s child-sized. And they charge $0.50 PER LAYER OF BUTTER. Like I’m stacking butter like pancakes. At that point, just hand me a stick of butter and call it a day. • 🧂 Snacks were sad — The chips and cheese were…let’s just say I’ve seen more generous portions at preschool snack time. • 👮‍♀️ Purse policing — I half expected them to confiscate my lip gloss. If your bag isn’t the size of a wallet, prepare for a full TSA experience. • 🙄 Staff — The teen at the counter had the kind of attitude only someone who’s never paid a bill can have. Bless his heart. • 🔈 Sound — Weirdly quiet. I wasn’t sure if I was watching an action movie or a silent film.

💸 Total damage: $101 for 3 adult tickets, tiny popcorn bucket, 2 sodas, baby chips with cheese, and a water bottle. I checked the receipt twice thinking there must be a secret Taylor Swift meet & greet baked into the cost. Nope.

💩 Would not return, but thanks for the bizarre memory.

⭐ Giving 2 stars because the bathroom was immaculate and the manager was actually lovely. (She...

The community rallied behind this establishment to help keep it open after COVID, now the establish demands to look in the purses of their community members. I have never had this happen in any other theater, with the exception of large bags which I can see being used to smuggle in cheaper outside food and drink.

I had a very small purse and the child with dark hair and glasses said he had to look in it. When I asked why and he said it was policy, I pointed out that he is the ONLY worker looking in ALL the women’s purses. He was the only one doing it last week when we were there too. I asked his name and he refused to provide it even though he was adamant that every purse had to be looked through. The other two gals with us had larger purses and they didn’t get asked to have their belongings looked in because they were at the other register where that clerk had the ability to know the difference between a small and large purse.

Some consistency would be nice; if you search one purse search them all. Maybe you should get a candy detecting machine for everyone to use so not just purse carrying people are targeted. Heck men’s pants pockets are larger than the purse I had on but we aren’t searching pockets. Not even searching people for safety just so people don’t bring in outside food... Your priority should be the customers experience and making it a joyful one; not treating them like criminals.

Any who, avoid the dark hair kid with glasses as he is the only one creeping in every woman he assists belongings, even if they can hardly fit a cell phone. I’d normally be all about supporting local but when local doesn’t support the locals, you gotta give people a proper heads up… Keep your outside food and drink on...

I have had several unpleasant encounters with the manager of this establishment. I will share the most recent and the one that finally convinced me to start going to the theater in Rapid. Most movies are well over an hour long and most people wait til the end to use the restroom. This usually creates a line 10 people long. I asked to use another bathroom located in the theater. She refused me and said there are 4 stalls and they will be opened up soon. I feel that after spending over $80 to watch a movie, they can accommodate the customer and open more than one bathroom. She is always confrontational and rude. She treats everyone like a kindergartener, barking orders and treating us like we have straw for brains. (referencing an old classic- when it was enjoyable to go the show) . Will not be back...