25 in '25: Joseph Lowe brings horror movie lovers together
Richmond has a number of new, fancy bars and restaurants that are garnering national attention for the city.
This is not a story about one of those places.
McCormack's Irish Pub in Shockoe Bottom has spoken to a different kind of Richmonder since its opening three decades ago, one who values cheap drinks and good vibes.
On Sunday nights, bartender Joseph Lowe creates those vibes with Horror Movie Night.
Sometime around 2004, he started bringing in his DVD collection of horror movies, and began screening them for Sunday night patrons.
"I liked horror movies when I started, but I wasn't a nerd until I started Horror Movie Night," he said. "I kept challenging myself to get new stuff, and I started going deeper and deeper."
Now it's a highly organized affair, with each night centered around a theme, and a schedule carefully crafted so the final movie (the craziest stuff is saved for last) ends at closing time.
Lowe welcomes all patrons, and produces a complementary bowl of popcorn for them to enjoy the movie with.
On a recent night, Connie Owens sat at the bar enjoying the original Japanese version of "Ringu," the first of a quadruple-feature.
"You'll always discover something new," she said.
Nearby, Richard Woody said he believed he was the night's longest-running attendee, and praised Lowe's ability to bring people together and make them feel welcome at the bar.
Lowe said his favorite moments are when people come in for the first time, on the recommendation of others.
"When the word has been passed, then the buzz is out there," he said.
"One of the cool things is that some of the people who have become regulars were not even horror movie fans beforehand. But given the atmosphere and how social it is, if they have any anxieties beforehand, it kind of alleviates them. Because you kind of play off everybody."
Lowe is a restaurant veteran in Richmond, and even ran a grocery store near VCU for a time. He's reliable — he rarely misses Sunday nights, but when he does, he leaves behind movies and a schedule.
He's turned a corner of Shockoe Bottom into a welcoming haven on Sunday nights, where people can gather and chat while enjoying the show.
He said the night's success has as much to do with the city as it does his curation.
"This is my town, man," he said. "I'm a Richmonder. Sometimes we get people that come in here from other places, and they always say they like it here. It's a really comfortable environment, and easy to talk to people, and I think that represents both the bar and the town."
Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.
