Graham Skipper’s Rated R Speakeasy Returns to Los Angeles
Addison Peacock
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Los Angeles-based fans of horror and parties alike rejoice! Rated R Speakeasy, the spooky speakeasy event created by Graham Skipper (Re-Animator: The Musical, Beyond the Gates) made a triumphant return on January 27 after a four-year hiatus. The event takes full advantage of its new venue, the Nocturne Theatre, with live music (including a ghostly lounge singer and aerial bartenders in full costume), horror movie screenings, a miniature haunted maze at the entrance, and dozens of small personal touches that set it apart in a crowded nightlife scene. How many parties can you say you’ve been to with a secret peephole playing A Serbian Film on the other side?
As a fan of Rated R since the first events in 2019, I was thrilled to attend the rebirth of the speakeasy, and to get a chance to chat with founder Graham Skipper about the labor of love that is Rated R.
Dread Central: Where did the original idea for Rated R come from? How was the event born?
Graham Skipper: Way back in early 2019 I had met up with some friends from the horror community at a bar, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a horror bar we could all go to?” But I didn’t want just a bar with a horror movie playing on a TV and a cobweb here and there – I wanted something really soaking in the genre, a place we would all feel at home. So I called up my friends Justin and Melissa Meyer of Meyer2Meyer Entertainment, who both have built careers in designing immersive haunts, and also had a venue where we could build it…and they loved the idea as much as me. Pretty soon, we set a date and decided to just go for it, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. It was clear the horror community wanted a place like this as much as I did.
DC: What made you decide to bring it back after the hiatus? What was that process like?
GS: In early 2020 we were really starting to pick up steam, hosting events about every six weeks, and then obviously the pandemic shut the world down. We tried to come back in 2021 but there was another surge. So we felt it wasn’t safe to host an event then, and then as the next couple of years passed, we talked all the time about wanting to bring it back, but we had to do it under the right circumstances. Turns out those circumstances were Meyer2Meyer Entertainment purchasing the Nocturne Theatre in Glendale. It’s a beautiful theatre, that’s actually haunted, and it would give us the opportunity to not only bring back what made Rated R so fun for everyone previously, but also expand it and build it up to be something even more spectacular. So they called me up, said “We have this theatre,” and we all felt it was time to finally bring it back.
DC: What do you find is unique about events within the horror community?
GS: The horror community is such a wonderful, supportive, accepting family. Honestly, we couldn’t do this without the horror family, so we’re eternally grateful for how everyone has welcomed us and this event from the very beginning. I think the thing that’s unique about events like ours is that all of us—myself included—don’t simply work in the horror industry, we love it. We live and breathe it. I often use the analogy that for me, growing up, watching Evil Dead 2 was a comfort movie. It made me feel safe and happy. Most everyone I knew thought I was a total weirdo, but when I started working in the horror industry and meeting all of the artists and fans that make up that community, I found a whole lot of people just like me. That’s what drives Rated R for me: building a clubhouse for all the weirdo kids.
DC: What have you learned from the first Rated R to now, and how have those lessons changed your approach to the event?
GS: Opening in a new venue was definitely a challenge that forced us to rethink and redesign many of the elements that we loved from the original iteration, but it also opened our eyes to new possibilities of what Rated R could be. The Nocturne Theatre has so many secret passages and hidden rooms that we were really able to lean into one aspect of the original Rated R that we loved so much, which was that you could choose your own adventure. Do you want to dance? We have a dance floor. Want to peruse and purchase some horror-themed art? There’s an art gallery. Just want to get a cocktail and sit and watch movies all night? We have a movie room for just that. But with this new space, we’ve been able to add a dedicated cabaret and performance venue, and extra hidden lounges and experiential elements that are way more than we could have ever done before. So I guess what we learned is that all of our guests are different, and half the fun of this kind of event is exploring and deciding what kind of party you’re going to have. So we’ve turned all of those elements up to eleven.
DC: What is one thing you want guests at Rated R to walk away from the night with?
GS: A smile on their face and a sense of connection. And hopefully the feeling that they’ve just experienced something they never have before. I guess that’s more than one thing, but overall it’s just about bringing the entire horror community together under one roof, and letting everyone forget about the horrors of the world for a few hours, so they can indulge in the fake horrors of our beloved genre.
DC: What’s next for Rated R?
GS: Well first up is our upcoming Valentine’s Day event! On Wednesday, February 14th – actual Valentine’s Day – we’re doing a one-off event that is everything you’d expect from Rated R, with a romantic-themed twist. After that, our hope is that we’re able to begin bringing back Rated R parties on a regular basis. We have a beautiful new home in the Nocturne Theatre, and so as long as the horror family wants us, we want to keep coming back as often as possible.
Categorized:News
