Grabbers

When one thinks of creature features, you generally associate them with small towns situated somewhere in the American heartland: some rural place where a handful of locals must fend off/barricade themselves against some rampaging monstrosity. Generally, you don't usually tend to associate 'monster on the loose' movies with Ireland… That is until now: because that's exactly what you've got here: a monster flick that while not actually set in Ireland, is actually located on one of its many small islands - 'Erin Island' to be precise. Garda Ciarán O'Shea (Richard Coyle) - Garda is what Irish police officers are called, by the way – and his colleague look after all things law related on Erin Island. When his colleague goes on holiday, rookie Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) is sent from the mainland to replace him for two weeks.

The only problem is her arrival coincides with something that has fallen to earth from space, which also contains a semi aquatic form of alien life. This strange creature then goes on the offensive and proceeds to snack on all the locals – drinking their blood. It's up to the small local police contingent of O' Shea and the rookie Nolan to figure out that the creature needs rain to move on land. The only problem is, with a bad storm coming in that will completely isolate them and the locals on the island, the outlook is not good; but somehow they discover a somewhat unorthodox way of protecting them and everyone against the creature – sort of. Lots of inventive high jinks and monster attacks ensue along with enough blarney and banter to make your head spin.

It is fair to say that the director and/or writer may have had one too many themselves when they dreamed up this concept. Admittedly, with a title like that, you're not going to know what you're getting yourself into. While it isn't exactly a comedy, it isn't completely a horror movie either. You get a mixture – for every one-liner, there's a decapitation or messy slaughter thrown in. Tone –wise, it's somewhere in between and comparable to other similar movies of this genera like Eight-Legged Freaks, Slither and Tremors. Heck, it even steals a line from the latter ("I discovered them, I get to name them") and even the name of this movie 'Grabber' is a direct reference/lift of the term 'Grabboids' in the movie Tremors.

The game cast are uniformly good and put in a lot of effort. Everyone gets a fair share of mostly funny one-liners. There's lots of eccentricity going on: the weary bar man and his interfering, nosy wife, a guy who keeps a monster in his bathtub and a babbling, eccentric British scientist, who's not as smooth as he thinks. It shouldn't all work, but, damn, somehow it does. The misty island locales play a vital part in adding a suitably unique atmosphere to the entire mix.

The creature effects – a combination of CGI and practical – are very effective and well done. The monster appears to be some sort of squid and possesses numerous tentacles (the 'grabbers' of the title). There are several stand out scenes with the creature; one – an attack on a car – is extremely effective. For a movie that was made on a comparably low budget, it has a slick look to it and seems quite expensive. Had this been made in the America, it's fair to say it probably would have probably cost five or six times as much.

This movie wears all its inspirations like a heart on its sleeve. If you look closely, you will see many homages: Jaws, Alien, Aliens ("Get away from him, you c**t!"), and the aforementioned Tremors… why stop there: even the score bears a resemblance to Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien. Even the overall concept: a group of people trapped on an island during a bad storm while creatures run amok outside reminds you of a certain movie with dinosaurs. Now all you have to do it add in all the blarney and alcohol to the mix and you have something unique. And Irish.

Yes, admittedly, there is a lot of alcohol in this movie and it does play a major part in the overall story, which may not sit well on the shoulders of people who are offended by the 'drunken Irish' stereotype. Hell, even the lead actor is playing an alcoholic. However, a word to the wise: the fact is, they're on an island with little else to do, so it's no different to setting the movie in the American South in moonshine country: you kind of expect this sort of behavior. Besides, how can you hate a movie in which the heroine tries to be heroic while at the same time clumsily and tipsily lumbering through a potentially deadly situation?

Overall, this is a very good and effective movie. It's smart and there's a lot of laughs and wit thrown in. It's well shot and directed, and is entertaining enough to keep your attention right to the very end. It has a pacey and swift running time so there's no danger of it outstaying its welcome either. This is a movie for everyone – especially those who like horror and comedy or a mixture of both - and will play across cultural divides. If you liked any of the aforementioned movies, you will like this.

There's nothing like some good old-fashioned monster movie mayhem! That's also what director Jon Wright must have thought when he read the script for this totally unpretentious but enormously amusing and respectably made mixture between comedy and horror. "Grabbers" isn't just reminiscent to the 1990 crowd-pleaser "Tremors"; it's actually the best monster flick since! "Tremors" was, and still is, so popular because of its fast-paced action sequences, terrific special effects and the swell dialogs & marvelous chemistry between the lead actors. "Grabbers" exactly features all these trumps as well, more or less in the same portions even, and yet it never once feels like a lame imitation or an uninspired knock-off. The uniqueness of "Grabbers" lies within the fact that it's a largely Irish production. The screenplay shamelessly exploits all the typical clichés and stereotypes that are irreversibly linked to the Irish people and their culture, but the self-parody works amazingly efficient. When a fiery meteor crash-lands into the sea, the live extraterrestrial content washes ashore and promptly feasts on a colony of grey whales. Somewhat later, when the town's missing person cases alarmingly increase, the drunkard deputy and the geeky new female "garda" discover the mother alien's hideout on the beach. Together with a local scientist, they also discover the fierce creatures survive on blood and are therefore allergic to high doses of alcohol in the blood. So what's a bunch of poor, defenseless and thirsty Irish folks to do…? The easy and light-headed ambiance of "Grabbers" sucks you in from the very beginning and there are many more ingenious elements to make this an enjoyable viewing experience. Richard Coyle (from the BBC hit-series "Coupling") and the 15 years younger native Irish actress Ruth Bradley play extremely well together and even the completely implausible slowly unfolding romance doesn't annoy too much. There's also a large variety of awesome supportive characters, like a mumbling fisherman and a couple of crazed tavern owners. The monster's design and special effects are very adequate. Okay, it's computer engineered, but not exaggerated. The mother alien actually looks somewhat like the mythical Kraken, with a truckload of tentacles and hundreds of razor sharp teeth at the center. Many of the situations are laugh-out-loud funny, but the important ones are also tense and exhilarating. Great entertainment, highly recommended.

Must get drunk to fight a monster. Sounds like fun right? Grabbers is a comedy/sci-fi film with its smart goofy concept with silly humors at its finest and creatures that are really well designed. However, the film could have been much more better if there's more into the story as it doesn't seem to extend its goofy concept to reach its full potential quite yet and the plot just falls short. There are some GORES but don't expect any memorable or over the top bloody kills which is also quite disappointing as the film could have been much more fun if it's bloodier than this. Some jumpy SCARE scenes but beside that, the creatures look quite terrifying, sometimes quite cute with amazing visual effects that you might not expect it to be this good at first. Overall, this is a nice little FUN sci-fi/comedy film that's consistently funny with its goofy concept and impressive creature effects, but still leaves much more room for improvement.

>>B-<<

Oh my days, this film is nuts, I am a fan of all things Irish, and when they do humour they know how to do it properly.

Something has washed up along the stunning Irish coast, they turn out to be Pilot Whales, but what's caused this strange phenomenon? Big time cop Garda Lisa Nolan lands on the small community of Aran Island to offer support to casual cop Ciaran o'Shea. The locals soon start disappearing, in monstrous fashion. And not long before it's full scale mayhem.

I've become a huge fan of Russell Tovey, the guy can do it all, he is so funny, but Richard Coyle and Ruth Bradley make a fantastic double act.

The humour is so good, it's so funny and the effects are considering it's a B movie, well put together. The backdrop of the grabber against a pub full of drunken Irish villagers is class.

I fear this will be one of those films not enough people will get to see, it's well worth a look.

Aliens invade an Island in um...Ireland, the only way to survive is get drunk...book me a flight!!!

I had slightly low expectations, hopefully mildly amused at best, but how wrong was I.

Utterly engaging characters, dry,witty dialogue, a real fun B-Movie horror flick so reminiscent of such 'classics' as Tremors and Deep Rising, with even a knowing nod to the drunken exploits of Gremlins towards the end.The special effects are on the cheap side but this is a tiny criticism.

Great Balti & a Beer Saturday night (or any night) entertainment.