Grabbers

Grabbers directed by Jon Wright and written by Kevin Lehane. It stars Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey and Lalor Roddy. Music is by Christian Henson and cinematography by Trevor Forrest.

On a remote Irish island something creature like is stirring, new Garda partners Ciaran O'Shea and Lisa Nolan are about to become the island's only hope for survival…

Great great fun, a play on Tremors, itself a play/homage to the creature features of the 1950s, Grabbers has all the fun schlocky staples in place, but crucially it also has its own identity. The islanders are a bunch of eccentric types and the two Garda protagonists are polar opposites but not cliché ridden, their chemistry strong as they play off of each other for joyous rewards. The creature effects are impressive for a modestly budgeted production such as this, and the narrative contains strength through ingenuity of plot developments and a knowing sense of playing up stereotypes. Lovely photography as well! Score! 8/10

Workaholic Garda officer Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) takes a 2-week assignment on the small island of Erin while the town's sergeant is on vacation; she immediately runs across (and afoul of) fellow Garda Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle), who both starts and ends his days with booze, a lot of it. Your typical drunken Irish cop, in fact. They are not destined to get along, but when bloodsucking aliens crash-land in the nearby ocean and start devouring the townspeople, Lisa and Ciaran have to work together to save the community. Teaming up with the English scientist, Dr. Adam Smith (Russell Tovey), and with Paddy Barrett (Lalor Roddy), one of the more sloshed senior citizens of the island, they make the stunning discovery that human blood, steeped in alcohol, is toxic to the bloodsucking creatures. A big storm is coming, and the Coast Guard can't come to the rescue; instead, it's up to our intrepid heroes to convince all the townsfolk that getting, and remaining, drunk for the whole night is a matter of life and death - literally.

One might bristle at the stereotype of the drunken Irishman (and woman), but when it's the Irish telling the stories on themselves, it's another matter altogether. This is a very funny movie, and even the bloodsucking creatures grabbing people and devouring them isn't gross, it's just kinda yucky. There were a few times when I jumped at an unexpected occurrence, which is always good in a monster movie, but there were a lot of times when I was laughing a lot too. Not to mention cheering from time to time....The leads are all terrific; I only know Tovey's work (from the excellent UK television series, "Being Human"), but I would make a point of looking out for more of Richard Coyle and Ruth Bradley, both of whom I liked a lot. My one quibble is that sometimes it was hard to understand what a character was saying, especially once they were all drunk as lords and slurring their words all over the place, but that's quite minor really, as the gist of the dialogue always came through. Definitely worth seeing, especially with a FantAsia crowd in Montreal!

You have to love a movie that plays with stereotypes and uses them for the plot. Of course you could call this twist in the plot convenient, but that would take the fun out of it. Plus it does really feel genuine in the movie. Even the romantic aspect of it does work (which is even crazier than the story of the movie itself).

The movie is called Grabbers for a reason. And the reason will be revealed pretty early on. Of course the twist that I mention will take some time until it is discovered by the characters, but most people who watched it did realize it much earlier (could be that it was in the description of the movie, since I haven't read it, I couldn't tell you though). A really fun light little comedy, that is worth your time

Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) arrives at Erin Island in remote Ireland for a two week tour after battling the fast times of Dublin. Drunken Garda Ciarán O'Shea (Richard Coyle) is not happy at having the eager newcomer. It's a quiet place where nothing ever happens. Whales starts getting beached. People are getting grabbed. They find the multi-tentacled grabbers and their possible alcohol weakness. The problem is that everybody has to get stinking drunk.

Richard Coyle is a charismatic lead. Ruth Bradley is a pretty foil to him. She's also a fun drunk. The duo probably needs a funny fat sidekick. The start is a little slow. It's more fun when the grabbers show up. It needs a bit more drunk humor. The monster is relatively good. This is a good creature feature with some comedy.

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.