Grabbers

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS!!! This Nothern Ireland-lensed horror comedy (filmed partly in the same area as the revived Hammer Films' WAKE WOOD - 2011) has a really ridiculous premise, but the goofy overall tone of the talented cast will win you over very quickly (and, for once, their accents don't need subtitles to understand what they are saying). The film opens with what looks like a meteor hitting the waters just off the coast of Erin Island (a town known more for their drinking than their fishing), when the crew of a fishing trawler notice it and send out an SOS to the Coast Guard. Everyone on the trawler is then disposed of by a huge creature with tentacles. This just happens to be the first day of policewoman (here called 'Gardas") Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley), who is on a two-week temporary assignment on Erin Island to replace another Garda who is on holiday. She is picked up from the ferry by fellow Garda Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle), who is nursing the mother of bad hangovers and doesn't want a stranger as a temporary partner.Their first case as an investigating team is the beaching and deaths of a group of Pilot whales. Island coroner Dr. Adam Smith (Russell Tovey), who takes one look at Lisa and is instantly smitten, tells them that this phenomenon is known to have happened before, but scientists have no explanation as to why it happens. Eternally drunk fisherman Paddy (a hilarious Lalor Roddy) catches a baby tentacled creature in one of his lobster traps and puts it in his bathtub (after it squirts something in the face of another fisherman), while other people are being pulled off the beach into the ocean by large tentacles. A married couple relaxing in a house near the beach (the husband is watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD [1968] on his TV) get a knock on their front door and when the husband opens it, he notices one of his friends (who he thinks is drunk) is moving weirdly. He is actually being used as a marionette by a giant creature as bait (or a worm as it were, pulling a reversal on fisherman) and when the husband goes outside to investigate, a tentacle pulls him up straight in the air, his wife screaming in terror. She tries to hide in the house, but a tentacle comes down the chimney and pulls her through the fireplace.When Paddy is attacked by the small creature he found (it tries to wrap itself around his face, a tribute to ALIEN [1979] and there are all types of references to other horror and science fiction films in this movie), but he manages to pull it off him without being harmed. He brings the baby creature to Alan's lab for an autopsy (Paddy thinks it is dead and calls it a "grabber", a reference to TREMORS [1989]), but Alan discovers that the small creature is pregnant (he pulls out a disgusting round egg from its body) and tells Ciaran, Lisa and Paddy that all the creature needs to survive is water (shades of GREMLINS [1984]) and blood, so he sets fire to it and Lisa accidentally sets off the sprinkler system (Alan sarcastically says, "You are Irish, aren't you?"), reviving the creature and it attaches itself to Ciaran's face (it's funny and horrifying at the same time, as Ciaran hits himself in the face with a shovel to get the creature off him), but the creature suddenly lets go and falls to the floor. Adam comes to the conclusion that the creatures are allergic to alcohol (Paddy is drunk and Ciaran still has alcohol in his body from last night), but they must find out how much alcohol in their system it will take to kill the creatures (since all Paddy and Ciaran did was temporarily incapacitate the small creature), so they use Lisa as a test subject (she has never drank alcohol before) and get her drunk as a skunk (it's a really funny scene) and then inject a vial of her alcohol-infused blood into the small captive creature, killing it. Adam reads her blood alcohol level as 0.20, so they will have do get everyone on the island that drunk (there seems to be a lack of children on the island, so that isn't a stumbling block in this film), but not tell them the truth so there isn't a panic.They come up with the bright idea to throw a party at the island's bar owned by husband and wife Brian (David Pearse) and Una Mahar (Bronaugh Gallagher; who is as funny here as she was in BOTCHED - 2007), who are both aware of the situation, with a "free bar", so nearly everyone on the island shows up (hey, free booze is free booze!) for the free drinks (mixed with Paddy's super-potent homemade brew). It begins raining outside (not a good thing) as tiny tentacled creatures approach the bar (it a hoot the way they move) and Brian and Una try to get everyone to a 0.20 alcohol blood level while a drunk Ciaran and Lisa are keeping an eye out in their patrol car outside and begin to fall in love (it's a highly inappropriate time and a drunk Lisa mentions that very same fact, but the drunken heart wants what the drunken heart wants). They spot the tiny creatures approaching the bar and start squishing them beneath their feet, but they then notice one of the bar patrons has stepped outside to take a leak and it is grabbed by the mother of all tentacled creatures, spitting out the poor guy's head out till it rolls at Ciaran and Lisa's feet. When the bar runs out of alcohol is when the trouble really begins, but I won't spoil it for you, other than to say that drunk people are rather useless in life-or-death situations (Brian runs outside in the rain with a Super Soaker full of Paddy's extremely flammable alcohol with a lit candle taped beneath the water gun's spout, he being too drink to understand that as soon as he walks outside, the candle will be extinguished by the rain) and Lisa going into full-blown Sigourney Weaver mode (copying one of her actions in ALIENS - 1986). In the immortal words of Brian the next morning. "That was fun, wasn't it?" It sure was and a final coda at the end leaves the film wide-open for a sequel, one I wouldn't mind watching.Director Jon Wright (TORMENTED - 2009; ROBOT OVERLORDS - 2014), working with a screenplay by first-time feature-length writer Kevin Lehane, keeps the tone light and funny, even in the gore scenes, such as when Ciaran and Lisa go to the house that was attacked and a human head rolls off the roof and hits Ciaran squarely on the nose. For once, the CGI is not a distraction and works very well here, as the giant creature destroys a car and its tentacles impale people through their torsos or just lift them up in the air. The CGI-filled sequence of the baby creatures approaching the bar will have you howling with delight, not because the CGI is bad, but because it is so good you will not notice it is CGI at all (That is what CGI should be: invisible). Screenwriter Lehane fills the film with references to other films (there's a direct sequence related to PREDATOR [1987] towards the end of the film) and some extremely funny dialogue, such as when the bar runs out of alcohol and the drunk group discusses that they may have to sacrifice one of their own in order for the others to get away and Brian says, "Let them eat Father Potts (Micheál O'Gruagain). That should keep them busy for a while!" (the look on the portly Father's face is priceless) or a s**t-faced Paddy telling another patron when he discovers that they are out of booze, "Relax, you'll give yourself angina!" Don't raise your expectations too high and you'll have a lot of fun with this film. Also starring Pascal Scott, Clelia Murphy, Louis Dempsey, Ned Dennehy, Stuart Graham and Jonathan Ryan. An IFC Midnight DVD Release. Not Rated.

Love this movie! It's so funny and the creature looks great! The whole town has to stay drunk to kill the creature!

Fun movie, great monster, watch this movie

I liked a lot this Irish-British tongue-in-cheek parody of SF/monster movies. It is not a masterpiece, but a well done, funny, highly entertaining film. Below, more of my impressions, with some SPOILERS.This film PRETENDS to be a serious SF/monster movie, so the opening scenes and premises follow strictly the rules of the genre. On a dark night (it is always a dark night) cruel invaders from outer space arrive on a meteorite (it is always a meteorite). They land in the sea in the middle of a storm (when sea is involved, it always begins in the middle of a storm), near a small isolated community (it is always a small isolated community), residing on a small coastal island (as everybody knows it is probably the best place to begin an extra-terrestrial infestation). They want to grab and eat people (of course they do) and also to spawn and multiply (I can understand that - spawning and multiplying is fun...). But they also have a special weakness (they always have one...).On their way will stand a lonely sheriff (they are always lonely - even if they have partners)... well, OK, in fact an An Garda Siochana agent named Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle). This hero is a rather likeable guy, although definitely not the most elite element wearing the uniform and of course he has some issues (they always have issues). Just before the beginning of the invasion he is (of course) paired with a brand new partner, who is completely different from him (they always are) and in the beginning they don't get along well (they never do), but it will change (it always does).This partner is a chick (they frequently are), named Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley). Lisa is a by-the-book kind of cop and a rather strictly-buttoned-up kind of gal - and she also has a kind of little secret which makes her social contacts in Ireland a little bit difficult... She also TOTALLY hates being wolf-whistled...))) She is of course cute even if not exactly a kind of super-model beauty - because if she was one she wouldn't work on a one-dog island but go to Dublin and play in the movies... oh, wait...All this takes like the first five minutes of the film and of the rest I will not say much - you deserve to discover it by yourself. However it is also fair to say that, with the whole thing happening in Ireland, the consumption of potent potables, Catholicism and Polish immigrants will play some part, very important for the first point and very episodic for the latter two. Also, because this extra-terrestrial invasion occurs exceptionally in Ireland and not in USA, large firearms will NOT appear - instead, Earth will be defended and protected by most unusual but surprisingly efficient (and TOTALLY HILARIOUS) weaponry...)))...)))...)))I liked this film A LOT and I spend a really nice moment watching it. I laughed a lot and there was a couple of scenes in which I really ROLLED ON THE FLOOR! Alien creatures are very well done, secondary characters are excellent and the settings have a unique kind of charm. I cannot however rate this film five stars, because the two main characters switch roles in the middle of the film and that doesn't work so well. Also, the development of relations between Ciaran and Lisa was not handled well. Richard Coyle does a great job in this film, but he is a guy in his 40s and his character is too old and worn out to be credibly attractive to a young sweet thing like Lisa, who is barely out of her diapers...That two points notwithstanding, this is a good, funny, highly entertaining and very original film and I am glad that I bought it. ENJOY! Or rather, in this case, SLAINTE!

A good laugh.

What is not to like? Silly acting, silly special effects, silly premise!

I love going to Ireland, but I don't get as many chances nowadays. So I have to admit I loved this movie just to hear some Irish folks talk to each other in pubs. But this movie is just a good bit of craic (fun). It's a fun monster movie, with some fun gags, and a few scares. But not too serious, what the main story is actually about is guy falling for a girl and figuring himself out along the way, a story old as time. Sure it's gendered, sure it's only got white people, sure there are no queer folx in it, but it's hard to hate a movie like this, because it doesn't take itself too seriously, so we probably shouldn't either. Again, it's just a guy and a girl being forced to figure themselves and each other out, so let's wish 'em the best of luck. Sláinte mhaith

I liked this Irish-British tongue-in-cheek parody of SF/monster movies. It is not a masterpiece, but a well done, funny, highly entertaining film. Below, more of my impressions, with some SPOILERS.This film PRETENDS to be a serious SF/monster movie, so the opening scenes and premises follow strictly the rules of the genre. On a dark night (it is always a dark night) cruel invaders from outer space arrive on a meteorite (it is always a meteorite). They land in the sea in the middle of a storm (when sea is involved, it always begins in the middle of a storm), near a small isolated community (it is always a small isolated community), residing on a small coastal island (as everybody knows it is probably the best place to begin an extra-terrestrial infestation). They want to grab and eat people (of course they do) and also to spawn and multiply (I can understand that - spawning and multiplying is fun...). But they also have a special weakness (they always have one...).On their way will stand a lonely sheriff (they are always lonely - even if they have partners)... well, OK, in fact an An Garda Siochana agent named Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle). This hero is a rather likeable guy, although definitely not the most elite element wearing the uniform and of course he has some issues (they always have issues). Just before the beginning of the invasion he is (of course) paired with a brand new partner, who is completely different from him (they always are) and in the beginning they don't get along well (they never do), but it will change (it always does).This partner is a chick (they frequently are), named Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley). Lisa is a by-the-book kind of cop and a rather strictly-buttoned-up kind of gal - and she also has a kind of little secret which makes her social contacts in Ireland a little bit difficult... She also TOTALLY hates being wolf-whistled...))) She is of course cute even if not exactly a kind of super-model beauty - because if she was one she wouldn't work on a one-dog island but go to Dublin and play in the movies... oh, wait...All this takes like the first five minutes of the film and of the rest I will not say much - you deserve to discover it by yourself. However it is also fair to say that, with the whole thing happening in present day Ireland, Catholicism, Polish immigrants and the consumption of potent potables will play some part, very important for the last point and episodic for the former two. Also, because this extra-terrestrial invasion occurs exceptionally in Ireland and not in USA, large firearms will NOT appear - instead, Earth will be defended and protected by most unusual but surprisingly efficient (and TOTALLY HILARIOUS) weaponry...)))...)))...)))I liked this film A LOT and I spend a really nice moment watching it. I laughed a lot and there was a couple of scenes in which I really ROLLED ON THE FLOOR! Alien creatures are very well done, secondary characters are excellent and the settings have a unique kind of charm. I cannot however rate this film five stars, because the two main characters switch roles in the middle of the film and that doesn't work so well. Also, the development of relations between Ciaran and Lisa was not handled well. Richard Coyle does a great job in this film, but he is a guy in his 40s and his character is too old and worn out to be credibly attractive to a young sweet thing like Lisa, who is barely out of her diapers...That two points notwithstanding, this is a good, funny, highly entertaining and very original film and I am glad that I bought it. ENJOY! Or rather, in this case, SLAINTE!

I don't hate this film, I pity it. The plot is a simple one involving an extremely aggressive alien "thing" with multiple legs, a very big bight and a very simple need for Blood and Water to survive and prosper. The CGI for this/these alien creatures is quite good actually but this is let down by the script which generally plays to all of the negative aspects of Irishness which generally involves drunkeness, stupidity, all of the things which are not typical of the Irish.It is not a disaster but it is a Blu-ray film I will not watch for at least a year.

From a pretty average start `Grabbers' soon gets going and shows its true colours, i.e. it's not just a horror, but a pretty tongue-in-cheek comedy. And that's where its strength lies. It's at its best when it's being slightly cheeky. Yes, there's a reasonable amount of gore (but not that much). What little budget there is has been spent on the creatures themselves. And, for a mere (in Hollywood terms) £2 million the monsters are actually pretty well done. They're all computer-generated, but the CGI fits in seamlessly with the real actors all around them.The film is about a sea-full of tentacled monsters who descend on an island off the coast of Ireland and start sucking the blood of the hapless locals. However, as luck would have it, these beastly parasites are allergic to the taste of alcohol. Therefore, all that needs doing to survive is getting out-of-your-face drunk. Of course, fighting back while plastered is actually quite hard!Also, the film benefits from seeing the monsters (in the full) early on. In other similar monster-movies, you only get to see a tentacle here or there until the final scenes (normally to save on special effects), but here you see them `full frontal' from pretty early on.Most of the characters are hardly developed, but if they're funny then we can forgive that.If you're a fan of such cinema greats (!) as `Deep Rising' then this is in the same cheeky little league of its own.

While not being brilliant, this Irish horror/monster movie comedy is very entertaining and genuinely fun, even heart warming at times with likeable characters and some exciting/scary moments

Don't normally do reviews because I'm not a fan of the big A but didn't think it fair on the film to avoid this one.This is our current cult of choice - Watched so many times on the big N that I was afraid it would be withdrawn so had to buy the DVD. Its funny the first time you watch it and every time thereafter you pick up on one liners and give-aways that you missed last time around. Its the sort of film you end up knowing the words to, slick clever and Irish through and through. If you are a fan of Adam Sandler don't buy this, but if you love great, low budget British craftsmanship, well delivered and rammed full of real characters and laugh out load stupidity, you will love Grabbers and will soon know the words too.