Grabbers (2012)
Dir. Jon Wright – 94 Minutes
Post originally published April 2013
I first saw this at Grimmfest 2012 and I loved it , so on New Years Eve rather than go out and face the crowds , I decided to treat the missus to Grabbers on DVD. Now that is a proper NYE.
Grabbers is set on Erin Island which is just off the coast of Ireland. A beautiful idyllic place where Garda Ciaran O’Shea (Richard Coyle) leads a fairly stress free existence as a local policeman and he is well on his way to being an alcoholic.
He is then sent to meet Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) who is a very straight-laced workaholic policewoman sent over from Dublin for a 2 week sabbatical on the quiet rural island.
Now during the night something landed out at sea and killed 3 fishermen , and local part-time fisherman and full time pisshead Paddy Barrett (Lalor Roddy) has caught a little sea monster that he is keeping in his bathtub.
When the wee monster attacks Paddy and he bashes it and takes it to visiting scientist Dr Smith (Russell Tovey) for an explanation.
The events throw our odd couple of O’Shea and Nolan together in a desperate attempt to save the islanders from an imminent attack.
The scenery is beautiful and the screenplay in fantastic , the humour works wonderfully and plays into the stereotypical Irish ways perfectly without offending but doing it with much fondness.
The creatures are fantastic and in many ways are very Lovecraftian in nature. It is very much shot in the same way as classics such as Tremors , 8 Legged Freaks , Gremlins and Critters. The baby creatures as well as being little killers are ever so cute.
The acting is top notch and it all comes together wonderfully with some hilarious scenes at the local pub with an enforced lock-in.
A real treat for horror and sci-fi fans alike and monsters that are fantastic and their fluid movement is beautiful and horrific at the same time.
Bloody Fantastic 8/10