Review of Grabbers (2012) by Henrik S — 09 Mar 2014

A brilliant little indie gem that takes all its inherent weaknesses into which is has been constrained due to budget purposes and a general wearyness towards the genre and turns it into a delightfully self-aware monster chase in a setting that lends itself both to hilarious characters (rural Ireland) and a breeding ground for vicious monsters (murky waters and hollow caves!).

The film has the charm of an Irish Off-beat comedy with very strong rural tones being painted across the silver screen through the dialogues, characters, humour and imagery. Yet, the beauty of the emerald isle is torn apart when some monster spawn drops from the sky and starts feeding from the villagers.

Alas, the monster is lethally allergic to alchohol. So yeah, Ireland might be the worst place for the aliens to set their tentacles upon and so, mayhem and fun go their merry way. The structure of the film follows the classic monster movie dogma: Irritation, Disbelief, Realization, Determination, Despair and the leap of faith in the grand finale, perfectly executed with a string of surreal sense of a hangman's humour ever accompanying the angst that strikes the village.

The acting is brilliant, mainly due to the casting which fits all the "roles" with real life counterparts of Irish talent. Lalor Roddy is the secret star in the film while Ruth Bradley plays with so much vigour and fun, it is a shame not more horror films opt to create female roles that are actually interesting and multi-dimensional.

Tovey proves his comedy talent whily Coyle is as rugged an Irishman as they come. The SFX is surprisingly good and the film does not shrug away from showing off the monsters, something I loathe in recent shaky cam - low budget productions.

Even more so, considering that the monsters must have been quite a complicated one to animate and create, but enough of that, here be spoilers .... Fantastic B-movie in the spirit of Hammer and giant monster movies with some rural Irish charm thrown in for good measure.