Grabbers (2012)
Starring: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey
Writer: Kevin Lehane
Director: Jon Wright
Synopsis (From IFC):
On Erin Island, an idyllic fishing
village off the coast of Ireland, charming inebriate Ciaran O'Shea is
tasked with showing straight-laced police officer Lisa Nolan her new
beat. Not that there's much to police, as most of the community's
troubles are caused by O'Shea himself. But strange doings are afoot:
the crew of a fishing boat disappears, whales start appearing dead on
the shore, and a local lobsterman catches a mysterious tentacled
creature in his trap. Soon it becomes clear to O'Shea and Nolan that
there's something unnatural out there, and that it's hungry. So it's
time to rally the villagers, arm the troops...and head to the pub.
Review:
I sat down this past Friday with a
couple of good and cold beers, as per the advice of a friend on
Facebook, and had one helluva good time with Grabbers. It's just an
all-out fun creature feature with good CGI, well constructed
characters and relationships, and a ton of hilarity. Ooooh, and what
a perfect movie to get proper drunk with. If you're not a drinker, I'm
not saying you won't have a good time... but if you are a drinker, you'll probably have an absolute blast.
For a film that has a really silly
story at face value, I was quite surprised how well the characters
are written. The townsfolk on Erin Island are so damn great.
There isn't really anyone to hate on. It was definitely nice to see
Russell Tovey from Being Human as the village Dr/Science nerd. Lalor
Roddy as Paddy the lobsterman is a total treat; possibly my favorite
character in the whole film. But, there's a lot to be said about the
two leads, Ciaran and Lisa, played by Richard Coyle and Ruth Bradley.
These two bring a ton of charm to their characters. Ruth Bradley
straight up kills in the second half of the film; her character has a
major transition and she's very impressive in her role at this point.
Nothing can be taken away from Richard Coyle, either. At first
glance, he's almost like a grouchy 'hate everything' drunk, but you
get the vibe that there's good reasoning behind his demeanor.
Ultimately, Ciaran is a stand-up dude, and Coyle really makes him
lovable.
The other stars of Grabbers are the
creatures themselves. These things looks awesome, especially
considering they are largely computer generated -there is some use of
practical here and there. Fans of old school monster flicks should
definitely find some pleasing aspects. The creature movements are
incredible, and there's a neat little Gremlins type vibe in one
section of the film that had me literally cheering. It was something
I didn't expect to see. You're not only going to get one manner of
monster, either, and that's all I'm gonna say.
Final Thoughts:
Wrapping this one up short and sweet.
Great group of characters- Check. Really good performances-
Check. Awesome looking monsters- Check. Good blend of Comedy, Sci-Fi,
and Horror- Indeed. Grabbers is just a straight-up delight. A perfect
weekend party movie for the inebriated brain.
IFC Films DVD release of Grabbers is
presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, with a Dolby 5.1 English
Audio track. For special features there's some behind-the-scenes
footage and a theatrical trailer. At the moment, there's only a
standard DVD available in the states, so here's to hoping for a
future Blu-ray release. But, as it stands, the picture quality was
fine enough by me, given it was my first time seeing the film.
Order the DVD HERE
Rent or Purchase Digitally HERE
Also now streaming on Netflix!
- Eric (Brobocop)
