filmbore pick of the week - Grabbers

Grabbers

Director: Jon Wright

Screenplay: Kevin Lehane

Starring: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy

Year: 2012

Language: English

UK rental release: January 2013

 
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Last week I kicked off a brand new season in filmbore, looking at interesting independent and foreign horror movies, in response to the trite we've been fed over the last decade with poor CGI driven equivalents and terrible remakes.

This week, I'm crossing the shores to our neighbour to the west to talk about the Irish horror comedy, Grabbers.

Opening on an astronomical view of a familiar planetary body, you can just make out the trail of a meteorite heading towards terra firma. The maverick satellite lands in the ocean off the coast of an Irish island, witnessed by a nearby trawler. The fishermen on board the ship respond to this in order to investigate this strange occurrence. But a few screams and removed bodies later, it's clear that this a mysterious creature has arrived in the emerald isle.

Lisa (Ruth Bradley, of Plus One and Primeval TV series fame), a work-proud officer from Dublin Central, arrives at this small isle to cover the absence of the local constable who is taking a holiday. Used to the hectic busy streets of the Irish capital, in her eyes spell in this idyllic setting should be a breeze in comparison. Yet, she still believes that the really crazy events occur in out in the sticks.

Her first encounter with one of the inhabitants is her new allocated partner, Ciaran (Richard Coyle, A Good Year and Coupling TV series fame) , a Garda who's so consistently bored he's consistently drunk, or at least recovering from that state. He's not used to such an upstart attitude from another officer, and doesn't take to her straight away.

Their first call out is to meet with Dr. Adam Smith (Russell Tovey, The History Boys and Being Human TV series fame), a marine ecologist brought in to investigate the unusual arrival of some other animals... of some pilot whales that have beached themselves in the local bay. There are several of them, lying dead on the sand but strangely, they are covered in some gory, unidentifiable wounds.

Even more disturbing though is the disappearance of some of the town's locals, who have been served as supper to the town's interstellar visitors. However, answers start to arrive when Paddy (Lalor Roddy, Hunger), another of the bay's trawler man, discovers one of these creatures trapped in one of his lobster cages. Unable to identify it, he decides to take it home to see what he can make of it.

After a brief spell in his bath, his new pet takes to the walls of his home, proceeding to attempt a feed on his own blood. Miraculously, Paddy manages to survive this encounter and takes the remains of the creature, which he names a "Grabber" directly to Dr. Adam to find out more. When they're joined by Ciaran and Lisa, they start to uncover the truth about their new tentacled friends. But can a verbally sparring alcoholic and workaholic keep their wits about them to fend off the oncoming onslaught ahead?

Coming from a relatively unknown director and writer, both have teamed up here to create an enjoyable film to shake up the current trend in horror movie making. It feels both extremely familiar but still holds an identity of it's own, partly thanks to the stunning shots of the Irish coastlines, really taking advantage of the local beauty.

Despite some of the obvious reasons, of which I'll discuss later, one key reason for this affiliation comes from the preference in using a cast probably better known for their TV comedic roles than their attempts on the silver screen. This helps to bring the picture back down to earth, strengthening it's homely feel while giving the performers another platform to step into the realm of movies.

The characters they play are easily recognisable and quick to connect to: the drunk, repressed hero; the uptight, rule-following officer; the weedy, sarcastic scientist; the drunk, abusive seafarer; the disgruntle landlord and his even more disgruntled wife. It's an approachable ensemble of colourful individuals, verging ever so slightly towards caricature while still being centred enough roles for our actors to show their wares.

But what of their adversaries? Fully computer generated, albeit a lifeless one on a table, they're an unusual bunch. All tentacles and maws, they benefit from some great creature design and some fine quality to the visual effects when considering it's modest budget, (approximated at about £3.5 million). It's nice to see a brand new monster design, which is seriously missing from the modern horrors of today.

It still doesn't relinquish itself from it's roots however, honourably throwing the odd nod to horror movies of old, even sneaking in a quick cheeky clip of Night Of The Living Dead to help emphasise this. After decades of all manner of films from this genre it is difficult to fully stand out, so instead it chooses to tastefully reference the odd classic or two along the way. This also meant that it, thankfully, follows the good horror staples you can rely on: reluctant victims foolishly stepping into the brink when they clearly shouldn't, the sleepy town overrun by monsters, shaky camera angles once the action starts, brief reveals of the intruders in the early minutes of the film and some novelty kills - all fillings to an original monster-concept sandwich.

One confident choice against all of this though is that, even though (as stated) we only catch glimpses of the creature during the first act, we actually get to see one of the Grabbers upfront and personal only 25 minutes into the picture - a refreshing decision, unleashing the best itself and bypassing any more salubrious views of these aliens. It's a cocky way of dealing with the elephant in the room, leaving room to fill some of the movie's air with more comedy.

The humour grows throughout too, calmly and confidently, ramping up a little further when our heroes discover how to defend themselves against their unwanted visitors, leading to some funny scenarios. This isn't a constant laugh-out-loud affair mind you, instead keeping its comedy smooth and frequent, creating a smile through all of the terror. Still, I can't help but point out what I consider to be the funniest laugh in the whole film, which is a salute to my favourite film, Aliens (you'll know it when you see and hear it!), so we still get some belly laugh moments at points.

In fact, with all it's humour, frights, monsters and characters, this picture does exactly what it says on the tin...it's a funny romp, great for a Saturday night movie, and just goes to show you that you don't need a Hollywood cast, relentless promotion and a gut-busting budget to achieve this.

 Grabbers knows exactly what it is. Harking back to comedic, carefree horrors like Tremors and Critters, it doesn't take itself too seriously. And, with its unique monster and premise, it's all about the fun. Or as they say in Ireland, it's all about the great craic!

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