Review of Grabbers at Sundance. Mix of laughs and screams make Grabbers a fun, monster movie rollercoaster.
The monsters look somewhat familiar with their leathery purplish skin, multiple tentacles and sharp teeth; straight from a '50s matinee but that's part of the charm. Grabbers, an intentionally, kid-friendly rollercoaster ride, emphasizes friendly laughs over splattering blood. Director Jon Wright and screenwriter Kevin Lehane aim for a monster movie that's the polar opposite of the bloody disgusting genre of horror. They clearly want Grabbers to be a horror comedy more in vein with a recent monster movie like Lake Placid and they succeed brilliantly.
A comet from the sky brings aliens from outer space to the waters just offshore an island fishing village off the coast of Ireland. Everything turns badly when longtime fisherman Paddy (Lalor Roddy) captures one of the small monsters in his lobster cages. Soon, whale carcasses litter the beach and the small monsters aren't so small anymore.
Boozy cop Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle) investigates the threat with his by-the-book partner Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) and they can't believe their eyes once the monsters start growing.
The joke at the heart of the movie is that the booze-guzzling cop understands the secret to beating the monsters. The alien beasts cannot handle their liquor and if the townspeople of Erin Island want to survive they have to get drunk.
Bradley, familiar to stateside fantasy buffs for her recurring role on monster series Primeval, makes a pretty heroine. Russell Tovey (Being Human) adds some extra laughs as a somewhat stuffy scientist investigating the creatures. Leading the U.K. cast is Richard Coyle (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time), whose laidback personality and easygoing charms matches perfectly with the light-hearted fun of Grabbers. Coyle makes his Irish police officer someone who doesn't take life too seriously and the same spirit holds true for Grabbers.
Wright and Lehane pay homage to countless Hollywood monster movies from long ago favorites like It Came from beneath the Sea to recent Hollywood movies like Gremlins and Jaws and other standout international genre fare like Trollhunter and The Host.
Wright and Lehane also make great use of the stunning Irish landscape, which puts an original spin on their monster adventure.
Grabbers may be a low-budget movie by Hollywood standards but VFX supervisor Paddy Eason and his team at the London-based effects house Nvizible provide plenty of clever effects that boost Grabbers from the level of a Syfy original movie. Wright and Lehane also make Grabbers far smarter than the current trend of found footage horror movies coming out of Hollywood; further proof that when it comes to a clever monster movie, the best work is coming far away from Hollywood and in this case, Ireland.
Director: Jon Wright
Screenwriter: Kevin Lehane
Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy, David Pearse, Bronagh Gallagher
Producers: Forward Films, Samson Films, The Salt Company, High Treason Productions
Distributor: TBD
Cinematographer: Trevor Forrest
Editor: Matt Platts-Mills
Music: Christian Henson
Running Time: 92 minutes
Rated: Unrated