If there is one era of Hollywood that I will peg as a favorite it has to be the golden age of Sci-fi, the atomic age of 1950’s America. Public fear of the possibilities ahead thanks to the first atomic bomb gave us the “Creature Feature”, films like Attack of the 50ft Woman, Them!, and The Blob. They were cheesy, completely ridiculous, and most of all just plain fun. Hell, I love the era so much that one of my favorite guilty pleasures is John Goodman’s 1992 ode to the era Matinee. Needless to say, the second I saw the trailer for the Irish creature feature Grabbers I was all in. A quiet, picturesque, island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by hungy and razor-toothed sea creatures who attack by grabbing their victims with lighting fast tentacles (get it—grabbers). To add to horror an incoming storm has made escaping the island all but impossible. Their hope for survival comes in the unexpected, yet awesome, discovery that the Grabbers are horribly allergic to alcohol…it kills them almost instantly when ingested. The townspeople gather together at the local pub for a final stand and their only hope for survival….a drunken lock-in!
There are so many things that this movie gets right. First and foremost if the synopsis seems ridiculous then this isn’t the movie for you. I respect that, come out with a plot that will identify your audience immediately. From there it just gets better for the creature feature fan, all of the elements fit perfectly. It’s simple but not stupid, leaving you to spend your time enjoying the fun and surprisingly tense atmosphere. Instead of spending 10 minutes explaining why they’re allergic to alcohol or where they came from, it’s just said, accepted, and moved on from. I think the biggest surprise in the entire film comes from the effects. You pretty much accept that a lower budget monster movie is going to look like something you’d see on SyFY on any given Saturday afternoon. Grabbers had some talent behind the keyboard in their CGI department and it shows. Even in the larger scoped scenes where you see the whole creature it still looks good, and THAT makes all of the difference.Then there’s the cast. You would think that acting drunk in a movie would be pretty simple….just slur your words, walk like a toddler, and do stupid things. The cast of Grabbers saw that there was more to an authentic drunk then just that. Sure, those attributes show up, but they do so in the proper doses. Ruth Bradley, who plays Lisa Nolan in the film, even went so far as to actually get drunk and film it so that she could pick up on all of her little drunken nuances. You may be reading this and thinking it’s silly, but trust me it makes a world of difference seeing a group of believable drunks versus a crew of actors doing drunk stereotypes...especially when your movie sort of hinges on it. A fun thirty minutes that is sure to be different from anything else you’ll see this summer. Grabbers gets my full recommendation with bonus points for reminding me of a classic sub-genre in Hollywood that I've forgotten about in recent months.
I'm 'Bout That Life
Grabbers is available NOW on SundanceNow, Itunes, and many other VOD outlets!
