Featured Audience Ratings

• Luke B

  
  Grabbers is a delightful one joke film, but luckily that one joke has legs, unlike the legless cast. Grabbers sees alien squids turn on an Irish island. They're here to suck the blood of humans, but also have an intolerance to alcohol. This can mean only one thing, lock in. Other… More
  Grabbers is a delightful one joke film, but luckily that one joke has legs, unlike the legless cast. Grabbers sees alien squids turn on an Irish island. They're here to suck the blood of humans, but also have an intolerance to alcohol. This can mean only one thing, lock in. Other than this idea, the film is pretty standard B-movie material that sometimes subverts the genre. For example, instead of arguing over who should be the hero, they try and push others forward for the role. Seeing the actors stagger around is quite charming and funny, and the CGI aliens are astonishing looking. Coyle and Bradley have some natural, if rushed, chemistry, and overall it's a cool little movie, which will probably go down well at drinking parties.

• The Movie W

  
  Off the west coast of Ireland are a group of islands that would seem made for a horror movie. When you arrive the first thing you notice is the absence of cellphone coverage. Couple this with the lack of any local police and it's a screenwriter's dream. Unfortunately the… More
  Off the west coast of Ireland are a group of islands that would seem made for a horror movie. When you arrive the first thing you notice is the absence of cellphone coverage. Couple this with the lack of any local police and it's a screenwriter's dream. Unfortunately the people behind "Grabbers" are more interested in generating cheap laughs from Irish stereotypes than creating any atmosphere or tension. It's a shame as this is quite a competently made film, certainly by the low standards of Irish cinema. Director Wright does an impressive job, showing a Spielberg influence in his camera movement and blocking. The cinematography makes rural Ireland look as good as it did when John Ford filmed "The Quiet Man" here. Films shot in my country are generally visually incompetent but this will do the tourism board no harm at all. For it's budget, the FX are quite good, far better than a SyFy original movie and on a par with most Hollywood blockbusters. Ireland has never really taken to the visual arts, we're much too busy patting ourselves on the backs for a literary and theatrical tradition which has been dead for well over a century. Not counting second generation emigres like Ford and Huston, we've never produced a great film-maker. We do however manufacture many fine actors and the ensemble cast is by far this movie's strongest point, featuring some great craggy-faced character actors to complement the two charismatic leads. Bradley is a real find, one of those performers that instantly makes you feel you've been watching her for years. Coyle is actually an Englishman but his Irish accent is probably the most authentic I've heard from a foreign actor. All this good work is in vain as the script is dull and cliched and frankly quite insulting if you're Irish. The "comic" twist is that the sea monsters are allergic to alcohol so the locals all end up getting sloshed in the pub as a means of survival. Apparently this is considered funny enough in itself so the writer excuses himself from giving us any witty dialogue or situations. It's bad enough that the rest of the world portrays us as drunken clowns, do we really need to enforce it ourselves?

• mark c

  
  We all know that various film genres tend to recycle the same story lines. And that definitely seems to be true for "Creature Features": A small isolated community (lets say a town or rural village) is tormented by supernatural or other worldly beings and the films… More
  We all know that various film genres tend to recycle the same story lines. And that definitely seems to be true for "Creature Features": A small isolated community (lets say a town or rural village) is tormented by supernatural or other worldly beings and the films unlikely protagonist has to rise to the occasion and quash this alien threat and save his town,village,local beach community or other. Throw in an obvious love interest and a self aware tongue in check style and you've got yourself a movie. So,that being said is their anything about "Grabbers" that makes it stand out from the likes of Gremlins,Tremors or even black sheep?......well no. The "creature" here is a bloodsucking Alien with tentacles(hence the name "grabbers") that lands on a remote Island of the west coast of Ireland. It begins to pick off the locals left,right and centre and it's up to a drunken guard and his new dubliner lady guard partner to save the day. As I said the films main problem is with the clichà (C)d story and a lack of innovation and new ideas. We all know exactly how it's going to play out. This wouldn't be such an issue but it's just not all that funny,albeit it does have it's moments. The dialogue isn't as fast,chippy and clever as it thinks it is as it doesn't hold a candle to last years "the Guard",which it's desperately trying to be. The aforementioned "grabbers" lack the personality of the gremlins in "Gremlins" and the banter between the townfolk just isn't as good as it was in "Tremors". Now it's not entirely a lost cause. I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh at some of the films funnier moments. The characters themselves are eccentric and likeable . The special effects,both the CG work and the prosthetics, are some of the best I've seen in an Irish movie. The performances range from fair to excellent , most notable of which being Ruth Bradley's lady cop. Bradley is the stand out in this film, especially when playing the intoxicated sections as only an Irishwoman could(I'm Irish so I can say that).Dare i say she may be one of film's greates drunks. Even though I said the film lacks new ideas, the concept of the villagers having to drink intensely to keep the monster at bay is clever,even if it's not fully utilised. What is well utilised however,is the Irish countryside which is given a dreamlike and serene quality through it's natural beauty.(which is more than can be said for "The guard") "Grabbers" is far from a terrible film,but nor is it a great one. It's a film that seems perfectly content to sit right on the line of mediocrity. It's has a familiar feel that forces you to compare it to others that it just doesn't stack up to.

• Francisco G

  
  Another throwback of the monster comedy flicks of the 80s and 90s, Grabbers is charming but doesn't go to the next level like it could've. But it's entertaining while it lasts and features some memorable enough moments, though with a premise like this, you were… More
  Another throwback of the monster comedy flicks of the 80s and 90s, Grabbers is charming but doesn't go to the next level like it could've. But it's entertaining while it lasts and features some memorable enough moments, though with a premise like this, you were expecting something completly bonkers on the last set pieces but it just doesn't happen. It's just played safe like the rest of the movie.

• Ina S

  
  The four stars have to be considered in context: this is a low-budget, trashy fantasy film made solely for entertainment. And as that, it is so, so good. And so very Irish.