Shots, shots, Shots, shots ... because Booze saves lives

GRABBERS (2012)

The creature feature. You get a monster, you give it people to hunt/chase/violently attack and away you go. From the early days of stop motion monsters, to men in rubber suits, to well... I guess there really isn't a whole lot of them around these days. A few straight to video flicks about a big foot slaughtering campers. Or the odd jewel in the mess - see The Host if you have not yet - but really not much out there as of late. Booooooo mainstream creation.

Enter Grabbers

Anyone remember a movie called Tremors (if the answer is no, but I think I saw one of the sequels... be ashamed of you for me, thank you). It was fun, and dang if it wasn't a little bit scary too. Giant monsters hunting people under ground... popping up all "Arg! I will kill you now" well, okay, it was all "Argggg" and various other noises but I like to think that is what they said. Any hooooo the enemies were called "Graboids" and that sounds pretty familiar to Grabbers now don't it? So I say homage intended and why not? This film is one fun fun ride.

Ok, alien rock, possibly ship, hits - lands in Irish seas. These alien creatures that look kinda like if you crossed an octopus with well... another two octopuses and then added a giant suck mouth. They start attacking the locals and sucking them dry. Enter the deputy, that is left in charge while the Chief is away - Typical - , and his quite a bit more than sidekick, the female go getter cop from the mainland. The deputy is a drunk, and well the rookie is none to impressed with the stand in boss. So, to recap; aliens land, suck humans, small town police Chief leaves drunk in charge, by the book rookie is all high and mighty... etc, etc, ... doesn't sound like crazy original right? Did I mention the drunk may actually have a heart of gold, and the by the book rookie may have to learn to let loose to save lives...

But... Buuuuuut... this movie takes those somewhat old ideas and presents them in such a damn awesome way, you will lose yourself in the good time. First, the actors, all in fact (even the bit part town drunks) are spot on. The writing is always tops. Funny, cool, and even a lil heart in there. The Deputy and the Rookie (Richard - I have been in a million things you know - Croyle, and Ruth - I think you should be in more films - Bradley) are awesome, and have a way of being charmingly drawn to each by way of sitcom gold. Second, and this, this is the big one... the one alien weakness, the one thing that might help these loveable small town humans to victory over the alien menace... Turns out they don't like alcohol, in fact it hurts them to the point of death. That's right, the only chance they have to survive is to get ridiculously intoxicated...

No, I agree, we should defs lean in and take a closer look...

Can you feel it? Huh, can you?! That is the stuff of horror - comedy - creature feature gold. From that point on its drunk hijinx, some great one liners, late night confessions, and perhaps the greatest creature back hand ever... Just... you kind of have to see it. Sounds like it might get old, or seem awkward in a well made film? Nope. They pull it off. The creature effects are great, it's not one of those - well it was really cool, if only they had a budget. This film must've had a lil bling bling behind it because it's pretty impressive. On par with the effects of most mid range Hollywood budgets.

There are a few complaints here... at some points the predictability does creep in, annoyingly so. The ending was okay, but after all the laughs, and chaos that led to it, the last line was pretty well... uncool. I could've used at least 3-5 more minutes of drunken small town folks... Ya... I am expecting an entire section of drunk people outtakes when this hits Bluray/DVD - Dec 31st. Seriously. Lastly, and this might seem a little bit like back tracking, but the two leads... it just felt rushed. No matter how well scripted and acted the charm was... still rushed.

But hey, that's a few nicks in an otherwise smoothly polished creature feature. I think given a little time this will develop a fair following... like the aforementioned Tremors. I mean, a monster movie that involves getting hammered to live... bring on the drinking games. Seriously, one of you horror movies Uni punks needs to work this shizzie out stat.

Grab a couple mates, and a couple cold ones, and enjoy.

Movie scale 3 out of 5 stars
Creature feature/thriller scale 4 out of 5 stars

This will rate as one of my biggest surprises of 2012. Really came out of nowhere and entertained me for 90 minutes. Laughs, and a few well crafted scares.

- Chuck Boonsweet

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