If you watch one SyFy movie, you’ve seen them all. They are nothing but hybrid creatures and horrible actors with writers who don’t care that their film is bad because they are getting paid to pop out these crap farms.
Because of this, I try to avoid monster films all together.
There is a big difference between a film that tries to be good and ends up bad, and a film that tries to be bad and ends up good. Every once in a while you get a film that is aware of its ridiculousness and runs with it. These films, such as Deep Rising or Feast are so absurd that they are instant favorites. We can now add Grabbers to that list.
Grabbers is an Irish horror movie about a tentacled alien being that survives off of water and blood. It has a long frog like tongue that shoots out and leeches onto its victim to drain them of their blood. The problem is, this alien landed in Ireland with an allergy to alcohol. Those who drink are safe and those who don’t need to start drinking in order to survive.
Despite the fact that the story is beyond stupid, the acting and script are quite good and original. In fact, I found myself hysterically laughing with the film instead of at it. You know that a film is going to end up funny when you have a town of Irish folks getting pissed but adding a carnivorous octopus-like alien creature to the mix makes for a good Sunday afternoon.
The alien’s mouth looks an awful lot like a human exit hole with an industrial fan for teeth and it moves by rolling like one of those sticky wall tumbler toys. The babies look like the slug creatures from Slither. Mix them with a bunch of crazy drunk people and you have yourself one fine film.
Much like Shaun of the Dead with aliens, Grabbers is a great horror comedy that promises to entertain. In the future, when my friends feel like a little levity, I’ll put Grabbers in with confidence that they will enjoy it as much as I did.
Grabbers is now available on DVD from IFC.
