Grabbers (2012) - Irish Horror Comedy

Basq

Another Irish horror movie.. but some decent word from Sundance about it!

Synopsis & Trailer

Directed by Jon Wright and written by Kevin Lehane, Grabbers follows the adventures of drink-addled policeman Ciarán O'Shea (Richard Coyle), who together with uptight, teetotal new partner Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) must protect an Irish island community from fang-jawed creatures from the sea, known as Grabbers.

The only way for the island's residents to survive, it transpires, is to get very drunk.

You can watch the trailer by clicking the link on your left.

Grabbers also stars Russell Tovey, Lalor Roddy, David Pearse and Bronagh Gallagher and is released in cinemas on Friday August 10.

Another clip here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgiPvg3tOk

hardCopy

Ruth Bradley from Love/Hate. More please.

FishBowel

The only thing about that 'Irish horror comedy' is that it will be Irish!

Arcee

Heard great reviews from the Edinburgh film fest a few weeks ago too. Got 4 stars from the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9356850/Grabbers-Edinburgh-International-Film-Festival-2012-review.html

AnonoBoy

FishBowel wrote: »

The only thing about that 'Irish horror comedy' is that it will be Irish!

It must be wonderful to be able to have the psychic ability to be able to know exactly what a film is going to be like before you've seen it. What a gift!


Grabbers got a great reaction at the Galway Film Fleadh from what I've heard.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/0711/1224319789681.html

I'm looking forward to checking it out in the cinema. Think it's out in August.

FishBowel

So what? This is about the tenth Irish horror film made recently and they're all ****e. This one will be no different.

ricero

a film set in ireland where everyone has to get pissed drunk. how i love stereotypes :rolleyes:

AnonoBoy

FishBowel wrote: »

So what? This is about the tenth Irish horror film made recently and they're all ****e. This one will be no different.

*Yawn*

No knowledge of anything but still yakking on.

Maybe wait until you've actually seen something until imparting your "wisdom" about it?

For someone who's so intent on appearing like they think for themselves you put an awful lot of faith in what other people tell you about films.

Your posts are as boring and predictable as ever but still hilarious to read. Please do keep it up. :pac:

FishBowel

I will go and see it and plan on wasting about €10.50 for the experience next month. Even if it is well made it will bet let down by (a) complete lack of originality and (b) trying to be funny instead of scary. Anyway, shouldn't you be over on the Film Production forum advising people to go to some lame Irish film school?

Boo Radley

Flippin hell. Handbags at dawn folks.

Is there anything worse than when someone who has yet to experience a film/book/album comes along and starts telling others how terrible it is. Far as I'm concerned if you have yet to see a film you cannot claim that it is good or bad. Now there are exceptions to the rule such as Meet the Spartans but a film such as Grabbers is not one of them.

Long Room Hubba

Fishbowel is right. This film I've never seen will be rubbish. Also there will be too much milk in your coffee tomorrow, your shoelace will break, and a bird will crap on your mudguard.

Low expectations about Irish films do seem reasonable. We are a tiny country. But I'm excited about this.

Fishbowel, I take your point about films having the guts to be scary, Fishbowel, but this plainly started as a horror comedy rather than starting as blood-curdling horror and losing its nerve. That's a perfectly fine genre, and fingers crossed this will be a decent entry.

johnny_ultimate

FishBowel, stop trolling. Your constant agenda and childish cynicism here and elsewhere is tiring. First and only warning. AnonoBoy, stop feeding him.

Miguel_Sanchez

I'm going to see this tomorrow night. Will report back.

pm1977x

Ruth Bradley's generally very good, interested to hear any reports back...

JP Liz V1

Lake Placid is a guilty pleasure movie of mine and this reminds me of it only set in Ireland so will prob have a look

I love if there was cameo in this of Sgt Gerry Boyle

Marty McFly

Im only hearing of this now, and usually yes irish horror movies have been dreadful and yes it is chocablock with stereotypes with the drinking and all, but so what from the trailer I think it has potential ad looks like it could be a laugh. I shall be keeping an eye on this.

I think a lot of people from our own country see Irish made film and think oh its crap without ever seeing it for some reason.

OldeCinemaSoz

Ha! Intriguing.

I only wandered into this babe via
the Gaeity listings.

15A? Cop on IFCO!!!

:P

pixelburp

Hmmm, I like a good monster-movie as much as the next person. Actually scratch that, more than the next person - it's a great subgenre. But the drunken paddywhackery is hard to get behind tbh. Maybe it'll be played for irony's sake in the end product, but it doesn't seem that way.

I dunno, I just think there's a bit of double standards going on when we - generally - get terribly upset about stereotyping in US/UK media, but if we do it - and push it around the festival circuit - then it's ok. But I'll let my monster-movie-person direct me here, rather than my moral-outrage one.

don ramo

well it did have some feckin good CGI, absolutely full of one liners, i did enjoy it, but it did seem to drag in parts,

Miguel_Sanchez

OldeCinemaSoz wrote: »

Ha! Intriguing.

I only wandered into this babe via
the Gaeity listings.

15A? Cop on IFCO!!!

:P

Not sure what you mean. You've seen it and think that's too high a rating? Too low a rating?

pixelburp wrote: »

Hmmm, I like a good monster-movie as much as the next person. Actually scratch that, more than the next person - it's a great subgenre. But the drunken paddywhackery is hard to get behind tbh. Maybe it'll be played for irony's sake in the end product, but it doesn't seem that way.

From what I've read it seems to be a more measured take on it than the trailer would imply. As in - "everyone paints the Irish as drunks, but what if they had to get drunk to survive?" In the interview with writer in the Sunday Times he said something like the messages is more "get sober to survive" than "get drunk to survive".

norrie rugger

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

I'm going to see this tomorrow night. Will report back.

I am actually looking forward to this, please be good!!!

Miguel_Sanchez

It took a little while for me to get into it (every scene transition seemed to be a dissolve which annoyed me for some reason) but once it gets going Grabbers is a fun movie with good laughs throughout. Good performances from the two leads and a likeable supporting cast.

No real scary bits but the effects were nicely done. There's sly little nods to other movies in there too to keep movie nerds happy.

I'd recommend it.

Sarxos

I went to see it last night and thought that it was an exceptionally well-made, entertaining thrill of a film.

humanji

For those who have seen it, are the trailers representative of the end product? I think the trailers make it look dreadful, but enough people have said they enjoyed it to make me wonder if it's just an awful trailer.

Ash.J.Williams

i love irish movies

Kess73

I so want this to have a Tremors vibe to it.

Miguel_Sanchez

humanji wrote: »

For those who have seen it, are the trailers representative of the end product? I think the trailers make it look dreadful, but enough people have said they enjoyed it to make me wonder if it's just an awful trailer.

They're in the ball park alright so be prepared for a lot of drink-related humour (although the jokes in the trailer work much better when they're seen in context I think).

There's stereotypes aplenty too but I was fully expecting that so it didn't throw me.

Kess73 wrote: »

I so want this to have a Tremors vibe to it.

It's not as good as Tremors.

krudler

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Lake Placid is a guilty pleasure movie of mine and this reminds me of it only set in Ireland so will prob have a look

I love if there was cameo in this of Sgt Gerry Boyle

I friggin' love Lake Placid
am a sucker for B movie small town big monster type movies so will be checking this out.

mrmorgan

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

I'm going to see this tomorrow night. Will report back.

Where you see this thought it wasnt out till next week!

Looks pure crap but I still can't wait too see it ha

dr strangelove

Saw it last night and actually enjoyed it more than i thought i would.

Lots of oirish cliches? Check
Obvious love story? Check
Room for a sequel? Check
Rain? Check

Saying that, they did avoid a lot of obvious pitfalls, and didn't take itself seriously at all, so it was a lot of fun, and well worth the money (i got in for free!)

tl:dr?
Father Ted meets Whiskey Galore meets Alien

Miguel_Sanchez

mrmorgan wrote: »

Where you see this thought it wasnt out till next week!

There was a preview screening last night in Cineworld. We got tickets from Newstalk I think.

Miguel_Sanchez

dr strangelove wrote: »

tl:dr?
Father Ted meets Whiskey Galore meets Alien

I quite liked the

Irish version of the Aliens line in the finale

and the

Gremlins nod in the bar scene

.

mrmorgan

ive decided to go and see this tomorrow. ill let u know how i get on

Ape X

Glad to hear it's better than I feared. Always worry when the quotes being splashed across the bus stops etc aren't really endorsements of the film. Booziest comedy since Withnail and I... WTF does that even mean?? Is it supposed to be a recommendation? :rolleyes:

goose2005

I was hoping it would be about this type of grabbers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAbiFuhsLTY

mrmorgan

mrmorgan wrote: »

ive decided to go and see this tomorrow. ill let u know how i get on

Grabbers is as expected a lot of cliches and a watchable comedy which won't be everyone's cup of tea.

I've forgotten how fine Ruth Bradley is thugh

filmbuffboy

loved every minute of it. the entire audience was laughing! will definately watch it again! i hope it comes out on blu ray.....

charlie_says

Gonna give this a go.

I missed it in Galway, along with every other film this year.

Thanks for the heads up.

OwaynOTT

Ape X wrote: »

Glad to hear it's better than I feared. Always worry when the quotes being splashed across the bus stops etc aren't really endorsements of the film. Booziest comedy since Withnail and I... WTF does that even mean?? Is it supposed to be a recommendation? :rolleyes:

When I saw that tagline on a poster of the film on the way into the cinema I was worried. Thankfully my fears were unfounded and the film was very enjoyable.
The scene with the barman and the super soaker was excellent and it riffed on aliens, Jurassic park and gremlins.
What I will take from the film is that drinking isn't a bad thing, infact it will save your life and there is a need for more rural Garda to protect rural inhabitants agaisnt grabbers. Also people should get together more not sit at home watching tv and drying their hair.
And also if you have any degree of learning, you is in trouble.

norrie rugger

I loved the homage to

Predator and Aliens, towards the end

I really enjoyed this. There was a reviewer that said that the script was not snappy enough but, although correct to an extent, I feel that this was mainly due to the reviewer being English and not getting some of the more subtle (and not so subtle) local humour. Not sure how well this will translate to a non Irish audience.
This is the first film, in quite some time, that had me belly laughing in the cinema. Considering that I was not the only one laughing loudly I think this bodes well, domestically at least.

Sleepy

Am I right in thinking that this is an Irish "Shaun of the Dead"?

norrie rugger

Sleepy wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that this is an Irish "Shaun of the Dead"?

Not as witty as Shaun and the chemistry between Pegg and Frost makes Shaun.
It would be along those lines but also not as manicly paced/edited as Shaun gets

krudler

saw this today, loved it. everyone was howling with laughter at some of the one liners, including one which brought the house down. the little homages to other movies are funny and it has decent effects, like actually good cgi which was a real suprise. was going to see the Bourne Legacy but its getting terrible reviews so went for this instead, glad I did. dear Irish film industry, more films like this please, with charm and wit and genuine belly laughs.

Galvasean

Saw it today and thought it was great. Sadly, there were only about 10 people at the screening. By contrast I saw Bourne Legacy yesterday and the place was packed (despite the film being really dull and quite poor overall).
To that end, I beseech the people of Ireland, who are just thinking about going to see Grabbers, to get up and go! It's well worth seeing and hopefully a healthy box office take will mean more of the same from the Irish film industry.

krudler

Galvasean wrote: »

Saw it today and thought it was great. Sadly, there were only about 10 people at the screening. By contrast I saw Bourne Legacy yesterday and the place was packed (despite the film being really dull and quite poor overall).
To that end, I beseech the people of Ireland, who are just thinking about going to see Grabbers, to get up and go! It's well worth seeing and hopefully a healthy box office take will mean more of the same from the Irish film industry.

this, people flock to see sh1te like Man About Dog yet this will probably be ignored, people complain there are no good Irish movies, well there's one in the cinema right now, I'm actually going to go see it again after recommending it to some friends who were umming and ahhing about it.

"Get away from him you CNUT!" best line in any Irish film ever :pac:

Galvasean

Actually anybody know where I can find up to date Irish box office takings?

Töpher

Thoroughly enjoyable, the

Jaws

references got me onside from the start. Busy screening, judging by the sheer amount of laughter it went down well. It was like Gremlins with Fleshlights, awesome.

norrie rugger

They're here!!

RandolphEsq wrote: »

krudler

Töpher wrote: »

Thoroughly enjoyable, the

Jaws

references got me onside from the start. Busy screening, judging by the sheer amount of laughter it went down well. It was like Gremlins with Fleshlights, awesome.

I loved the

"welcome to Erin Island" sign with the same layout as the Amity sign from Jaws, great little nod to it.

and the nod to

Aliens with the powerloader replaced with a yellow jbc lol

norrie rugger

krudler wrote: »

I loved the

"welcome to Erin Island" sign with the same layout as the Amity sign from Jaws, great little nod to it.

and the nod to

Aliens with the powerloader replaced with a yellow jbc lol

I really love the bit just before that where O'Shea is doing a Dutch

Come on, come and get me!! Then he falls and gets totally covered in mud under a little recess, in the wall