Macabre…ish Horror Review: Grabbers
Grabbers, 2012/ 1 hr 34 min
Commercial fisherman encounter something in the water but because it’s night, they can’t really see it. The first to be eaten is the Skipper (Stuart Graham), luckily they called for help early so others could be warned. But none of them will survive.
On nearby Erin island, located off the coast of Ireland, lots of pilot whales have washed themselves ashore. All of them are covered it deep wounds. And lobster fishermen pull in a trap with a creature inside that is not a lobster or any other recognizable sea life. One of the fishermen, Paddy (Lalor Roddy), takes the, still caged creature, home.
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A new police officer, Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley), is subbing at the department on the island for 2 weeks. And it’s immediately busy, they talk with the Marine Ecologist to determine why the whales washed ashore. And while the beach is being cleared of the animals, one of the group, Eric, pick up what could be a large egg and he’s yanked out to sea by his legs.
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That night, Cooney (Ned Dennehy), knocks on a neighbor’s door or seems to. When the door is opened, he appears to be floating and his is. He drops to the ground and the man of the house, Tadhg Murphy (Louis Dempsey), is snatched off the ground by something in the sky. Tadhg, is bounced and dragged across the roof of his own house and when his wife, Irene (Clelia Murphy), tries to close the fireplace hatch, she’s yanked up the chimney.
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Meanwhile, the constantly drunk, Garda O’Shea (Richard Coyle), goes to his new coworker, Garda Nolan’s, quarters to get to know her better but she’s uninterested and he’s so drunk, he falls asleep at her door.
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And Paddy, returned home to check on his new capture which was in his bath tub when he left, is now on the ceiling and Paddy has to fight it and stomp it to subdue. The next morning he contacts the police, informs them and inquires about a reward.
The Marine Ecologist, Dr. Smith (Russell Tovey), has no idea what the creature is, he’s not even sure if it’s alive or dead. He surmises it’s like a leach and spits like a frog, and that all it needs to survive is blood and water. He can also tell it’s a female and there are eggs.
Back at the beach, Declan Cooney’s car is still parked where it was yesterday. And on top of the Murphy house, Garda Nolan and O’Shea find torn clothes and a head. After talking to their coroner, they guess there’s a much larger and more aggressive creature loose, a male.
So they search for areas it could be hiding out. While searching a cave, they find fishermen gear that’s washed up with the tide and a few other clutches of bowling ball sized eggs. When O’Shea calls out, a massive creature, a rolling mass of tentacles rise from the water.
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Dr. Smith discovers the pilot whales were meant to be a food source for the hatchlings. And in O’Shea’s zeal to destroy the specimen, he lights a fire that triggers the sprinklers and wakes up the specimen. It immediately attacks, spitting and attaching itself to O’Shea’s face. Once off his face, it seems to throw up blood and staggers, the Garda and Dr. Smith then stomp it to death.
After wandering why Paddy was still alive after being bitten earlier, they guess it’s because he’s an alcoholic. And the blood of an intoxicated host is toxic to these creatures. So they decide everyone needs to get drunk to save themselves. Everyone but O’Shea, who’s always drunk. But they’ll need to test the levels from a pure source, since Nolan doesn’t drink, then it has to be her. She drinks everything Paddy drank the day before and test her blood. It appears .2 blood alcohol for humans is toxic to the creatures.
So they set up a shindig at the tavern and invite the entire town, in order to get them drunk and corralled in one location, without alerting them to the danger.
Meanwhile, the few who know are stockpiling what weapons they can find and guard the exits. Unfortunately outside, in all the rain, the eggs hatch and hatchlings crawl up the road toward the tavern, with the large male behind them.
While Garda and a resident fight the creatures outside, they try to desperately keep everyone inside and unaware. But then a highly intoxicated Dr. Smith, wanders outside to take a super close photo of the creature for social media and is yeeted into the sea instead of eaten and the hatchlings make their way into the tavern. The residents will have to take desperate measures to try to survive.
This was directed by Jon Wright. This is a really solid horror comedy. The physical FX were pretty good and the kills weren’t very graphic, it was fast and changes direction quickly. There is not much to see as far as graphic kills the most you see it are a few decapitated heads. This is no gore fest but has good monster FX and dry humor. This was fun!