Jon Wright's GRABBERS

Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

Jon Wright’s GRABBERS, written by Kevin Lehane, is a very entertaining monster movie comedy. The story elements are fairly standard: meteor plunges into sea, creature  crawls ashore and terrorizes small town, townspeople gather to fight the menace. The way these elements are assembled is original, fun, and occasionally, quite charming.

“Maybe sell it on eBay?”

The location is beautiful. The action takes place on “Erin Island,” a small and sparsely populated island off the coast of Ireland. People start disappearing at the same time a young and straight-laced female police officer arrives for temporary duty. She teams up with the local deputy, an alcoholic who is grieving the death of his wife. Together they investigate the goings-on. That’s when the fun really starts.

During the movie we’re treated to gorgeous and picturesque cinematography. The production team takes real advantage of the seaside scenery and sunsets. Even the events  surrounding a mass whale beaching are visually impressive.

The real stars of the movie are the characters. The two leads are likable and  surrounded by an amiable and quirky set of locally colorful characters. The dialog and editing display great timing and humor. You find yourself wanting to spend some time at the pub with these folks — especially when they discover that the invading monster doesn’t eat humans who are drunk and have an excessive blood alcohol level!

A word about the special effects. They are exemplary and kept to a scale that does not overwhelm the movie. The creatures themselves are suitably slimy and disgusting. The big one is a wonderful mass of writhing tentacles that moves with malevolence, authority, and speed. The little ones are cute, disgusting, and deadly; I especially loved it when our heroine goes after one with a nail gun and drunkenly staples it to the bar as others wriggle about her. This is a really fun movie!

Review copyright © 2014 by Dennis D. McDonald