Grabbers (2013)
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 1,604
Movie Info
On Erin Island, an idyllic fishing village off the coast of Ireland, charming but somewhat work-shy Ciaran O'Shea, is tasked with greeting Lisa Nolan, a straight-laced young officer who has arrived from the mainland. Not that there is much for them to do, aside from dealing with the occasional drunk, and that's usually O'Shea himself. But strange doings are afoot: the crew of a fishing boat disappears, whales start appearing dead on the shore, a local lobsterman catches a strange tentacled
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Richard Coyle
Ciarán O'Shea -
Ruth Bradley
Garda Lisa Nolan -
Russell Tovey
Smith -
Lalor Roddy
Paddy -
David Pearse
Brian Maher -
Bronagh Gallagher
Una Maher -
Pascal Scott
Dr. Jim Gleeson -
-
-
ADVERTISEMENT
Grabbers Trailer & Photos
All Critics (29) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (8) | DVD (1)
Off to the pub!
Top CriticWright checks off the expected genre boxes with the gleeful mischief of a gremlin trashing a plane engine.
A polished, watchable genre entertainment that nonetheless lacks the inspired dialogue and situations needed to make a memorable impression.
Recommended only for those peering through the thickest of beer goggles.
Grabbers combines horror and comedy into one extremely satisfying octopus-like baby that results in some of the most fun you'll have with any film this year.
Out of all the bad decisions you've drunkenly made, one viewing of Grabbers makes up for the lot of them. With or without beer goggles, Jon Wright's film is equally entertaining - and without any regrets the following morning!
Perfect fodder for a late-night audience, UK/Irish co-production Grabbers, directed by Jon Wright, is a fun ride, and while it doesn't reinvent the "Tremors" and Slither modern-b-movie wheel, it adds a few neat touches to that formula.
The movie never aspires to be more than a cookie-cutter creature feature-the kind of film that can be washed back with a pint and then forgotten in the morning.
The biggest issue with Grabbers is that it's more slick than squirmy. Aside from a few good low-fi gross-out scenes ... Grabbers has the look and style of a big-budget action epic, not a scrappy little indie-horror.
The tough thing about genre hybrids is that they have to fulfill both genres, and Grabbers only nails one of them.
Good, clean genre entertainment, the sort of harmless yet endearing brand of moviemaking seemingly unattainable in today's Hollywood system.
A traditional creature feature with a touch of the "diddley aye."
For a horror comedy it needed some comedy and some horror.
This is not quite a horror version of Whisky Galore but there are reminders of Ealing's comic élan.
This ambitious mix of mirth and menace is an offbeat and hugely enjoyable affair.
It's perfect for after the pub and while it never hits the heights of say, Tremors, with the right group of mates this should be a lot of fun.
A likable and technically impressive comedy-horror.
Disappointingly, Grabbers is short on shlock and it's not very funny.
A hugely enjoyable, frequently funny creature feature that plays like an Irish version of Tremors ...
This Irish/British horror-comedy deals with menacing tentacles of an extraterrestrial kind, with an inspired premise, appealing cast and mix of laughs and thrills ensuring it's destined for cult status.
A bit hit and miss, but Richard Coyle leads a game cast.
Audience Reviews for Grabbers
Super Reviewer
It's a shame as this is quite a competently made film, certainly by the low standards of Irish cinema. Director Wright does an impressive job, showing a Spielberg influence in his camera movement and blocking. The cinematography makes rural Ireland look as good as it did when John Ford filmed "The Quiet Man" here. Films shot in my country are generally visually incompetent but this will do the tourism board no harm at all. For it's budget, the FX are quite good, far better than a SyFy original movie and on a par with most Hollywood blockbusters.
Ireland has never really taken to the visual arts, we're much too busy patting ourselves on the backs for a literary and theatrical tradition which has been dead for well over a century. Not counting second generation emigres like Ford and Huston, we've never produced a great film-maker. We do however manufacture many fine actors and the ensemble cast is by far this movie's strongest point, featuring some great craggy-faced character actors to complement the two charismatic leads. Bradley is a real find, one of those performers that instantly makes you feel you've been watching her for years. Coyle is actually an Englishman but his Irish accent is probably the most authentic I've heard from a foreign actor.
All this good work is in vain as the script is dull and cliched and frankly quite insulting if you're Irish. The "comic" twist is that the sea monsters are allergic to alcohol so the locals all end up getting sloshed in the pub as a means of survival. Apparently this is considered funny enough in itself so the writer excuses himself from giving us any witty dialogue or situations. It's bad enough that the rest of the world portrays us as drunken clowns, do we really need to enforce it ourselves?
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
The Hangover 3, The Purge, and More
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Primetime Preview: Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge, and More 11
- Primetime Preview: Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow and More 0
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 2
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 80
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 4
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 37
Top Headlines
-
Fox Animated Series, ABC Comedies Tumble in Sunday Ratings
0
-
Bong Joon-ho Reportedly "Furious" About Snowpiercer Cuts
0
-
Record-Setting Number of Films Competing in Foreign-Language Oscar Race
0
-
Woody Allen Cancels Blue Jasmine's India Premiere
1
-
Lionsgate Wants Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence's Burial Rites
1
-
ABC Plans Kevin Hart-Inspired Series
0
-
The Shining's Danny Torrance Is All Grown Up
1
