Grabbers (2012)

Grabbers is like a family inside joke. A movie whose central plot revolves around a load of Donegal people being spectacularly drunk? It’s ok for us to make it but someone else had made it, they would be in for a Paddington style hard stare.

However, this is a gem of horror comedy that punches far above its weight and its meagre budget.

Spoiler Free Synopsis

Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) travels to provide holiday relief to permanently sozzled colleague Garda Ciarán O’Shea (Richard Coyle, from the chilling adventures of Sabrina doing a fine Irish accent). While there, however it becomes clear that they are cut off from the mainland and under attack by man-eating monsters. This alien menace seems undefeatable with an insatiable appetite. Until, that it, our heroes with the help of Russel Tovey’s boffin,  discover that the monster’s Achilles’ heel is alcohol.
Our rubbery monsters can’t abide booze, or the taste of any human who’s been imbibing.

Can the gang remain blotto enough to save the day?

Is it any good?

One of the joys of comedy horror is the fun you can have with clichés and tropes- and clichés abound here. Bradley’s uptight teetotal Lisa, and Coyle’s shambolic but heroic O’Shea would be boring stereotypes in a drama, but there are great foils in the island’s eccentric group of characters. Add to this Tovey (Years and Years, Him and Her, Being Human) really enjoying himself, chewing the scenery. And what scenery it is, with Rathlin Island and Innishowen standing in for the fictional Errin Island.  The SFX aren’t spectacular but the charm and genuine odd scare more than make up for them, and for movie fans there are loads of nods to classics such as Alien and Jaws.
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As of March 2020, it’s streaming in the U.S. on Hulu and available for rent or purchase on loads of platforms. Definitely one to wrap your tentacles around

You might like this if you enjoyed: 
Shaun of the Dead, Lake Placid, Tremors