Grabbers

Grabbers

Directed by: Jon Wright

UK/Ireland, 2012

Horror/Comedy/Sci-Fi, 94min

Distributed by: Noble Entertainment

Tentacles are go! I love tentacle monster movies, and Grabbers is tentacles and aliens from another dimension galore. This is a real treat for fans of easy-going sci-fi with some laughs and sticky horror with a heart at the core.

On the remote Irish island, Erin Island, peace and calm is the way of the world. But then, and there’s always a but, something falls into the sea just off shore, something from another world. Three fishermen go missing when the unseen something attacks them from out of the water. A new day dawns, and Garda Lisa Nolan [Ruth Bradley] steps of the ferry to spend a two week vacation from her regular position as Garda in Dublin, only to be met by her, for a fortnight temporary colleague Garda Ciarán O’Shea [Richard Coyle]. O’Shea nursing a huge hangover as he’s a raging alcoholic takes her right out to the beach where a pod of stranded whales – with vicious lacerations – have been swept ashore. Marine Biologist Dr. Adam Smith [Russell Tovey] has no sane explanation for the lacerations or why the whales have died… but the audience has already started putting pieces together as they know from the initial attack that there’s something out there in the water. (But not for long!) Later that night drunken fisherman Paddy [Lalor Roddy] tells Shea of the strange beast he caught in his nets the night before, a monster that he has captive in his bathtub at home. Not much more need be said before Paddy get’s back to his home and is attacked by the beast. After stomping it to what he thinks is to its death, he takes it to Smith who calls in Nolan and Shea. When the creature comes back to life and starts lashing out at them, they know they have a problem on their hands… a problem with two dozen tentacles and an appetite for human blood!

Grabbers is a fine piece of sci-fi horror meshed with Saturday afternoon matinee a dash of comedy. It's not to scary, not too much sci-fi, not to schlocky and not to demanding of its audience. It’s an easy ride and gentle fare with some really outstanding special effects.

Playing by all the rules, the movie takes its time to set up the lead characters – even tossing in a red herring to explain certain of their traits, keeps the alien space monster off screen as long as possible and when it brings it on, oh my god what a beautiful sight! As far as CGI monsters go this one is a real delight, the design, the way it moves and the way it is used is top notch.

The comedy angle is subtle, and plays off prejudice that Irish are drunks. Well in this case it works to their benefit, as being drunk is what can save the inhabitants of the small island from being eaten by the alien. Interaction between locals is fun and despite all their flaws and motifs for animosity, there's a mutual respect and affection for everybody when push comes to shove.

There’s something of a classic rom-com subplot where Shea falls for Nolan more or less from square one, and talking about squares, his rival is found in stiff British marine biologist Dr. Smith. Obviously Nolan shines a keen eye to Smith and Shea finds himself in a position where he needs to develop as a character to gain her heart… which he does when he decides to quit his alcoholism in an act of nobility so that he can save his fellow villagers.

Richard Coyle is getting some interesting and cool parts these days after playing second fiddle for a long time. Central characters of versatility such as Wallace in Outpost: Black Sun, Frank in the Pusher remake, and Garda Clarán O’Shea in Grabbers. He’s come quite far since being the goofy welsh lad on Coupling, and hopefully we will get to see him progress with further great parts to come.

Grabbers, out on DVD from Noble Entertainment now, perfect for the weekend.

Outcast

Outcast

Directed by:  Colm McCarthy

Ireland/UK, 2010

Horror/Drama, 98min         

Low-key horror isn’t a bad thing; it can be quite the opposite when done in the right way. If you master the skills to tell an entertaining story and keep things interesting, you can be as low key as you want. Scotsman Colm McCarthy, with a firm background in directing for TV, presents a spellbinding and captivating tale of ancient rivals, pagan rituals and mythical magic in his feature debut Outcast.

Mary [Kate Dickie] and her teenage son Fergal  [Niall Bruton] move into a housing project area in Edinburgh. In the flat next to them lives Petronella [Hanna Stanbridge] and Tomatsk [Josh Whitelaw], who Petronella takes care of, as their mother is an insufficient. Petronella, a rather tough girl, soon takes a liking to Fergal, who responds to her emotions. The two of them struggle with their feelings, whilst ignoring the warnings and reprimands of Mary. Beyond the housing project, come Liam [Ciarán McMenamin] and Cathal [James Nesbit], searching for Mary and Fergal. Cathal covered with tattoos of ancient symbols granting him magic power, fully intent on finding the “boy” and killing him. But there’s also something dark and violent hiding in the dusk corners of the housing projects that has just started to prey on the residents there.

Fantasy, magic, supernatural, dark force themed horror can go terribly bad if it’s done in the wrong way – Supernatural may have run a number of seasons, but it’s still shite in my eyes, the wrong kind in my oppinion. Colm McCarthy manages to hammer this one right and brings a great little film to life. Characters are introduced during the first act: Petronella is not only a gentle character caring for her retarded brother and alcoholic mother, but she also has a reputation for being a tough lass. She takes no shit from former boyfriend James, and even taunts him in a way her that her friend Ally [Fifth Doctor Who's, Karen Gillan, and also first victim of the monster] reacts to being a possible danger for her. Petronella is a character with dimension, fully capable of doing good, and doing bad if needed, which makes it easier for the audience to empathize with her. Life is complex, and so should movie character be too.

Although the highlight of the piece is given by Kate Dickie as Mary, witch and mother of Fergal. If there’s one person’s torment I empathise with is hers. A single parent on the run with a teenage son. If there’s was ever a character to make me feel as if I was watching a piece of English social realism drama about the struggle of every day life, then it’s the Mary character, and Dickie’s great performance. But where others go amiss, Mary has her pagan powers. Her powers as a witch are proven throughout the movie, from early on where she performs a ritual, painting protective runes on the wall with her own hair and blood. The way she put’s a curse on the Housing Officer [Christine  Tremarco] is haunting, cold and right to the point. No Hollywood messing around, a few words chanted and the woman is cursed, no sound effects to be heard, no silly visuals, just two stern performances that sell the illusion completely and create a magnificently eerie scene. It’s damned good stuff and she contrasts the witchery with a concerned mother performance that hit’s the mark perfectly.

But for all this to work we need a stern set of rules. Outcast has stern rules, rules for Cathal, rules for Fergal and most likely unspoken rules for Mary too. What I really liked about this film is that the rules are never exaggerated or proclaimed in a way to be completely clear for everyone, but told more in an intelligent way, as if the characters where merely reminding each other of the rules. Fergal is told to  "stay out of fights and stay away from girls", a rather generic set of rules, but in the larger picture definitely rules to obey, especially as there’s something lurking in the darkness of the projects. After the magic runes are tattooed into the skin of Cathal, he only has a month to hunt “the boy” before the magic wears off, He can only use them to hunt down the boy and kill him, none other. We all know that as soon as someone proclaims a set of rules, they will be broken and there will be consequences, which brings a natural driving force to the film and builds a sublime suspense.

Several Sub-plots are used to keep the movie alive, such as the one concerning the monster in the back alley. There’s a brief, but scheming sub plot, which gives a larger image concerning Laird [James Cosmo] who Cathal at first must ask permission to go on his “hunt”.  There’s also a well used subplot focusing on a monster that lurks in the dark, before pouncing on it’s unfortunate victims, bringing them a violent gory death. This sub plot obviously drives the question of who the “monster” can be. Is it Fergal, Cathal, Toma, Petronella or someone else in the terrace? Amusingly the monster sub-plot of the movie more or less takes a second seat to the story arcs concerning the constellations of characters. The backstory of how most of them are connected is hinted at and not written on the viewers nose.

There are some good jump scares and a decent level of violence, which is often pretty cold, hard and completely lacking remorse.  James Nesbit breaking some unfortunate youth’s fingers is a rough moment, and then there are some fast effective gore scenes to keep that part of the audience at bay. Keeping the Creature off screen as long as possible is a great trick and that’s exactly how McCarthy plays it. Only showing us titbits of an anatomy keeps whatever’s out there more intimidating that anything he can show us, and it also keeps the identity a secret too. When it’s all revealed it still is in such a restrained form that it never really becomes one of those classic anti-climaxes where you clearly see what’s what. Good confusion still works like a charm.

Outcast could possibly have taken some inspiration from Romeo and Juliet. Petronella, is warned not to pursue her relationship / fling with Fergal, but does so anyway, and there's a price to pay. It also has a coming of age theme, as Mary on several occasions warns Fergal from “being around girls”. One could take a Freudian approach to the subject matter and refer to it as a metaphor for puberty, when young bodies change, and transform into other shapes than those they have been used to.  It could also be read as a Mike Leigh, or a Ken Loach toned homage. It has that look and feel to it that those great English kitchen-skink realism movies have, but with the horror angle. You know the feeling, you can never really relax, you are always tense, because the bottom can fall through and everything can go to hell at any moment. I’d also say that there’s a Let the Right One In/Let Me In vibe the movie too, as the audience can have an emotional recognition with Mary and her despair, but also the frustration, excitement and teenage lust, despite the punishment of breaking rules between Fergal and Petronella.

Colm McCarthy’s Outcast was an impressive surprise. I though it would be a mediocre time killer, but found a captivating and engaging movie instead. I would definitely recommend it and eagerly look forward to seeing McCarthy’s next venture into horror genre cinema.

Dead Meat

Dead Meat
Directed by: Connor McMahon, Ireland, 2004
Horror, 80 min
Distributed by: Scanbox Entertainment Sweden AB

Story:
Helena [Marián Araújo] and her husband find themselves lost on the Irish landscape. After accidentally hitting a guy with their car they put him in the back to take him to a doctor. But before they get very far he bites a big chunk out of Martin’s [David Ryan] neck. This is just the start of Helena’s forty eight hours in hell as she soon learns that zombies have come back to life and are feeding on everyone they can put their hands on.

Me:
Honest to the genre and financed through funding from the Irish state, McMahon’s low budget zombie movie definitely delivers the goods. The opening is classic zombie movie formula. Along the way the Helena character meets new friends and foes who together try to outlive the zombies. The quiet but wise gravedigger Desmond [David Muyllaert] with his trusty shovel, the aggressive and strange Cathal Cheunt [Eoin Whelan] who acts as a composite of all the prejudices about Irishmen, and his wife Francie [Amy Redmond]. Towards the ending of the movie he shifts the focus from the zombies and has mad cows be the attackers, yes this has a humorous effect but the actors just take it for what it is and don’t go overboard with it, and he manages to squeeze in a great Jurassic Park 1993 homage in the scene too. There are several very scary scenes, especially when the four of them are surrounded by zombies in the pitch black as their car has stalled in the mud. Cheap but well made effects keep the gore on the right side for a zombie movie. Very much in the tone of George A Romero’s zombie movies dark, downbeat and not much time wasted on explaining the reason for the zombie invasion McMahon obviously has passion for his film. He uses conventional approaches but surprises by throwing in interesting scenes to his movie. There is one scene where Helena uses her high heel shoes as weapons, and after this is forced to walk around without shoes for a while. It could easily not have become an issue, but I like it because it adds to the character vulnerability that genre movies often seem to forget. There are a lot of references to movies within the genre, mostly the above mentioned George A. Romero’s movies obviously. There's an arm decapitation right out of Day of the Dead 1985, but that’s fine because even though he takes time to homage his hero’s McMahon manages to create a good movie and a respectful entry into a genre where many fail to bring something new to the table. Shot on location in Ireland the surroundings and atmosphere are great and the many abandoned castles make great creepy settings.

Image:
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1

Audio:
For an independent short movie like this the choices of Dolby Digital 5.1 or dts is fantastic. Subtitles in Swedish, Finnish, Danish or Norwegian are optional

Extras:
Here you will find, Mad Cows and Zombies, a twenty minute documentary on the making of the movie and how it came to be. McMahon’s earlier short movie Brain Eater, the original trailer and even there’s even an audio commentary by the director.