20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Sharktopus, The Squid and the Whale – people everywhere love nothing better than a movie whose main villain is an eight-armed suction cup-covered sea creature from the deepest parts of the ocean’s recesses (OK, The Squid and the Whale is a stretch).
Variety is now reporting that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has recently bought the UK rights to the upcoming Irish horror-comedy Grabbers.
The movie, which recently began filming in Belfast and Donegal, is directed by independent filmmaker Jon Wright and was written by Kevin Lehane. Special FX house Nvizible – whose most recent work can be seen in the films Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Clash of the Titans – has signed on to work on the digital creature effects for Grabbers.
While the title conjures memories of the cult-favorite Tremors (anyone remember the video game Graboids?), the story for Grabbers is unique and sounds completely hilarious. Check out the synopsis and first poster below:
Ciarán O’Shea, the handsome though washed up policeman of sleepy Erin Island, has a daily routine consisting mainly of hanging out at the pub with the local drunks and various other charmingly eccentric characters. But his day is about to go horribly wrong.
Teamed up with the unwanted help of Lisa – an uptight workaholic policewoman from the Irish mainland – they suddenly find themselves dealing with dead whales, decapitated fishermen and weird alien creatures or “grabbers”. Like a giant squid with tentacles, fanged jaws and a three-foot barbed tongue, they’re making mincemeat of the locals.
Faced with another imminent attack, O’Shea and Lisa figure out that the only person to survive the last onslaught only did so because he was so drunk his blood was literally toxic to the monsters. So there is only one thing for it: They have to get the entire village as drunk as possible in order to survive the night … a task that the villagers apply themselves to with gusto.
But one person must remain sober so for the first time in years O’Shea has to face up to things without a drink. When things don’t go to plan, an extremely drunk Lisa and a very sober O’Shea have to reconcile their differences and somehow save the day.
Grabbers stars Richard Coyle (Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time) , Bronagh Gallagher (Sherlock Holmes), Russell Tovey, Stuart Graham, Jonathan Ryan (The Tudors) and Roz McCutcheon.
So to recap – when an island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by bloodsucking aliens, the heroes discover that getting drunk is the only way to survive…hilarity ensues. Surely I can’t be the only person looking forward to seeing Grabbers on the big screen? Sadly, U.S. audiences may have to wait for it on DVD or NetFlix Instant Que because Sony has only secured the UK rights.
I think the tagline for the movie sums everything up quite nicely – “In 1759 Ireland invented the pint. In 2012 it’ll save their lives.” If Grabbers turns out as fun to watch as it sounds in concept, then the film will join the ranks of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead as one of the great horror/comedies in recent cinema history.
Grabbers makes you down a fifth to stay alive in 2012.
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Source: Variety
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Surely you can be drunk as a sack AND fight the monster??! What kind of Irishmen are these??
Meaning NO ONE should have to remain sober. Disgraceful!
This sounds awesome. No one under a .08 should be able to watch it.
The script is hilarious and really lives up to its concept. I’ve been waiting for news on this for ages and can’t wait to see it. Also from what I read on Twitter the US rights are expected to be snapped up at Cannes where the trailer is debuting.
Druken Irishmen and aliens, count me in!
Sounds alot like a visit from my Irish relatives… minus the sober policeman.
The Irish FEAST
I couldnt stop laughing when i read this, will see it when it comes over here.
I think it will be excellent the story is brill I’m so there too see ir
WELL THATS LOVELY,, DRUNK IRISH,, YOU SUBJECT US TO BEEN DRUNK,STUPID,SILLY,A JOKE, COME OF IT, WERE NOT THIS STEREO TYPE OF IRISH. WE MIGHT HAVE INVENTED DRINK BUT MANY OTHER CULTURES, AND COUNTRIES INVENTED DRINK TOO. WERE NOT STUPID, YOU ARE INSULTING THE IRISH IN AMERICA,, YOU THINK YOU KNOW IRELAND FROM THE OUTSIDE,,, WERE NOT JUST PADDY AND MICK, BUT DONT GO POSTING ON YOUR WEBSITE DRUNK IRISH – YOU ARE OFFENDING US ALL – YOU ARE OFFENDING ALL OF US BY POSTING THAT – CHANGE IT – NOW! GET THIS WHOLE STORY OF THIS FILM OF THIS PAGE NOW ! WE AS IRISH ARE NOT HAVING THIS, WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE MADE A FOOL OF,, TAKE THIS PAGE DOWN NOW! YOU ARE INSULTING EVERY IRISH PERSON WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED,AND WORKED VERY VERY HARD IN BUILDING THE GREAT U S OF A ,,, WE ARE A VERY HIGHLY INSPIRATIONAL COUNTRY,, AND IT SEEMS IT VERY POPULAR TO BE PICKING AND MAKING FOOLISH RUBBISH ABOUT OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PEOPLE,, FIRST WE HAD JAY LENO AND HE NOW HAS A TREND GOING I WILL NOT BE VISITING THIS SITE THANK YOU FOR INSULTING THE IRISH,, THE MORE YOU MAKE FOOLS OF US THE MORE YOU WILL BECOME THE FOOLS ,, THIS IS VERY VERY UNFAIR YOU WONT PICK ANYONE ELSE ,, ITS A DISGRACE , ANY OTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE AND IT WOULD BE SEEN AS RACIEST, SAYING THE DRUNKIN IRISH IS LIKE SAYING THE N WORD TO AFRICAN AMERICAN ,, SO I DONT CARE I HAVE ENOUGH WITH US IRISH BEEN MADE A LAUGHING STOCK AT THE MOMENT FOR SOME STUPID STUFF, AND NOW A STUPID FILM, IT REALLY GETS TO US , WERE NOT ALL DRUNKS, WE GAVE THE WORLD MOST OF YOUR MOVIE INDUSTRY – ESPECIALLY COMPUTER GRAPHICS THE THEORY AND THE MATHS OF IT,, WE GAVE YOU OSCAR WILD, JAMES JOYCE,WE GAVE YOU RICHARD HARRIS, PETER O TOOL, COLIN FARREL,BREDAN GLEESON, U2,THE SCRIPT,THE SONG THAT ELVIS SUNG MY BOY WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR FINEST SONGWRITERS PHIL COULTER, WE GAVE YOU JFK, RONALD REGAN, BARRACK OBAMA, MOHAMID ALI, THAT TO NAME ABOUT A FEW AND YOU SUBJECT US TO BEEN DRUNK ALL THE TIME – THINK AGAIN WHEN YOU POST SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND ALSO WE DID INVENT COMEDY BUT IT THE RIGHT WAY, WE CAN AND ALWAYS LAUGH AND MAKE JOKES OF OUR SELFS , WE HAVE ALLOT OF WIT AND FUN BUT WE DO IT IN A WAY WHERE ITS FRIENDLY AND INCLUDES EVERYBODY,, YEAH THE DRUNK THE DRUNK THE SILLY OL DRUNK BUT WE ARE MORE THAN THAT SO PLEASE CORRECT YOUR WORDING ,, IT JSUT DOES NOT LOOK RIGHT DRUNKEN IRISH IT REALY PUTS US ALL DOWN,, ANBD THIS FILM AND REPORTING ON IT WONT HELP, YOUR ENTITLED OUT OF FREEDOM TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT AS LONG AS YOU DONT OFFEND WELL YOU HAVE OFFENDED US ALL AND IRELAND RIGHT NOW DOES NOT NEED THIS RIGHT NOW AND A FILM WITH THE USUAL STEREO TYPICAL DRUNKEN IRISH ,,,, WELL I SADI ENOUGH–
You realise this is an Irish film made by Irish people starring Irish actors and funded by Irish backers? If no one in Ireland has a problem with it, what’s your problem?
Calm down Brian (is O’Toole your last name…I kid, I kid). Were you drunk when you wrote this and wtf is wrong with your caps key? Seems like it’s stuck on.
How am I supposed to take you seriously when you write things like this:
“WE GAVE YOU JFK, RONALD REGAN, BARRACK OBAMA, MOHAMID ALI” – lol I mean come on!
…and this fine quip…
“SAYING THE DRUNKIN IRISH IS LIKE SAYING THE N WORD TO AFRICAN AMERICAN” – *facepalm*