In the Irish horror comedy Grabbers, an isolated Irish island is attacked by tentacled, bloodsucking alien space monsters. Here’s the inventive device that could have resulted in a cult classic – it turns out that alcohol is toxic to the monsters, so the residents can survive as long as they keep a high enough level of alcohol in their bloodstreams. Pretty funny, right? I could imagine the colorful villagers in Waking Ned Devine helping each other to stay drunk, but not too drunk.
Unfortunately, the bit about the effects of alcohol doesn’t appear until halfway through, and the real focus in on the romantic conflict between the pretty and highly professional cop from Dublin and the drunken local Garda – an obvious story that we’ve seen in every bad romantic comedy. What we’re left with is a low-budget horror flick with a trite “Will they get together?” thread. Too bad.
Grabbers is available streaming from Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, GooglePlay and other VOD sources.