Fridae

A B-grade horror film featuring monsters from outer space needs very little budget, professional acting, production values, or even a finished script to work well. Just ask Ed Wood, who despite making the "worst films in history", did make films that are more imaginative and memorable than half the stuff we watch in cinemas these days. Jon Wright and Kevin Lehane take a leaf from the Ed Wood school of filmmaking in Grabbers, where the eccentric denizens of a sleepy village on the Irish coast fend off an invasion by monsters from outer space.

To its credit, Grabbers does have a small budget, some decent acting, and great production values (we see up close and in prolonged shots CGI and prosthetic space octopodes who come in three different designs) but its strongest suit is a premise so wacky and absurd, you can already picture how brilliantly nonsensical the resulting film will be.

What if these monsters from outer space, who feed on a modest diet of water and blood, are mortally allergic to alcohol? Then the stage would be set for a showdown in the village pub between very drunk, unreasonably brave, would-be heroes with atrocious motor skills and impaired judgements! As they say, "hilarity ensues!"

While living up to its promise of inspired lunacy, Grabbers takes a tad too long to get into its element. It's a charming, absurd film that plays for the laughs, but can afford to be even more absurd.