Grabbers (2012)
Grabbers is essentially Irish Tremors via Shaun of the Dead. And if that doesn't sell you then I don't think you can experience joy, and you may want to get that checked.
The story follows a small community of people on an Irish island that come under attack from invading tentacle creatures that drink blood. It's a pretty straight forward plot that benefits from a tight script and solid pacing, plus a lot of great acting and nice CGI/practical effects. The cast is pretty great, and hey it also has Russell Tovey(Alonso from Dr Who) to boot.
As far as I know this is only one of four films by director Jon Wright, so I should make it a point to check out the others. The most recent one was release this past January and is called Unwelcome, and Wright described it as 'Gremlins meets Straw Dogs'. So yeah.
8/10
The Deadly Spawn (1983)
This is one that I had been meaning to watch for a long, long time as I would always see pictures of the gruesome toothy monsters and figured I was missing out. While it embodies some of the best elements of low budget 80's horror schlock, it's also a bit of a slow trek to get to the good bits.
The story is pretty much just a a meteorite lands, has a monster that eats people, and it starts to spawn and leave little monsters and they slowly invade a small rural area. You have to sit through a lot of people chatting about how weird these monsters are and a slow progression of different people being eaten in the basement one by one, but when the monster bits hit they're pretty fun. The core monster is a big clunky puppet, but they had fun with the design and shots are well planned enough that it doesn't look too rubbery.
The acting is.....mostly fine. You really can't wait for the monster to eat everyone though, and it's very regarding one people start getting picked off. The lunch party of grandmas all being attacked by worms full of teeth is especially rewarding.
It's not the sort of movie I would say is a 'must see', but it's an interesting footnote in this kind of genre.
6/10
Society (1989)
This is a movie that's best to recommend without giving away a single spoiler. There's a nice BluRay available from Arrow, but even that movie cover spoils the film a little too much, so I went with this older poster.
Super quick spoiler free setup is that the main character Bill is the son of rich parents who he doesn't trust. Feeling like he doesn't belong, he starts to get more and more suspicious as odd things start to happen involving his sister, his therapist, and various other rich kids in school. Surrounded by constant suspicion and what he thinks is the start of a nervous breakdown, Bill slowly finds himself dragged into a seedy conspiracy that gets weirder and weirder.
This is directed by Brian Yuzna, who was also the producer of Re-Animator, From Beyond, Warlock, The Guyver, and The Guyver. Also, oddly enough, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. So, y'know, let all of that build up some expectations for you. He's very into body horror and being as weird and creepy as possible, usually with a lot of practical effects. Effects were done by Screaming Mad George, and boy do I wish he was doing more stuff these days.
Theme wise this also holds up pretty well, and while it's very literal in its social allegory it somehow doesn't feel like it's beating you over the head with it. The weird body horror and other schlock kinda softens that blow, oddly enough, but not enough to take away the relevance.
This is definitely not for everyone, but if you're in the mood for some really great (horrible) body horror and a lot of gloopy effects then this is worth checking out.
8/10
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