Movies
AFM ’10: Underground Horror in ‘Grabbers’!
Now in production from Salt is a new Irish/UK horror comedy from director Jon Wright. In the vein of Gremlins and Tremors comes Grabbers, which follows an odd-couple of policeman on Erin island suddenly find themselves dealing with dead whales, decapitated fishermen and tentacle sea creatures called “Grabbers.” As it turns out, the monsters consider alchoholic blood toxic, so the officers must get the entire town drunk off their asses in order to fend off the attack. Check out the art and a long synopsis inside.
“ciarán o’shea, the handsome though washed up policeman of sleepy erin island has a daily routine consisting mainly of hanging out at the local 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.“
Hollywood is serious about landing the next Backrooms. Hot on the heels of a Siren Head feature announcement, Deadline reports that a new movie based on viral YouTube series The Mandela Catalogue is in development.
It also has some Hollywood heavy hitters behind it.
Amblin Entertainment’s Steven Spielberg, United Artists’ Scott Stuber (Frankenstein), and Amazon MGM Studios are set to produce, emerging victorious after a highly competitive 11-studio bidding war.
Launched in 2021, the YouTube series is set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin which is “invaded by shape-shifting, nearly immortal creatures called Alternates. The Alternates are led by a false depiction of the Archangel Gabriel and their aim is to wipe out the human race by psychologically torturing them to the point of suicide. The Alternates are known for manipulating AV media, TVs, computers and GPS systems.”
The movie will be directed by the series’ creator, Alex Kister, based on a screenplay he adapted with Tyler Clifton.
The Mandela Catalogue has racked up an impressive 100 million views across its official episodes alone, solidifying it as one of the largest original analog horror franchises on YouTube.
Spielberg and Holly Bario are producing for Amblin Entertainment alongside Aaron B. Koontz for Paper Street Pictures and Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists. Kister and Clifton are also producing. Annie McCreery will oversee the project for United Artists. Maria Fortese will oversee for Amblin.
Get acquainted with The Mangela Catalogue below while we wait to learn more.