Director: Jon Wright
Year: 2012
Country: Ireland/United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature, Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Following the discovery of an alien species, a small island off the Irish coast finds themselves trapped with the creatures and using the realization that alcohol is poisonous to the creatures in order to combat them and find a way to get off the island alive.
Review:
This here turned out to be quite the enjoyable and entertaining effort. A lot of this one's fun comes from the absurd concept at play, which is both strikingly original and a ton of fun overall. There's the main element at play here with this one centering on a quirky yet still fun-loving and goofy group out in the Irish coastline that makes for a truly easy time getting into this one with the rather funny jokes and goofy situations providing a great base upon the film for it to play it later during the invasion. The manner in which it's discovered about the probable manner of being able to beat the monsters off furthers this goofy and rather silly attitude quite well as there's a great deal of silly sight gags and goofy situations put into play here by utilizing this concept which really works well for the film. From the continuous Irish stereotypes about being drunk to the goofiness of trying to get the creature under control alongside the utterly silly drunken antics at the bar trying to keep everyone from discovering the creatures are on the loose that are hilarious, this one has a lot of laughs throughout here.
Still, like most good horror/comedies this one knows when to switch off the laughs and really bring out the suspense which is the case here since there's plenty of rather chilling and engaging confrontations with the creature starting with the opening attack on the boat in the middle of the storm as it takes out the crew one-by-one while remaining unseen due to the storm, the utterly chilling encounter at the farmhouse where it launches a series of attacks against the inhabitants crashing into the landscape around it while continuously going after the different members of the house and the rather fun search of the water-side caves where they discover the larger creature hiding out which are all quite fun and enjoyable scenes. As well, once that large creature arrives at the end and begins launching a fine series of attacks against the pub, this makes for a constant stream of intense and creepy encounters both with the full-size creature and the miniature ones wrecking havoc and forcing some rather fun means of defending them off which really sells this one quite well in delivering some solid and engaging action. That also extends into the final measure used to finish them off which is quite ingenious and rather exciting as well, making for a well-rounded finale.
There's also the rather nice way in which this one manages to go about discovering the creatures and their abilities, which are quite logical and actually use some sound deductive reasoning rather than just jumping to conclusions in order to tell it's story. There's a lot of good work done here with how they operate and where they come from, making this one quite a nice discovery here. Coming up with the civilian discovery and holding it in the scientific lab from the town drunk that nobody believes after the initial discovery in their traps and then turning into the series of discoveries that comes about here where it nearly killing them trying to break out of confinement makes for some good times with this one. That leads this one into how they discovery nearly everything they do about the creature from it's anatomy to the special offensive and defensive capabilities it has. Along with a great-looking creature when it's on-screen and gets to let loose there's enough to like here that it does manage to hold up enough over the one lone flaw here.
The film does seem to take a long time waiting to unleash the giant creature which really doesn't have a lot of screen-time anyway and it seems to somewhat falter in the pacing due to that, especially in the middle when it's all exposition about the creatures and the discovery of them. From them teasing her about her stuffy nature compared to their laid-back drunken islander lifestyle taking up a majority of the time alongside their scientific discoveries, the different elements found in the story really take up some time to get this one going fully. Still, it's the only thing here really holding this one back.
For the most part, the cast here is certainly worthwhile and handles the material well. The residing officer on the island, Richard Coyle is great as the older officer Garda Ciarán O'Shea. His lackadaisical attitude to the job and constant state of drunkenness makes for an easy-going, fun-loving person and that rubs off on the others when he's forced to be the sober one during the fight against the aliens. He's likable, funny and definitely manages to set the proper tone for the events to come due to his personable attitude.
As Garda Lisa Nolan who comes to the island, Ruth Bradley is incredible in her role which really carries this one nicely. After initially appearing as the no-nonsense, by-the-book mainland officer when she first arrives, the looser and more free-spirited she gets the drunker she is creates a winning character. It allows her to be sweet, charming, silly yet also quite the hard-nosed, strict officer so the changes afford to her are quite fun to see play out.
The other fun role here is Dr. Jim Gleeson played by Pascal Scott. Every bit the neurotic scientist who's in way over his head, the half-baked ideas he spits forth and the frustration he receives in trying to be the one to identify everything about the creatures invading the island creates a rather enjoyable and funny sidekick to the whole affair. The rest of the cast here does incredibly well with the series of locals familiar with everyone else and their fun-loving antics and really offers this one a lot to like overall.
Overview: **** 1/2/5
With plenty of fun to be had here with the mix of comedy and horror that the United Kingdom does so well and not too many flaws, this one has so much to like here. There's not too many flaws to be had as well which makes this one a suitable offering for any fan of creature features or love the wacky side of British horror comedies while those that don't find that kind of film enjoyable anyway should heed caution with this one.
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