Leprechauning Around - A Leprechaun Franchise Retrospective

In 1993, Mark Jones wrote, and directed a film about a killer Leprechaun and films were changed forever.  Though not really.  It seems that no one cares about these movies at all, but a lot of people secretly enjoy or own them.  I have determined that the franchise has legs only due to curiosity.  That being said, most everyone who likes them ironically enjoys these movies.  Is the franchise good, bad, or ugly?  Today I attempt to answer that with a look at the first four of the seven movies in this series.

In Leprechaun 1, we find that Warwick Davis has dressed as the mythical leprechaun and begins to terrorize Jennifer Aniston and Mark Holton as well as some other people I don't care about when Aniston playing Tory finds a crate in the basement of the house her and her dad have just moved into and accidentally knocks the four leaf clover off of it.  As it turns out, four leaf clovers are poison to Leprechauns and have some magical trapping power over them.

You might know Mark Holton as Francis from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.  In this he plays mentally challenged manchild Ozzie who works with some hunky painter and a kid.  This is every bit as offensive as you might think it would be.  The kid and Ozzie discover the Leprechaun's gold and Ozzie accidentally swallows one.  Yeah this movie is that stupid.

Anyway, horror tropes ensue and we get a killer Leprechaun riding a tricycle and killing people.  At the end the kid shoots a four leaf clover into Warwick's mouth with a slingshot saying, "Fuck you Lucky Charms."  That is sadly the best part of this movie.  This film isn't terrible, it just isn't that great.  If you want to see Jennifer Aniston her first major role, it is interesting to see her play someone so young.  Warwick is entertaining enough, but I wonder if the role is a bit offensive to people of his general size.  In any case he seems to have a good sense of humor about it.  Overall, it's okay.  Not good or bad.

Luck has nothing to do with it indeed.  The first one was so popular (I guess) that they just had to make a sequel.  The sequel is in name only however.  The movie opens up with a storybook type thing and some time in the past the Leprechaun has enslaved a man to do his bidding.  He wants to make some girl his wife and the guy enslaved by Warwick discovers the girl is his daughter, so he sabotages the Leprechaun's plans and forces him to lay dormant until modern-ish day where he finds the descendant of the girl and she surprisingly looks no different.

This time around the Leprechaun has taken to rhyming and does so constantly, making ridiculous jokes as he kills his victims all while trying to bang some blonde chick.  This really adds to the enjoyment of the movie.  The kills are ridiculous, and entertaining as well.  The cast of good guys are Cody, the guy going out with the descendant girl who lives with his uncle and drives a car for some Haunted Tour thing.  Morty, his con artist uncle (I know a bit about having con artist relatives) who is kind of a useless drunk.  Then there is Bridgette, the generic pretty blonde girl who is the reincarnation of the girl from the opening.

Overall this is probably the best Leprechaun movie.  It is funny, and has a bit of violence in it, and you see the chest of a naked lady for a second.  This movie won't change your life, you may not even enjoy it, but it is a solid enough effort.

Full disclosure here, I love Las Vegas.  I am obsessed with its history, culture, and downfall.  So I feel that I am too biased to really give this one an accurate review.  This was the last movie to film on Freemont Street before the Freemont Street Experience screen was built over the area.  Look that up if you like.  At the time it was required to breathe new life into a struggling area.  I love Freemont, so this throws off my ability to decide if this movie sucks or not.  I also love Blackjack and Craps.

There is a lot of gambling in this movie for a film about leprechauns.  A young guy is on his way to college when he stops off in Vegas and helps a girl who in on her way to work.  She works as the assistant to a not so great magician working in a dive casino where this movie takes place.  So people get a hold of the Leprechaun's gold and make wishes with it.  Meanwhile Warwick is out to get his gold back and kill them.

The movie mostly takes place in a seedy pawn shop, a seedy casino, and a hospital.  The magician character is hilarious and reminds me vaguely of someone I know, so I love his character.  He is the best part of the movie.  There is also a plot where the college kid gets leprechaun blood on him and starts to slowly become part leprechaun.  It is stupid, but whatever.  A bit of nudity in this one as a woman comes out of a TV and starts getting naughty with a guy.  This movie also has one of the funniest horror movie deaths ever.  It involves the magic show.  I really like this movie, and have seen it more times than I care to admit.  Warwick rhymes more in this one too so that is cool.  I recommend this movie if you enjoyed the second one.

There isn't really any other way to put this. Leprechaun 4 is a stupid movie.  Essentially it is a bad Leprechaun sequel mixed with a bad Aliens rip off.  There a few scenes that are pretty funny.  This one guy urinates on Warwick after the crew kills him, and later when the guy is getting frisky with a chick the Leprechaun jumps out of his dick to kill him.  There is a part involving this Space Princess where she reveals her upper body assets to a character, which apparently is a death sentence where she's from.

Anyway, same old Leprechaun, same old tricks but in space.  I was surprised by the number of half decent practical effects for this movie though.  By half decent I mean for it's budget.  This movie also went to space before Jason did in Jason X so there is that.  Although this movie kind of sucks compared to Jason X.  No rhyming this time, which is too bad.  This movie is just plain dumb and not worth it overall, but if you like Warwick Davis and the Leprechaun franchise, I guess you could watch it, if you had to.

So in summary, here are the ratings.  Lep 1 is okay for what it is.  Lep 2 is better than it should be, but no masterpiece. Lep 3 is hilarious and entertaining but kind of stupid.  Lep 4 is downright dumb, but it's in space.  If you wonder what I thought about the other three in the franchise I will tell you quickly.

Leprechaun In the Hood is sort of entertaining.  It has a return of Warwick rhymes and a lot of other characters rhyme too.  It is funny, but not a good movie at all.  It does have Ice-T in it.  He is my favorite Def Jam Fight For New York Character.

Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood is so stupid.  Easily the worst of the franchise and Warwick seems to have gone goth in it as he wears a very black colored outfit.

Leprechaun Origins isn't really a part of the franchise.  No Warwick Davis, but we have Dylan Postl of WWE fame as the Leprechaun.  The Leprechaun isn't really a leprechaun though.  He is more of an Irish Monkey Demon Thing.  It should be called Irish Monkey Demon Thing: Origins.

So there you have it.  You can now watch or skip whichever you desire based on either my reviews or personal interest.  I don't know that the franchise is worth revisiting, but if you are bored with some friends on St. Patrick's Day and have some alcohol ready you might enjoy these movies.  Except Back 2 Tha Hood and Origins.  They just kind of suck.  Sorry Origins, I know you tried.