Leprechaun Returns (2018)

After many less than stellar sequels and an abomination of a movie attempting to retell the origins Syfy channel decided to take another bite at the Leprechaun apple with a direct sequel to the original flick as an attempt to ignore all the other sequels and prequels. It worked for Halloween so I suppose it could work here.

We are introduced to our main character, Lila, as she waits for her ride to pick her up. She has just transferred to a new school and joined a sorority that is fixing up an old house and trying to live off the grid. This has something to do with being green or that sort of thing. It is mentioned but isn’t important to the story other than to place the characters at the isolated house. What is important is that the house is the same one that Lila’s mother used to own. Yeah, she is the daughter of Jennifer Aniston’s character from the original movie.

As you would expect the girls end up disturbing the resting place of the Leprechaun and he returns in a most explosive way. The only recurring character is that of the handyman Ozzie, played again by Mark Holton, who unfortunately gets a bit of Leprechaun goo on him and ends up becoming his portal. The Leprechaun basically bursts from his stomach bringing that gold coin that I suppose has been in his colon for twenty-five years. From that point on it is a series of kills as the college kids are picked off by the angry little bastard who just wants his gold back. Though I suspect he would kill them even if he did get it.

Ozzie is back!

Honestly, I had very low expectations when I sat down to watch this one, but it is a Leprechaun flick so I’m going to soldier on regardless. This is pleasantly and surprisingly decent movie and one of the best I’ve seen from the franchise in years. The story is well constructed and wastes little time establishing the characters before unleashing the mayhem on them. I liked how they tied this into the first movie without making it feel forced or awkward. Clearly Jennifer Aniston wasn’t going to return for another low budget horror movie but choosing Ozzie as the bridge was inspired. In many ways he was the best character if not the actor with the best career afterwards.

The new characters/cast are all really good. There is some talent here in front of the camera and it is clear they are all giving it their best effort. That doesn’t always happen with a flick like this, so I appreciate it when I see it. The biggest concern that I had is the recasting of the titular Leprechaun as Warwick Davis wasn’t returning to the role. This wasn’t the filmmaker’s fault as Davis just didn’t want to do this movie. Still his performance was the reason that the sequels kept getting made so those were some big shoes to fill, pun not intended. Linden Porco does a wonderful job in the role and is every bit as snarky and funny as Davis was in his many times playing the character. This is clear early on and once I saw that I relaxed and kicked back to enjoy the craziness.

Love the creature design

Leprechaun Returns really is a crazy movie, especially considering it was made for T.V. The kills are cleverly staged and executed with practical effects work. In addition to Ozzie’s demise, which is fantastic and all onscreen. We get some gems like death by water sprinkler, a mail truck head smashing, death by drone, and another character is “awarded” their demise. Though my favorite kill in both execution and creativity is the death by solar panel gag. There is a lot to like here and I’ve not even mentioned the creature redesign of the titular character. Spoilers they do a fantastic job with that as well.

The next time you see a reboot or re-imagining of an old favorite of yours think about what could be. With a little bit of creativity, you can make a sequel and if things are too muddied you can ignore it by making it a direct sequel and sort of resetting things that way. If you make a good movie like we have here, then the fans will embrace it. If you haven’t seen Leprechaun Returns, then I highly recommend you correct that right away.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)

It is about to get weird up in Crappy Movie Reviews. I knew when I decided to tackle the Leprechaun series that I would do them completely out of order. But Leprechaun in Space couldn’t wait. Yeah, the little green bastard ends up doing his thing in the stars and battles with some space marines “Aliens” style! Might as well get right to the good stuff…

A ship is dispatched to a planet to deal with a monster that has been terrorizing the galaxy. That monster is the Leprechaun who is up to his old tricks. Not only is his planet full of gold, but he has also kidnapped a princess so that he might convince her to marry him. I guess the green fella wants to be a king as well as rich! The military types transport down and do battle with him which ends up with the princess injured and the Leprechaun in pieces. Well, I guess the movie is over after ten minutes. Of course it isn’t!

One of the marines decides to pee on the bits of the Leprechaun. That allows him to hitch a ride back in the man’s… well you can probably figure it out. Once he “escapes” in a very uncomfortable scene the rest of the movie is the Leprechaun fighting it out with the marines on the ship. Though he tells them that if they would only give the princess back he promises to leave them alive. But then after watching four of these movies I can see why the characters might have trust issues. Crazy stuff happens, lots of characters die, we get some mutations, and a giant Leprechaun! Good times are had by all.

This is one of those movies that I sit down to watch with limited expectations. It is very low budget, has a completely goofy plot, and is filled with questionable special effects. While I think that the first couple of entries into the franchise are decent flicks, this one is where the franchise starts to get silly. I know that annoys some fans, but me not so much. While I agree that Leprechaun 4 has issues the core of why I watch and enjoy these flicks is still there. Let me explain.

George Lucas is gonna sue somebody's ass!

Warwick Davis is great again in his role. His wisecracks are spot on and pretty much every attempt at humor hits the mark. The movie spends a lot of time focused on him, which is great. Regardless of budget as long as they give him screen time these movies work for me. The guy can act, has the charisma to carry a scene, and knows exactly how to play the character for laughs while still being scary. Though honestly, he really isn’t that scary here. I thought that casting genre regular Miguel A. Nunez was another fantastic choice. He also is fun to watch and helps to carry the scenes with the marines when the Leprechaun isn’t killing them. He also handles the silliness of the material well delivering his one-liners with skill and timing.

We get a lot of bad CGI when it comes to the spacecraft and when they land on the planet. But I’m okay with that as long as they get the creature right. The makeup effect work on the creature is again handled by Gabe Bartalos and it looks great. The one thing that would have made me hate Leprechaun 4 is if they had screwed up on the creature effects. Davis looks as cool in this movie as he has in any of the earlier entries so good job guys.

Be warned that I like cheesy flicks and Leprechaun 4: in Space falls squarely into that category. If you are looking to watch a serious horror movie this isn’t for you. With that in mind I recommend it.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Leprechaun (1993)

Time to take a closer look at another horror franchise. I thought it was about time that I poked around the franchise that gave Warwick Davis his horror cred by casting him as a leprechaun trying to protect his gold from greedy people. And of course, getting a bit homicidal along the way.

The first installment opens with a man returning home from Ireland with a bag full of gold. While in the old country for his mother’s funeral he captured a Leprechaun, forcing him to hand over his loot. Those are apparently the rules. I guess it isn’t against the rules for that same Leprechaun to track him down and retrieve the gold by any means necessary. Though the man manages to trap him in a crate, he has a heart attack before finishing the job.

Years later a new family moves into the house. The daughter, played by a very young pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston, and her dad hire some local housepainters to help clean up the place, which has fell into disrepair in the ten years since the little green guy was trapped. During this process they free the Leprechaun and he goes looking for his gold. Gold which a pair of them found earlier! A couple of people die before they cough up the loot to get the homicidal wee folk off their back. But they are short one coin which happens to be residing in the stomach of the man child Ozzie. Uh oh…

I’ve always liked Leprechaun. Warwick Davis has a lot of charisma and is having a blast playing the character. He manages to have some very funny dialogue all while being a gleeful maniac. Personally, I take his performance here over any of the Robert Englund Freddy movies, but to be fair I’m not a big Nightmare on Elm Street guy. Still that is how much I like Davis’ performance here. I do want to give credit to the script and direction which allows him to flourish in the role. Dialogue is clever and a bit cheeky at times, while never straying too far from the horror. And the way the movie is shot and edited makes it a fast-paced blast from start to finish.

The special effects work is stellar. While the movie is a bit light on kills, we still get some fun stuff. You have a nasty looking bite on the hand, a bear trap to the leg, claws to the face, and death by pogo stick. Now it isn’t an explicit gore fest, but there is something here to enjoy. The creature design for the Leprechaun is amazing. It is both creepy and functional allowing Davis to give a performance underneath the latex. While doing my research I discovered that Gabe Bartolos (Darkman, Friday VI) worked on them so the fact that I enjoyed this part of the movie doesn’t surprise me. Bartolos always does great work.

Because of the sequels, which to be clear I do love, I think this movie gets a bad rap as being all cheese with little substance. That isn’t fair because this is a great horror flick. You get some scares, some laughs, and a pretty girl. What the heck else could you want? I recommend it.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer