Leofwine_draca
Whoever thought up the ludicrous premise of this dire movie deserves to be exiled from the film industry for good. A telling example of what's wrong with the modern horror film, LEPRECHAUN forsakes chills and thrills in favour of some moronic humour which fails, time and time again, to be the least bit funny. I don't want to sound like an old misery, but this is such a total failure that I can only marvel at what on earth the people who made this were thinking of.There are so many faults that I don't know where to begin. For a start, the music is uninspired. The acting is basic and amateurish, especially in the case of the muscular male lead who is devoid of both charisma and talent. This plank's idea of acting is to limp exaggeratedly through much of the film with a tiny bite on his leg which Bruce Willis would have forgotten about five seconds after it was inflicted. There's an annoying, foul-mouthed and snot-nosed kid who thinks he's the bee's knees, who has a dim-witted friend who tries to be funny but fails every time. Just wait until you see the 'heartfelt' scenes between these two as the kid promises to "fix" his friend's slow brain... sickening, indeed! The cast is packed with unfamiliar faces, apart from a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston, who has of course gone on to bigger (and more lucrative) things with the hit sitcom FRIENDS.Under a rubber mask (I hate to think of how much he was sweating here) is Warwick Davis, the hero of WILLOW, as the leprechaun of the title. He's an extremely irritating creature who runs around singing rhymes and going on about his gold, which gets boring after about two minutes. Davis goes completely over the top and is literally grating on the nerves, an obnoxious, stupid monster who enjoys making those Freddy Krueger-type puns so fond of modern scriptwriters (I hate 'em). I saw him once at a movie convention, didn't seem too happy and if he's in junk like this then I know why. It's fun to sit back and name all the films that this one rips off. I spotted CRITTERS (the setting), THE SHINING (leprechaun on tricycle), and most of all THE EVIL DEAD, with P.O.V. shots of the leprechaun chasing Aniston, severed hands running about, etc.The gore in this film sits uncomfortably with the humour which occupies most of it. It feels like a family film, except for the odd occasionally violent moment like when the leprechaun rips a corpse's eyeball out to substitute for his own, or breaks a man's neck with a loud twig-snap noise. These effects are okay, but stick around and you'll witness some tacky green glowing computer effects which show the leprechaun's "magic". The film reaches its low point with the leprechaun riding a skateboard, or wheeling himself along in a wheelchair with the film sped up. I know exactly the kind of person who would find this stuff funny, and it's totally atrocious. Astonishingly, numerous sequels have been made to date, probably even worse than this one. I have seen worse films, at least this one is full of action to keep the viewer's mind off things. Just try watching something like SHRIEK, a new low. Don't think of this as a recommendation though, avoid LEPRECHAUN like the plague.
GL84
Traveling to a family-owned farmhouse, a teen and her friends inadvertently free a deadly leprechaun stored away who begins to terrorize them looking for his stolen gold coins they've found and forces them to fend off his attacks in order to leave.This one wasn't all that bad and had some good parts to it. Among the film's better elements is the fact that there's a modicum of suspense attempted here during some of the stalking scenes, keeping this one a lot more serious than expected at times. The the prologue encounter in the house during the driving thunderstorm is a prime example of that kind of creepy encounters while the tormenting done on the police officer in the woods is just as much fun with the twisted game of hide-n-seek in the rather creepy location before getting to the final twist. The house assault is even more fun with them coming back to find the mess which shows that someone's in there with them, the quick pop-up attacks to torment them as he comes out of the cupboards or begins running through the house to get at them as they continuously fail to stop him from getting in close quarters for some brutal attacks. The complacency attempt is really fun as well as once he finds what he believes to be a ruse he launches even more rather brutal sequences as he traps them inside the house in some really enjoyable features here that all piles together into the film's highlight scene. Even the finale offers up some fun with the battle in the clover patch and getting in the actual method for dealing with the creature really gives this some high-energy action to end this effectively. This is nicely boosted by the cheesy parts here in the shop owner's encounter or the chase around the retirement home that's quite goofy and cheesy, while his constant quips and limericks all round out the different attitudes here which are all fully employed here to give this a lot to like. As the kills here do get somewhat bloody and creative, there's some great positives her to make this enjoyable enough to hold it's own from the few negatives. The main issue here comes from the cheesy side of the film which isn't really depicted as scary or thrilling as instead it's more goofy than anything which isn't exactly an appreciative tone for these kinds of films. There's another small flaw is the relatively few kills here which manage to really drag the first half down by holding off the kills and tricks until the second half. It's all that really holds this one down.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
Wuchak
Released in 1993, "Leprechaun" is a low-budget horror/comedy about a father and daughter (John Sanderford & Jennifer Aniston) who move to a small, old house in North Dakota where they and some painters (Ken Olandt, Mark Holton & Robert Hy Gorman) encounter a devilish little leprechaun obsessed with his pot of gold coins (Warwick Davis).I've only seen the first four Leprechaun movies and this is easily the least of 'em. While the cast, locations and leprechaun are good there's only enough material here for half the movie's runtime, like maybe 45 minutes. The second half goes on and on with the leprechaun's zany antics and attacks on the cast. Being low-budget, the location is limited to the ranch house and a couple of visits into town, such as the hospital and diner. It just gets monotonous and there's simply not enough to keep the viewer's interest. The next three movies make up for this by changing the location and upping the ante with the entertainment on all fronts. "Leprechaun" is worth seeing, particularly to catch a glimpse of young Jennifer in her first theatrical movie, but it's humdrum after the first 40-45 minutes and nothing exceptional up to that point. The film runs 92 minutes and was shot in Saugus, California, near Santa Clarita.GRADE: C-
