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I started with this one:
L E P R E C H A U N
Average film quality: brutally low
Average (guilty) amusement factor: moderate to high
When Warwick Davis first shambled onto the screen as the mischievous little green menace in 1993’s bargain-bin horror comedy Leprechaun, no one could’ve predicted the pot of sequels waiting at the end of this rainbow. A pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston battles what amounts to an offensive cereal-box mascot come to life. The film leans far heavier on cheap laughs than actual scares, stuffed with groan-worthy one-liners, goofy pratfalls, and a couple of half-hearted gross-out gags. It never even comes close to horror classic status, though it might earn itself a shiny coin in the "so bad it’s good" category. Davis throws himself into the role with gusto, rhyming and punning his way through punishment galore. But really, the movie drops the ball, or should I say the shillelagh. If the credits had rolled on Lep’s golden misadventures forever, I wouldn’t have shed a single shamrock-shaped tear...
…yet less than two years later, the little guy was back. Leprechaun 2 trades haunted houses for Hollywood, and honestly, I prefer it. The satire lands better than the scares, making for a comedy that at least knows it’s a comedy. The direct-to-video Leprechaun 3 (I call it “Lep in Vegas”) doubled down on this approach, unleashing the gold-hoarding gremlin in the one city tailor-made for his antics. A gambling-obsessed, greed-driven monster terrorising Vegas? That practically writes itself. The movie is still dumb, but it’s fun-dumb, and I find myself grinning more often than I’d like to admit.
Then came Leprechaun 4: In Space, and my smile died faster than an unlucky starship crew. I could forgive the Playstation-1 graphics. I could forgive the Saturday-morning-cartoon Nazi scientist. I could even forgive Warwick’s Lep once again chewing scenery like it was Lucky Charms. What I can’t forgive is 95 minutes of brain-dead marines running in circles while my sanity circled the drain. To put it bluntly: I loathe this movie.
Leprechaun in the Hood tried a new angle: Lep meets hip-hop. With Ice-T in tow and every ‘hood cliché imaginable, this entry throws gold coins and magic flutes into a blender with weed smoke, gospel choirs, and Irish jig puns. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it kind of does. The audience actually vibed with it enough to earn Back 2 tha Hood, Warwick’s final bow in the role. Oddly enough, the sixth entry even stumbles into a few decent slasher moments. I can’t say I liked them, but I didn’t hate them either, which, in this franchise, feels like a win.
Sadly, the franchise just couldn’t leave its clovers buried. Enter Leprechaun: Origins, starring WWE’s Hornswoggle in a role that strips away everything even remotely fun. Gone are the rhymes, the puns, the personality. Instead we get shrieking teens, generic villagers “in on it,” and a barely glimpsed monster that could just as well be a rejected Resident Evil design. If In Space didn’t bottom out the series, Origins certainly did.
Finally, Leprechaun Returns (2018) crawled back out of the grave with Steven Kostanski (of The Void fame) at the helm. This reboot-slash-sequel gives Lep his swagger back, now played by Linden Porco, who lacks Davis’ charm but at least brings some personality to the carnage. With genuine slasher vibes and winks to the original, it’s probably the best of the bunch. Of course, that bar is so low it’s practically buried with Lep’s gold, but hey, at least this one doesn’t make me want to toss my DVD collection into a wishing well.
In the end, I didn't hate myself for digging up some gold with a supernatural, homicidal Irish bugger in a wacky outfit. But my ranking will speak for itself:
Should you watch the Lep films? I'll let Warwick answer:
Try as I may
Try as I might
I don't recommend you do
Not even slight
Next time, I've got another treat for you. Something with corn.
Last time I tried to watch a film series with a mediocre first entry, I just cowardly quit after said entry :p
Pain is my middle name. 😉
I can commit to bad stuff because I love finding beauty in it somewhere.
Horror franchises in my future:
Hellraiser (some of them)
Leprechaun (3 and one of those Hood sequels maybe)
Elm Street (I've got a few left to watch in full, it's good stuff)
Pearl
Cube (don't know which ones)
Chucky (still haven't watched Seed, I'd watch the show too if it wasn't such a massive time commitment)
Horror franchises NOT in my future:
Friday the 13th (I just find these movies to be lame)
---
Liam Neeson: I've contracted AIDS.
Warwick Davis: (perfect puzzled look)
I certainly recommend
- Hellraiser: 1, 2, the 2022 film, and perhaps 3 and 4.
- Leprechaun: Ah well, don't hate me if you don't like them. The bar is very low here. VERY low.
- Elm Street: Check them out. All of them! What are you waiting for?! You're still here?? Okay, I'll calm down. You can skip 6 if you must. And maybe 5. But the rest? Don't make me beg you. Don't make me cry. Watch Freddy do his thing, dream warrior.
- Yes! X. Pearl. Maxxxine. Now there's some great stuff.
- Cube: I'd say 1 is all you need. Hypercube is cool if you're a physics nerd (I love the film, to be honest). Cube Zero is 'different'. The Japanese Cube is okay.
- Chucky: The best ones for me are Bride, Curse, Cult and Seed.
- F13 is lame, huh? "LAME", sir!? Ahum. Just make sure @MajorDSmythe never reads this post...
I'll just leave that knife in my back, and go away to ugly-cry.
I'm sure @MajorDSmythe won't crush my head to a pulp like that poor guy in that (deleted?) scene from that F13 movie. Now that was a cool kill, I will admit. All is forgiven, Major?
I randomly remembered that scene (also deleted I think) from Elm Street 5 (?) in which the guy fuses with his bike and then the whole thing catches on fire. Grisly stuff.
Not deleted, sir. Dan does fuse with his bike in the film. And what a sight. According to the Fredster, he felt the need for speed. Best Ghostrider scene to never grace a Marvel film.