Now I know these movies aren't known for being scary. In fact some of them have funny moments. Warwick Davis nails the character in a way that anyone taking over the role has some serious shoes to fill. Yes this may come off as one of the dumbest things imaginable. A lot of people originally thought the same about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
They are still going strong with several shows & movies. I can't say the same for the newer TMNT games. My point is some ideas that you think wouldn't work end up getting sorta a cult classic status. Which is very much the case for Leprechaun series. I am proud to announce Syfy is making a new movie called Leprechaun Returns.
I don't fully understand why people are now making more direct sequels in original horror movie series. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise seems to be getting the good end of the stick. Of course I will be discussing the abomination that is Leprechaun: Origins. Yeah let's just say I speak for us Davis fans, that is not a Leprechaun movie.
Now I have to make some things clear before going into my Leprechaun series review. I already reviewed Leprechaun 4: In Space within another blog series. I also talked a little about it in another blog. As a bonus I will be reviewing Red Clover aka Leprechaun's Revenge. Believe it or not, there isn't many Leprechaun theme horror movies.
When Universal did their Krampus movie, a few movie companies quickly release their own Krampus movies. Leprechaun is still an unusual horror movie franchise for many reasons. It never quite got as big as many of it's competitors like Freddy, Michael, Jason, Chucky & a few more names.
1. Leprechaun (1993)
Trimark decided to take a chance at making Leprechaun. They didn't realize getting Warwick Davis as the Leprechaun was going to be difficult. You see Davis was under contract by George Lucas for starring in a Star Wars movie. Eventually they came to an agreement to allow Davis to take part in the movie.
After it's release Davis wasn't happy until he was hearing a lot of people loving it. Now Leprechaun stands as one of his favorite movies. The beginning of the movie has a couple just moving in from Ireland. Her husband had stolen the Leprechaun's gold & he nearly died that night. Ten years later, a small family moves in.
One of the people they hired got tricked into letting the Leprechaun out of the crate. You can only imagine how crazy this movie gets. Honestly I really enjoy this movie for what it is. Possibly a candidate for not only an underrated horror movie but also one of the best horror comedy movies. I am not kidding some moments in this movie still making people laugh today.
Leprechaun is exactly what you would think of. There's plenty of laughable ideas for horror movies. Not a lot of people give enough credit to Leprechaun. Warwick Davis quickly steals the show during the entire movie. Another interesting trivia that not a lot of people know. At one point they had a deal with the company responsible for Lucky Charms to appear in the movie.
However after learning how the movie was going to be like. They did pulled away but surprisingly allowed a quick rip off brand to be used instead since they're still Lucky Charms in that box. Let's be honest the kid said the best line in the whole movie. I could talk about this movie for hours & never get bored.
2. Leprechaun 2 (1994)
Officially the last of the original Leprechaun series to make it in the theaters. For some reason not a lot of people like it. I enjoy a lot of the moments including the kill scenes. Can you name another horror movie where a old guy gets a pot of gold inside his belly? I like on the back of some releases it actually says he's meaner than Freddy.
Leprechaun 2 is the only Leprechaun movie to take place on St. Patrick's Day. Similar to the first movie the beginning is taking place a thousand years ago. In Leprechaun's tradition, they must wait a thousand years then they get the woman they want to marry to squeeze thrice. If no one says god bless you after the final squeeze, he can claim her.
Warwick Davis has some rememberable parts in this movie. Who doesn't remember Morty doing a drink contest with him lol. I was always a fan of the go-kart cop kill. Basically Cody gets framed sorta by the Leprechaun after she was kidnapped. I do like they look more into what a leprechaun is. This guy isn't afraid to get his hands since he ripped off gold from people literately.
Leprechaun 2 has a good cast with some great humor. Speaking of that the little guy from Bad Santa series. He with another guy were stunt doubles for Davis in a few Leprechaun movies. Thanks Minty for that information, I love your work man. This movie also caused the famous debate of is it the same leprechaun in all the movies or not.
Sadly Trimark didn't make the numbers they were expecting. I felt this was one of the better 2's in horror movies. You have some difficult to watch kill scenes. In some ways it does out do the original. Some of my favorite characters are present in this movie. I would say this is one of the more interesting Leprechaun movies.
3. Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Often stated even by Davis himself to be the best Leprechaun movie ever made. You should know by now usually direct to video sequels don't do well at all. Of course there do exists some exception including Leprechaun 3. This concept was so on the money that I'm surprised I really can't get enough of it.
Everything about this movie not only makes it one of the finest 3's in horror movies. One of the absolute best comedy horror movies I have ever seen. Leprechaun in Las Vegas may sound like a terrible idea. In theory it was a match made in heaven. Leprechaun 3 follows a guy going to college that meets a magician's assistant.
This is one of the select few Leprechaun movies to have the leprechaun face someone with powers. Possibly the big surprise is our hero becomes another leprechaun forcing the two leprechauns to face each other. This concept by itself was genius since Las Vegas was already crazy enough without one. Why not give this town two leprechauns instead lol.
The best kills are present in this movie. I really like some of his kills are based on the wishes they made. Therefore he is punishing them for not only stealing one of his gold coins. But also making a wish on it as well. A dealer wished to be beautiful to end up getting blown. Not that kind of blown you suck bastards, I'm talking her entire body explodes.
A magician wished to become the best magician in the world. The twist for his was simply brilliant. He gets forced into a magic trick with no escape. The crowd cheering for him to be saw in half. Of course this is a Leprechaun movie so why not a chainsaw instead lol. As a kid I had trouble watching that death scene for a few years.
I would say this had everything go for it. Leprechaun 3 has some unique humor that you can't recreate. This too is one of Davis' favorite movies. Leprechaun sure having fun in Vegas isn't he especially after meeting Elvis or an impersonator of his. The movie never made it clear which one but still a great scene.
4. Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997)
For the original Leprechaun movies, this is the bottom of the barrel. Thankfully a few Leprechaun movies are worse. I won't be saying too much about it due to already reviewed it. Leprechaun 4: In Space is still a strange movie that shouldn't exist. In most categories this movie falls so hard. Especially after Leprechaun 3, you expect it to be somewhat decent right?
One random fact is on Steam they mislabeled the movie as Leprechaun 4: Lost in Space. Wait was the leprechaun in Lost in Space lol. This movie is legendary for being one of the absolute worst horror movie sequels. You got to love the entire movie no one knew they were facing a leprechaun. No they all felt he was an alien.
5. Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)
Leprechaun in the Hood was the last Leprechaun movie by Trimark before going out of business. This is hands down one of the best Leprechaun movies. I would also say it is one of the funniest too. The concept of putting the leprechaun in the hood ends up working very well. Ice-T has a strong appearance in this movie.
A group of friends are trying to make it big as rappers. They decided to steal from Mack Daddy. Unfortunately one of them took the medallion off the leprechaun. A lot of the funny moments I remember people on my high school bus talking about often. Leprechaun in the Hood has a lot of great things going for it.
Not only it help got the awtiful taste of Leprechaun 4 out of our mouths. We gave us more reason to love the leprechaun. I felt they did a great job bringing the leprechaun to the hood. Davis quickly steals the show with some of my favorite lines. This is the only Leprechaun movie where he wins in the end.
I can't shake this & the original Killjoy movie are similar. Obviously I would rather watch Leprechaun in the Hood more. I felt they did a great job giving us a true entry in this franchise. It had the potential to fail but instead blew many people's expectations away. This is clearly a classic in & of itself.
6. Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood (2003)
The first Leprechaun movie by Lionsgate but also the last of the original Leprechaun movies. It is also the last time Warwick Davis plays his character. The original director of this movie got fired when the script was too similar to the previous movie. A similar case that happened for Batman Forever.
Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood sorta comes off like they didn't want to make another one in the hood. I'm not a racist by any means. What I meant to say is even with it's changes from Leprechaun in the Hood. There's still not much of a difference between the two. The main character is a woman that for a change.
I would say there were some good quick laughs in this movie. I believe due to new ownership, the leprechaun looks more like a demon than a actual leprechaun. Personally I didn't mean the change in his outfit much. This movie does reuse some classic lines & not in a good way. Speaking of that one key thing both the hood movies share is the main characters uses four leaf clovers in a similar way.
I guess they all should've took a lesson from Alex. Once again Davis steals the show with some great kills. I felt with some key changes this could've been one of the better Leprechaun movies. Clearly this movie wasn't rushed since it came three years after the previous movie. I would say I do like the animated story portions the best.
7. Red Clover aka Leprechaun's Revenge (2012)
This is a strange case for the title while being made it was called Red Clover. But they chose to change the title to Leprechaun's Revenge for airing during St. Patrick's Day of 2012. The same all day Leprechaun movie marathon reairing the first three movies all day. Suddenly they went back to it's original title for it's DVD release.
Oh ok although both titles do fit the movie well. Why not combine the titles together instead? Red Clover: Leprechaun's Revenge sounds way better don't you think lol. A descendant of the man that put the leprechaun in the ground by accident awoken it. This gave her a curse of a red clover on one of her hands.
Billy Zane is the other actor in the movie you will know. Sadly compared to his amazing performance in The Demon Knight movie. I am disappointed here for many reasons. The leprechaun doesn't even look like one at all. Yeah he is green but he looks more like a strange walking tree monster than anything.
Most kills are virtually the same with some changes after every other kill. I do like they have to rebuild the lucky horse shoe thing. I will say for a low budget horror movie that the acting isn't that bad. The story is kinda boring even if my mind starts playing tricks it wouldn't help this movie. I felt this was sorta cashing in on the famous Leprechaun series.
8. Leprechaun: Origins (2014)
OMG I really wish for something to prevent me from reviewing this. I haven't seen a horror movie reboot that impressed me. Leprechaun: Origins is so bad it makes some of the worst Leprechaun movies seem like master pieces I'm not kidding. Yes they go into the origin of leprechauns but let's be honest.
This creature is not a leprechaun, remember when Zilla in our first US Godzilla remake. How many people felt that wasn't Godzilla. Warwick Davis' leprechaun looks & acts like a leprechaun. Also he had magic too which is clearly missing on this creature. Instead of the leprechaun being the bad guy why not make the people of Ireland instead?
I have a lot of relatives that are part Irish. Also a small group of people in Ireland using US travelers as bait to keep the leprechauns away. Oh sorry I just spoiled the big twist at the end. There is actually a lot of leprechauns but you won't know that until at the end. The actor playing the creature does portray a leprechaun for WWE around the time.
In comparison that was way better than this garbage. Leprechaun: Origins was a terrible title since it doesn't represent the final film. WWE Studios was trying to make more movies since WWE more recently not doing well. Leprechaun: Origins made it to theaters with very bad news. Most kills in this movie comes off as uninspired.
Even Garry Chalk doesn't bring much to this amazingly bad movie. A movie so bad that I'm impressed no one puts it as one of the worst reboot movies. Everything you expected from previous Leprechaun movies is completely absent here. They didn't just made something completely different, it also failed to hit the mark so much.
The actual gold in the movie we don't get to see much at all. Same with the leprechaun that's really not an uninspired appearance. I do like this movie took place in Ireland. What I don't like was actually stated by Davis himself. He wasn't happy they didn't ask him to do the creature or a small cameo.
We are talking about the same guy that became the reason you watch these movies. Why isn't he not giving a cameo in this movie? In most possible ways this movie really doesn't work. It really doesn't feel like a Leprechaun movie. Red Clover a movie with no relations had more things going for it. This movie isn't just insult to us fans and Davis.
Leprechaun: Origins stands as a movie that really went out of it's way to cash in on the name with no regard. I honestly can bash this movie all day long with plenty fuel to do other things. If I was allowed by Lionsgate, I would go to every house with a confirmed DVD or Bluray copy of this movie. I would blow it up live on camera. Avoid this movie at all costs.
Now I took the time to review all the Leprechaun movies it is time to rank them from worst to best...
8. Leprechaun: Origins
7. Red Clover aka Leprechaun's Revenge
6. Leprechaun 4: In Space
5. Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood
4. Leprechaun 2
3. Leprechaun in the Hood
2. Leprechaun
1. Leprechaun 3
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