The Leprechaun's Game (2020)
One of the companies responsible for this Leprechaun series also later made Popeye's Revenge. We have a group of thieves tasked by a collector to find a leprechaun's bag of gold. Obviously the thieves were selfish to claim the gold. They didn't take getting hunted by a leprechaun seriously. It was revealed this leprechaun also a soul collecting demon.
This already makes him worst than any of the other horror movie leprechauns I seen. Not only he kills you, he also steals your soul too. All of a sudden it's like Freddy Krueger stalking em since he steals souls. I can respectfully say a few things about the leprechaun. He's actually an leprechaun thank god!!! Also he's a vastly different character from the leprechauns in Leprechaun series.
I don't think this horror Leprechaun series a mock buster or a direct rip off of those. They simply had a similar concept just executed differently. Horror is filled with plenty of takes on anything that terrifies people. For the most part the kills are meh at best. The story plays out quite obviously to the point it gets a bit boring at times.
He does have a weakness to four leaf clovers. Don't even compare these horror Leprechaun movies to the main horror Leprechaun movie franchise. This is very notably a low budget horror movie. We even had someone burnt to death without any actual flames. Instead they simply used red lights with some flashing that's it.
I will give it some credit they tried to differ it from those Leprechaun movies. Just felt a poor man's imitation than anything else. The movie really felt incomplete to a degree. At one point, the camera lost focus was quite amateur of the camera person. I will also respect a short guy played the leprechaun. He's notably taller than most actors to play leprechauns in the more popular Leprechaun franchise.
Even if I just compared these horror Leprechaun movies to Red Clover aka Leprechaun's Revenge. Red Clover may question their usage of an leprechaun. Ultimately several aspects of that movie were done better. They somehow made an leprechaun boring is something I didn't expect to see. We even had a woman with the most direct information given to her still ends up dead.
I should point out this leprechaun likes to stab people. He doesn't teleport for some odd reason. Although in the sequel movie a few times he does. They seem to kept changing what the leprechaun could do. Thus making him a rather inconsistent character with his abilities. Personally I prefer how that was done with the more popular horror Leprechaun movies.
Pacing is very notably off with some scenes dragging on. Like you know this one guy that goes outside. The leprechaun nearby waiting to kill him. Just imagine how much could change with cutting that section down a bit. Honestly, The Leprechaun's Game simply isn't a good alternative to the more popular Leprechaun horror movies.
Don't expect any of the characters to be decent. The Leprechaun's Game still gets point for a plot not done in the more popular Leprechaun movies. The actual appearance of the leprechaun was alright at best. A kid could dress up way better as an leprechaun though. You really aren't missing much with this. The same company somehow gotten Popeye to work a little better.
The Leprechaun's Curse (2021)
This is a follow up to The Leprechaun's Game. A handful of characters from the previous Leprechaun movie returns. They don't survive at this point no one going to care if I spoil things or not. Honestly Leprechaun Returns where Mark Holton reprised his role as Ozzy dies early into the movie. These kills doesn't compare to that.
It turns out this one greedy guy used some of the gold to buy a place. He was briefly in the previous Leprechaun movie. This somehow made him even less likable in the sequel. The other survivor from that film never explains how she survived. She still had the baby despite how little of their child we see in the movie.
The story is somewhat a little better. But parts of the pacing especially towards the ending notably drags out. Like Popeye's Revenge, we had a guy trying to cheat with another woman. Which is suddenly more interesting because Danielle Ronald gets into a similar situation for Popeye's Revenge. Her characters in both films ends up dead.
The leprechaun is more directly a stalker this time around. He's also playing more of causing mischievous stuff. Which is to be expected of leprechauns. I felt this movie better portrayed the magical creature a little more accurately. Don't expect to the degree of Unlucky Charms. Which does have a few magical beings including an leprechaun terrorizing people.
The guy in question cheating Stephen Staley previously was in Nutcracker Massacre. Where he played a similar character in that. Look don't expect much for lower budget horror movies. I would say this was technically better than that movie. The leprechaun targeting this one greedy guy's daughter. She inherited the place he used stolen gold to bought.
Her and her friends were targeted simply being in that location. They do find out about the gold of course they do. Some of the kills were slightly better than the previous Leprechaun movie. You get a more clear idea how truly wicked of a being the leprechaun is. Again somehow doesn't directly rip off a plot of another horror Leprechaun movie.
The characters were also slightly better written as well. For the most part it's quite obvious what's going to happen. This leprechaun sure loves leaving tiny envelopes with written messages around. What's next a killer tooth fairy leaves stick notes that causes tooth decay among exposure? The Leprechaun's Curse somewhat true to it's name.
This felt like too many questions with not enough answers. It's difficult to pick anything somewhat decent in the movie. In a few ways it's technically better than the previous Leprechaun movie. But this easily could've been a little better in a few ways. I could argue ways Leprechaun 4: In Space a more exciting Leprechaun movie than this!!!
The Leprechaun's Curse doesn't even use a real baby. I seen a couple low budget horror movies that used real babies. It's not like many scenes had that baby to begin with. The ending fails to reveal anything regarding that baby. We don't even know how the leprechaun returns either. Just expect a lackluster low budget horror movie ending with your expectations being quite low.
Conclusion
Leprechaun horror movies are slowly becoming more common. Just not the degree of zombies, vampires, witches, ghosts, etc... But the world suddenly needs all these shark movies!!! Obviously you'll get some decent horror movies with particular creatures. Inevitably there's going to be some bad ones as well.
This was simply a case of a short lived Leprechaun horror franchise that's not worth checking out. I could argue several ways how Red Clover much better than those Leprechaun movies. Honestly I did expect a bit more even for low budget horror Leprechaun movies. You kinda felt rip off especially if you grew up with the more popular Leprechaun horror franchise I did.
I don't even like the leprechaun character either. I'm just glad he's an actual leprechaun that's also a soul collecting demon. He also has his own personality rather than just ripping off either Warwick Davis or Linden Porco. His actual appearance notably different from theirs as well. I would put him above Leprechaun: Origins and Red Clover's leprechauns respectively.
Which is still not saying that much. Majority of the human characters are not bright as well as quite predictable. Indirectly due to their stupidity you could argue the leprechaun not that much smarter. I still say he's the smartest character by far. These are amazingly low budget horror movies that just doesn't work.
Of course I have seen some decent examples of great low budget horror movies. Killer Klowns from Outer Space for starters. Terrifier series is among the most popular slasher franchises in recent history. There's plenty of other great indie horror movies people talks about. I know these were more meant to rip people off just not in the style of a mock buster.
I will give them credit to not directly rip off plots from other horror Leprechaun movies. Unlucky Charms that does have an leprechaun character is more strangely entertaining than these movies. We wouldn't even label these as Great Value Leprechaun movies. I'm sure actual great value Leprechaun movies had more money spent.
I'm not trying to be quite harsh on these horror Leprechaun movies. At least watching them didn't fell like torture. It still was somewhat interesting to see how other people go about a similar concept. End of the day this isn't even remotely how I would go about an horror Leprechaun movie. I'll give a few recommendation of magic theme horror movies way better than these Leprechaun movies.
1. Wishmaster (1997)
2. Warlock (1989)
3. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Those are my top magic theme horror movie recommendations. I could recommend their first sequels as well. Although that's ultimately you want to give those a chance or not. We have a terrifying usage of a genie and a warlock respectively. These Leprechaun movies doesn't even compare to better lower budget horror Leprechaun movies.
Even Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp way better than this. A truly amazing adaptation of that story. Which also involved a witch manipulated a dead man into killing people. If you want to watch these horror Leprechaun movies. Watch em on Tubi virtually not spending any cents to do so. I still could see people arguing they still want their money back lol.
I also could say it's way better than Leprechaun: Origins. On the grounds of an leprechaun being the main antagonist. Also it's an actual leprechaun not whatever those creatures were. Parts of their stories comes together better as well. Leprechaun: Origins still ended up with better kills. Also the characters were more rememberable in comparison.
You know you got bottom of the barrel horror Leprechaun movies. When even Leprechaun: Origins has stuff over em. The best way to go into watching em is not seen the other horror Leprechaun movies. Personally I would recommend go watch something else entirely. There's plenty of great horror movies. Why bother with such bad Leprechaun horror movies?
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