Leprechaun (1993) & Leprechaun Returns (2018) Reviews

Leprechaun (1993)

American film directed by Mark Jones. Warwick ‘Willow’ Davis plays a vengeful leprechaun who believes a family has stolen his pot of gold. As he hunts them down, they try to locate his gold to appease him.

Davis originally injected humour into his role, and the reshoots added more gore to appeal to an older audience. But it’s often gore that makes you smile! Leprechaun was Trimark Pictures’ first in-house production for theatrical release. It grossed $8.6 million domestically on a budget of around $1 million and became a cult film. Although initial reviews were negative, the commercial success led to a series of films.

A curious film mixing black humour and bloodthirsty gnomes. There’s a lot of good stuff, a lot of second degree humour, but there aren’t many really gory scenes, and that’s fine by me! They just sit there and surprise us, if not frighten us. It’s closer to comedy than horror. Admittedly, it’s not always well controlled, but some of the murder sequences are amusing.

I’d said that this awesome little monster is comparable to Chucky, but his Freddy Krueger-style humour is also reminiscent of the Joker. His design for a film of this genre is perfect, but his greatest strength is in his black humour (like the three I mentioned). He happily slaughters the men who come between him and his gold, always with a laugh. There’s an unhealthy joy in his actions that he relishes. It’s his sadism that makes him funny.

Leprechaun tries so hard, thinks he’s hilarious and scary, and is so oblivious to his own worthlessness that it’s fascinating.

If ever this was one of pretty Jennifer Aniston‘s first feature films. Today, it’s already the 8th! Aniston is only in the first and that’s one of the reasons why this film is quite nice and not just throwaway. Seeing her in the same film as Davis, freewheeling, is a treat, as is seeing Davis in the title role. Laugh-out-loud funny with his improbable accent and deliberately grotesque costume.

Sadly, to be honest, this founding Leprechaun wasn’t even that famous a thing, or even a good horror film. Considered by many to be an inoffensive dreck whose only claim to fame was that it immortalised Aniston’s first steps on the silver screen. She was very convincing in her first film role, even though she was already playing a particularly unsympathetic city slicker, but also a credible teenage fighter without falling into cliché. It was after Friends (one of the best series of all time) that she became less interesting. A little too stuck in her role as Rachel, perhaps?

This film wanted to revive the great tradition of ‘creature flicks’ from the 80s, so some clever kids wanted to make a monster movie with an original creature never seen on screen… and what better choice than a… leprechaun!!!! He’s a sort of leprechaun with magical powers and a strong Irish accent, who shines shoes in his spare time and is obsessed with the gold that humans have the misfortune to steal from him.
It’s safe to say that ‘ridiculous’ is the key word! Obviously, some people will find everything, absolutely EVERYTHING, in this film ridiculous, whether it’s the script, the direction, the monster and his costume, the unintentionally funny ideas…

Personally, I don’t mind seeing such a creature riding a tricycle, in a car or even in a wheelchair!

So yes, it’s bad, it’s totally B-movie and it’s obviously laughable today, but if you put everything in its ‘90s context, I can still give it about two stars.

Leprechaun, which has had seven sequels that demonstrate that horror cinema has its own fad for prolonging implausible sagas, is an elusive mistake of the seventh art, a sort of joke (not leprechaun) of a scriptwriter who’s had too much Irish Coffee at the local pub. But I don’t want to break it too much on the score, because it’s still a good romp, but that’s difficult given how badly it’s aged. Funny, creepy and entertaining!

Leprechaun Returns (2018)

American horror comedy directed by Steven Kostanski of Astron-6, from a screenplay by Suzanne Keilly. This is the eighth instalment in the Leprechaun franchise and a direct sequel to 1993’s Leprechaun, ignoring all previous sequels (same principle as Halloween did, I think). Which is funny, because I started the saga with this one and then quickly went on to see the first one. And I clearly think I’ll stop here. It’s quite possible that I’ve seen the best two!

The film stars Owl Taylor Spreitler as the daughter of Jennifer Aniston’s character in the original film, who encounters the creature of the title 25 years after her mother traps her in a well. Warwick Davis opted not to return as the leprechaun, and Linden Porco took over the role for this film.

As for the actors, adrenalin-fuelled fans of extreme violence will once again say that none of the performances are truly memorable. These people just want to see the characters die and think you could put anyone in their place. Yes, it’s creepy, I know!

My reality is that the lead actress, Taylor Spreitler, plays very well and her slightly atypical physique doesn’t detract in the slightest. The pretty black girl in the cast, Pepi Sonuga, also gives a supercharged performance. The monster played by a dwarf is very good. The script is a bit facile, but it’s there nonetheless! As for the direction, it’s very uneven, sometimes flirting with amateurism.

Apart from its biggest and most unconditional fans, the Leprechaun saga has never really shone, it seems to me, and this new instalment isn’t going to change that. This umpteenth instalment is no more modern. This Insta’ teenage version of the Boogeyman could have aroused a desire to rediscover the mischievous and evil character, but it doesn’t.

That said, I prefer horror films mixed with comedy to true Horror Gore Torture Porn, and here it almost succeeds. There’s no denying that this is a horror film, and one that borrows from the comic register with its grotesque, mocking monster. This comedic edge may not be to the liking of fans of more serious horror films, which focus more on the bits of flesh flying around than anything else.

Incidentally, I read this review: ‘If the last miserable outing to date, 2014’s ‘Origins’, was a departure from the usual and tried to establish itself as a proper horror film with a monstrous creature, here it’s the ginger midget in folkloric garb who’s back, determined to get his gold back and overinflate, stabbing everyone in the process. Like Gremlins, or rather like Critters, if you take into account the aura of the result, this ‘Leprechaun’ doesn’t skimp on the gore, but it’s gore that stains, purely playful and harmless, since this new film, like the original, is to be approached as a horrific comedy, with a rather ridiculous bogeyman who never hesitates to pull out a really nasty one… and that’s where the problem lies, obviously : the attempt to make a film in the spirit of the Eighties falls completely flat, the imp never says anything that could elicit an amused chuckle, the whole thing is appallingly badly written and it’s only just that a few bloody explosions will shake the drowsy spectator in the face of this bad soup, almost as bad as the latest ‘Puppet Master’ which, for their part, have the merit of having managed to retain a little bit of a con and bad manners. ’

Without any pretence, the film fulfils its brief in a rather successful way with its controlled humour that never lapses into pithiness, even if it gleans ideas from right and left like the monster that emerges from the flooded cellar comes from the first part of It (Pennywise) and its multiplication into little men is inspired by the third opus in the Evil Dead saga. On the other hand, I think the absence of Warwick Davis in the role of the Leprechaun is noticeable if you’re familiar with the first films. But I suppose that if you don’t expect anything from this film, you’ll end up pleasantly surprised.

As ever when it comes to reviving a dying franchise, it’s imperative to pretend you’ve forgotten about the seemingly rotten sequels that have flooded the DVD sales shelves over the last twenty years, and start from when the Leprechaun films still meant something to someone, namely the seminal 1993 episode… which isn’t even that well known!

Of course, it’s not the film of the century, but if you like offbeat humour mixed with gore, it’s not too bad. It’s obviously a bit cretinous, but then again, let’s be serious, this film has no pretensions of competing for the Oscars either. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure, but at least it’s not too boring. On the menu, there’s a lot of guts and brains splattered all over the place, with no reflection whatsoever… but nobody’s really obliged to see films like this!

I was particularly touched by the character played by Mark Douglas Holton. He’s excellent! As we don’t see much of him, I was very pleased to see that he had a bigger role in the very first one.

To conclude:

Here’s a horrific saga that now has 8 episodes and of which I only know the fairly bad, but fun nonetheless, basic Leprechaun. It was that film that made me want to see the first one. Given that I didn’t know anything about it, there was no real apprehension about discovering this film, which follows on from the first episode. The surprise with Leprechaun Returns is that it leans more towards comedy than horror. There are some nice gory moments, but you’re more likely to feel amused. Some of the dialogue is grotesque, the victims take selfies with their tormentors and the Leprechaun even rides a drone. It’s not going to leave me with any lasting memories, but it did give me a good laugh nonetheless!