by Nikk Nelson, Staff Writer, Cinematic Maniac

The nineties were an interesting time for American horror. Most major slasher franchises were reaching their penultimate or ultimate installments (pre-reboot era) but the overall demand for them by fans wasn’t exactly fizzling out. Problem is, you can’t just pull a Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Chucky, or Jason Voorhees out of thin air. Horror answered that problem by instead trying to find one where maybe you would least suspect it and in the mid-to-late nineties, there was this weird little blip of horror movies based on what normally were cute/cuddly characters from children’s stories. Examples include Pinocchio’s Revenge (1996) and Jack Frost (1997).

Arguably the first and most iconic in the trend was Leprechaun (1993). Starring Warwick Davis as the titular villain and Jennifer Aniston in her first feature film, Leprechaun, at its core, tries to take the makeup/silhouette/personality of Freddy Krueger and put it in a Chucky-sized package. It worked—in the sense that the franchise would go on to spawn five sequels, a reboot, and a reboot reboot. If you’re talking simply points on the scoreboard, that’s a run that rivals the other heavy hitters in the slasher universe. 

I love this franchise. One of the things I admire most about it are the sequels. They follow what, at the time, was a cliché run of theme that today, in the world of auteur horror (The VVitch (2015); Hereditary (2018)), I realize I miss terribly in the genre. When I was younger, I wanted horror to take itself more seriously. Now that I’m older, I’m nostalgic for the days when it didn’t. I know. Believe me, I annoy myself. So, I jumped at the opportunity to take a look back at these films and, generally, the overall life of horror franchises. As is usually the case, the original installment in this franchise is objectively its best. I didn’t say it’s a good movie. I also didn’t say it’s my favorite installment. Like Robert Englund, Warwick Davis seems to really relish being evil. He gives the role his all and, despite essentially disowning this film in her Inside the Actor’s Studio interview, Jennifer Aniston does too. 

The plot is minimal with more holes than Swiss cheese. ‘LA Girl’ spends the summer with her ‘Hick Dad’ at his newly purchased country house wherein, years earlier, a leprechaun was trapped in a crate, held at bay with a four-leaf clover, by the man who stole the leprechaun’s pot o’ gold. Leprechaun gets out, wants his gold back, horror ensues. Supporting cast includes Mark Holton (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure) and ‘plucky kid in a bunch of 90’s stuff’ Robert Hy Gorman (Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Forever Young, Mr. Nanny, Rookie of the Year). The gore is relatively tame, some of the kills are creative, but Warwick Davis as the leprechaun is always a lot of fun to watch.

The basic rule for the first sequel in a horror franchise is you essentially make the same movie again with more sex, kills, and gore. Leprechaun 2 (1994) abides by that rule. Now, in the original, plucky kid kills the leprechaun by sling-shooting a four-leaf clover down its throat after one-lining “Fuck you, Lucky Charms!” and the sequel doesn’t bother with any sort of ‘leprechaun back to life’ explanation. It’s still Warwick Davis playing the leprechaun, though, so I theorize, in this universe, all leprechauns are Warwick Davis. He plays the leprechaun in all of the films but not the same leprechaun. I support this theory with the fact that the leprechaun, from one film to the next, has different powers, different motivations, and sometimes a different relationship to his gold. Sometimes, the gold itself has different properties. 

In Leprechaun 2, for example, the gold takes a backseat in motivation. The story centers around the leprechaun trying to kidnap a bride. Four-leaf clovers aren’t mentioned at all, his weakness this go-around is wrought iron. We’re introduced to the concept of catching a leprechaun grants you three wishes and if you possess even one piece of the leprechaun’s gold, he can’t harm you. Literally. He tries to drive over the main character, Cody (who looks exactly like the older brother in Boy Meets World), with a go-kart o’ death and the kart passes straight through him. Besides the death kart, there’s still a lot to appreciate about this film, namely the performance of Sandy Baron who most people will recognize as Jack Klompus from Seinfeld. His turn as the drunk, grifting Uncle Morty is genuinely funny. He doesn’t phone it in one bit. Otherwise, it’s the generic sequel you’d expect. 

For a second sequel in a horror franchise, the rule is, you have to make the same movie a third time but you can’t make the same same movie a third time. Easiest way to solve that? Change the setting. I call this installment in a franchise ‘Sequel Goes Hawaiian’. The handiest example of this is Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Leprechaun 3 goes Las Vegas. This movie is bonkers and is my favorite of them all. Again, none of these are great movies, but there’s just something about it that I really really love. Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) co-stars and her chemistry with my favorite character, Fazio the Magician (John DeMita), makes me laugh every time. The gold returns as the focal point of the leprechaun’s motivation and this time, for every piece of gold you manage to steal, you are granted one wish. Also, if this leprechaun bites you, you become one yourself. How cool is that? Lastly, this movie has a weird but strangely relevant theme of support for universal healthcare. I shit you not. 

Now, for a third sequel, there’s only one place left to go. That’s right. ‘Sequel Goes to Space’. Other examples include Jason X and Critters 4. You can see the shoestring budget of Leprechaun 4: In Space but it’s still a lot of fun. It seemed to be required at the time to essentially try and remake Aliens but instead of the aliens, it’s the [leprechaun]. So, a group of space marines invade the leprechaun’s planet (yes, planet) where he’s kidnapped and is attempting to woo a space princess. The marines blow the leprechaun up, one of them pisses on the blown-up bits, and then later the leprechaun is reborn through the disrespectful marine’s dick when Debbe Dunning (Heidi from Home Improvement) gives that marine a boner. And it doesn’t stop there. Guy Siner turns in a fucking bananas performance as Dr. Mittenhand, there’s a subplot that’s right out of Gremlins 2, AND, one of my favorite faces to see, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. (Return of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), shows up to make fun of everyone.

Okay, it’s the year 2000. We’ve taken the leprechaun to Vegas and to space. Where could we possibly take him next? Well, for whatever reason, and I’m not the least bit complaining, by this time, hip-hop and the ensuing culture were so popular, a bunch of rappers looked at the horror genre and said, ‘We want to be in it and we either want to fight the monster or smoke weed with it. Or both.’ And so, they did. Looking at the timeline, Leprechaun 5: In the Hood either started this trend or was just simply first. But movies like Halloween: Resurrection in 2002 would see Busta Rhymes kung-fu-ing the shit out of Michael Myers and Redman would get an epically gory kill from Chucky in Seed of Chucky in 2004. In Leprechaun 5, Ice-T as Daddy Mack passes a joint back and forth with the leprechaun and then has his finger bit off. And, I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, the leprechaun raps. There’s an entire song with dancers at the end credits. Aside from all this ridiculousness, the fifth installment actually has a pretty good story. Three friends, struggling to get their hip-hop group signed to a record deal, steal the leprechaun’s magic golden flute that can mesmerize people with its music. 

Was one trip to the hood enough? Fuck no. Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood goes back to the hood with an even hoodier title. Again, this installment has a great story. Wish fulfillment returns to the forefront, it’s a female-led cast, and all Tangi Miller as Emily wants to do is go to Kansas State University, so I’m required to love it. Other than that, unfortunately, you can see there’s no steam left in the franchise. Kills are uncreative, the same one is more or less repeated throughout, and they shoot the same brand of fight scene with the leprechaun half a dozen times.

When more than ten years pass, it’s time for a reboot, right? And what does every goddamn franchise have to do at some point? An origin movie. I hate these installments. Explaining the monster compromises its horror which compromises the horror for the audience. But, Leprechaun: Origins throws a bit of a curveball—set in Ireland with an “actual” mythical leprechaun: a hairless, carnivorous, Guillermo Del Toro-esque fairy monster. From WWE films, Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl plays the monster and, honestly, he does a great job. I’m a fan of Brendan Fletcher (Freddy vs Jason) too so this one had enough for me to be entertaining but it’s not a Leprechaun leprechaun movie, you know?

Yes, they know, and they listened because the last installment in this marathon is Leprechaun: Returns which is a direct sequel to the original 1993 movie. WHAT?! I have to love this movie. Because it proved my theory. The leprechaun that died at the end of Leprechaun (1993), twenty-five years later, is resurrected from the well that was his final resting place. Ergo, he couldn’t have been the other leprechauns in the other Leprechaun movies. Mark Holton returns as Ozzie. The story follows Jennifer Aniston’s character’s daughter and her sorority sisters returning to the abandoned farmhouse to ‘get off the grid’. Linden Porco does his best as the leprechaun but he’s no Warwick Davis. I’m worried he was directed to imitate Warwick Davis as much of possible instead of making the role his own and it shows. But his physicality as the creature is great. It’s an otherwise stale, generic, slasher film. Its best kill, it steals from Thir13en Ghosts (2001). I bought this entire collection digitally for about $15. Get a few vaccinated friends together, put it on in the background of your St. Patty’s party, and have some fun.