Leprechaun

I have to say, I like holiday horror movies. I like horror movies that are based around any holiday. Not just Christmas. We have April Fool’s day, Valentine’s day, Thanksgiving day, and even President’s day. So this fits nicely in holiday horror movies. We need more holiday horror.

<img src="Leprechaun.jpg" alt="Leprechaun.">

Photo Credit: Trimark Pictures

Released: Jan 8, 1993

Runtime: 92 mins

Director: Mark Jones

Writer: Mark Jones

Actors: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt

PLOT

Ah! Try as they will, and try as they might, who steals me gold won't live through the night.-Leprechaun

A group of unsuspecting people who are renovating a house, unleash an evil Leprechaun who will stop at nothing to find his gold.

MY THOUGHTS

This old Lep, he played one / He played pogo on his lung-Leprechaun

There’s only 4 kills in Leprechaun. There’s only one imaginative kill. The pawn store owner gets pogo’ed to death. Yes, Leprechaun used a Pogo stick to jump on the guy until he died. Hadn’t seen that kind of death before.

The acting wasn’t too bad or cheesy. This was Jennifer Aniston’s first role. She probably would like to forget doing this role, but it was her first role. And it fits perfectly with her later role as Rachel in Friends. She plays a snobby girl who is not very likable in the beginning, but slowly starts coming around and being decent.

I don’t know if Warwick Davis could have foreseen how much this role would stick with him. I know he has done a lot of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Willow, but I will always remember him as being the Leprechaun. I liked his one liners and even though he’s small he can be terrifying.

A man and his daughter Tory (Jennifer Aniston), are staying at an old decrepit house in the country. He hires a team of three to help clean up and do some repairs on the home. One of the guys, Ozzie (Mark Holton), opens the box that the Leprechaun was imprisoned in. Ozzie and Alex (Robert Gorman) find a bag of gold and hide it from everyone else. Now the Leprechaun wants his gold and starts injuring or killing all those involved. 

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Overall a pretty decent 90’s horror comedy. I don’t think it would be as good as it was without the humor the Leprechaun adds to it. Also, I don’t think Leprechaun would be as good without Warwick Davis (I’m looking at you Leprechaun Origins and Leprechaun Returns). So if you like Warwick Davis, Leprechauns, or holiday horror, then check this out.

And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:

  • According to Warwick Davis, the movie was originally planned as a straightforward horror film, but Davis sought to add more comedic elements. Mark Jones agreed with this tonal shift, and they shot it as a horror comedy. Several scenes had to be re-shot after the producers insisted that the film be made gorier to appeal to older audiences.

  • George Lucas received a "special thanks" credit because Warwick Davis was under contract to him, and he gave Davis permission to appear in the movie.

  • Warwick Davis appears in the cafe scene, without his leprechaun makeup, sitting beside his wife.

  • Vice President Dan Quayle received a "special thanks" credit because his office sped up a working visa for British actor Warwick Davis.

  • Mark Jones, the writer-director, had a career in American television shows. Desiring to make a film, he decided that a low budget horror film was his best opportunity. Jones was inspired by the Lucky Charms commercials to create a leprechaun character, only his twist was to turn the character into an antagonist. Jones was further influenced by the film Critters (1986), which featured small antagonists. Jones brought the concept to Trimark, who were looking to get into film production and distribution.

  • Warwick Davis performed most of his own stunts.

  • Applying the leprechaun make-up to Warwick Davis took three hours, and taking it off took another 40 minutes.

  • The first film from Trimark.

  • Mark Jones has stated many times that the studio rejected Jennifer Aniston playing the star character. It was thanks to Jones' insistence that Trimark approved of Aniston playing Tory.

  • The film is an adaptation of the 80s comic of the same name, a comic starring the character Dan O'Grady who steals the pot of gold from the goblins in Ireland.

  • Mark Jones has a cameo sitting at the cafe counter with a trucker’s hat on.

Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5

Sex/Nudity: 0/5

Scare factor: 3/5

Enjoyment factor: 5/5

My Rank: 2.8/5

IMDB: 4.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes: critics:  2.7/10  audience:  3.2/10

Letterboxd: 2.4/5