Leprechaun

Starring: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Oldandt, Mark Holton
Directed by: Mark Jones
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Comedy
1993

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An evil Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) goes on a killing rampage to retrieve his stolen gold.

Review:

Tim: I suppose in some ways, Leprechaun is an original idea. You certainly don't see too many murderous, evil leprechaun movies these days. For that reason, the film gets an immediate boost- because new is exciting. Unfortunately, an interesting idea doesn't amount to a good movie. You actually have to execute on that idea. Sadly, that's where this movie completely falls down. It really, really isn't a very good movie at all.

Part of the problem with this movie is that it tried to be a horror comedy (a notoriously difficult genre). I didn't know where the comedy line was drawn. For example, I watched some of the most inane, absurd moments I've seen on screen. I couldn't tell if the movie just completely failed at a horror moment, or if it was supposed to be some of the "comedy". It really felt like this movie tried to be a horror film, and when producers realized how godawful it actually was, they just pasted the "comedy" label on it. It was as if the comedy was a cover for making a truly awful movie. Regardless, none of it works. The film isn't particularly funny or clever, it's just an absurd, weak film from start to finish.

The cast features two decent performers and then the weakest bunch of D-list actors I've seen. Warwick Davis was an inspired choice to play the evil leprechaun. Yes, that's mostly because he's a midget (or is it little people now?). What Davis does, though, is attack the role with over-the-top glee. He becomes bigger than the role by making it this tongue-in-cheek, fun, ridiculous character. They hired him because he was short, but he delivers a legitimately memorable performance. He's the best part of the film. The second notable actor is Jennifer Aniston, making her feature film debut. She hasn't quite nailed the acting part (i.e., she gives a bad performance), but at least you can see the potential talent on screen. Even though she's not particularly good, she's the second best part of the entire movie. Outside of her, you'll find nothing but incredibly poor actors giving cringe-worthy performances.

The movie basically features a number of gory kill scenes, one after another. It follows the usual horror movie formula. One big flaw is that most of the kills involve random, unimportant characters who we meet and then watch as they are killed off. It really doesn't matter to us because we don't know or care about the characters. I suppose there's some enjoyment from the sheer gore and mayhem, but this is very, very minor. Many of the kills are beyond ridiculous.

Leprechaun just isn't a very good movie at all. The protagonists are cheesy, one-dimensional characters. The movie meanders from horror to comedy in ineffective ways, so you never know if what you're seeing is supposed to be funny or supposed to be scary and is just laughable. There's not a single character to like and everything in the film is taken to absurd lengths. This is a truly bad movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Friday the 13th