Whoever thought up the ludicrous premise of this dire movie deserves to be exiled from the film industry for good. A telling example of what's wrong with the modern horror film, LEPRECHAUN forsakes chills and thrills in favour of some moronic humour which fails, time and time again, to be the least bit funny. I don't want to sound like an old misery, but this is such a total failure that I can only marvel at what on earth the people who made this were thinking of.
There are so many faults that I don't know where to begin. For a start, the music is uninspired. The acting is basic and amateurish, especially in the case of the muscular male lead who is devoid of both charisma and talent. This plank's idea of acting is to limp exaggeratedly through much of the film with a tiny bite on his leg which Bruce Willis would have forgotten about five seconds after it was inflicted. There's an annoying, foul-mouthed and snot-nosed kid who thinks he's the bee's knees, who has a dim-witted friend who tries to be funny but fails every time. Just wait until you see the 'heartfelt' scenes between these two as the kid promises to "fix" his friend's slow brain... sickening, indeed! The cast is packed with unfamiliar faces, apart from a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston, who has of course gone on to bigger (and more lucrative) things with the hit sitcom FRIENDS.
Under a rubber mask (I hate to think of how much he was sweating here) is Warwick Davis, the hero of WILLOW, as the leprechaun of the title. He's an extremely irritating creature who runs around singing rhymes and going on about his gold, which gets boring after about two minutes. Davis goes completely over the top and is literally grating on the nerves, an obnoxious, stupid monster who enjoys making those Freddy Krueger-type puns so fond of modern scriptwriters (I hate 'em). I saw him once at a movie convention, didn't seem too happy and if he's in junk like this then I know why. It's fun to sit back and name all the films that this one rips off. I spotted CRITTERS (the setting), THE SHINING (leprechaun on tricycle), and most of all THE EVIL DEAD, with P.O.V. shots of the leprechaun chasing Aniston, severed hands running about, etc.
The gore in this film sits uncomfortably with the humour which occupies most of it. It feels like a family film, except for the odd occasionally violent moment like when the leprechaun rips a corpse's eyeball out to substitute for his own, or breaks a man's neck with a loud twig-snap noise. These effects are okay, but stick around and you'll witness some tacky green glowing computer effects which show the leprechaun's "magic". The film reaches its low point with the leprechaun riding a skateboard, or wheeling himself along in a wheelchair with the film sped up. I know exactly the kind of person who would find this stuff funny, and it's totally atrocious. Astonishingly, numerous sequels have been made to date, probably even worse than this one. I have seen worse films, at least this one is full of action to keep the viewer's mind off things. Just try watching something like SHRIEK, a new low. Don't think of this as a recommendation though, avoid LEPRECHAUN like the plague.
There are so many faults that I don't know where to begin. For a start, the music is uninspired. The acting is basic and amateurish, especially in the case of the muscular male lead who is devoid of both charisma and talent. This plank's idea of acting is to limp exaggeratedly through much of the film with a tiny bite on his leg which Bruce Willis would have forgotten about five seconds after it was inflicted. There's an annoying, foul-mouthed and snot-nosed kid who thinks he's the bee's knees, who has a dim-witted friend who tries to be funny but fails every time. Just wait until you see the 'heartfelt' scenes between these two as the kid promises to "fix" his friend's slow brain... sickening, indeed! The cast is packed with unfamiliar faces, apart from a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston, who has of course gone on to bigger (and more lucrative) things with the hit sitcom FRIENDS.
Under a rubber mask (I hate to think of how much he was sweating here) is Warwick Davis, the hero of WILLOW, as the leprechaun of the title. He's an extremely irritating creature who runs around singing rhymes and going on about his gold, which gets boring after about two minutes. Davis goes completely over the top and is literally grating on the nerves, an obnoxious, stupid monster who enjoys making those Freddy Krueger-type puns so fond of modern scriptwriters (I hate 'em). I saw him once at a movie convention, didn't seem too happy and if he's in junk like this then I know why. It's fun to sit back and name all the films that this one rips off. I spotted CRITTERS (the setting), THE SHINING (leprechaun on tricycle), and most of all THE EVIL DEAD, with P.O.V. shots of the leprechaun chasing Aniston, severed hands running about, etc.
The gore in this film sits uncomfortably with the humour which occupies most of it. It feels like a family film, except for the odd occasionally violent moment like when the leprechaun rips a corpse's eyeball out to substitute for his own, or breaks a man's neck with a loud twig-snap noise. These effects are okay, but stick around and you'll witness some tacky green glowing computer effects which show the leprechaun's "magic". The film reaches its low point with the leprechaun riding a skateboard, or wheeling himself along in a wheelchair with the film sped up. I know exactly the kind of person who would find this stuff funny, and it's totally atrocious. Astonishingly, numerous sequels have been made to date, probably even worse than this one. I have seen worse films, at least this one is full of action to keep the viewer's mind off things. Just try watching something like SHRIEK, a new low. Don't think of this as a recommendation though, avoid LEPRECHAUN like the plague.