Leprechaun

I'm not sure how Leprechaun ended up with five sequels. The leprechaun isn't scary, or even likeable in any way. He's just ugly and annoying. But he has magical powers which, apparently, allow him to jump through plot holes with ease.

The plot is thin. Very thin. An old man has stolen a leprechaun's gold, and now he wants it back. The thing is, that isn't a horrible idea for a movie, but it isn't exactly a good one either. The leprechaun (Warwick Davis) is trapped in a crate in the old man's basement, but when new tenants move into the house, the monster is freed.

Lots of stupidity follows. The leprechaun terrorizes a bunch of people, most of whom have nothing to do with his gold. There is even an extended sequence where the leprechaun pursues a cop through the woods before finally snapping his neck. It's all sort of pointless, and the shot of the cop eating a donut is, I think, supposed to be funny.

The leprechaun also kills a shop owner by pogo sticking him to death. It's one of many ridiculous scenes in the film. The shop owner ends up bloody-faced, despite only being pogoed on the chest. And really, if a maniacal leprechaun was bouncing his way to you on a pogo stick (which I am not convinced is actually fatal), wouldn't you maybe try to move?

The film is full of dumb, dumb moments like this.

For example, at one point, the hero trips and falls into a bear trap, rendering him gimpy. Why was there a bear trap in the middle of the backyard? And how did he just happen to fall directly into it? And considering the house had been deserted for ten years, why had no one else stumbled into it before? And if it was deserted, why was the lawn mowed? And where did that shotgun come from?

But the most head-scratchingly moronic moment comes near the end. Tori (Jennifer Aniston) and company escape the house, and get to the car outside. Then Tori jumps in and speeds away. The plan is for her to go across town, alone, find out the secret to killing the leprechaun, and then return to her three friends at the house. What the fuck?

Seriously: What the fuck? Why didn't they all get in the car and just leave?

*Sigh*

Okay, aside from being one of the stupidest things ever committed to celluloid, the film does, at least, have a few good things going for it. The leprechaun makeup is excellent throughout. And he's on screen often. This isn't one of those films that hides the monster until the final reel. No, this one is loaded with Warwick Davis, so if you're a fan, it's either this or an ewok movie. And Jennifer Aniston proves she can act shallow and selfish without David Schwimmer around, though, I think it would've been nice to see him fall into that bear trap.

Directed by Mark Jones • R • 1993 • 92 minutes