“Try as they will, and try as they might, who steals me gold won’t live through the night.”
Those are the first words spoken in the tongue-in-cheek Leprechaun franchise. In each of the eight movies, the murderous Leprechaun goes on a killing spree to retrieve his gold which has been taken from him. As a slasher franchise, the movies are not especially highly regarded, but the 1993 original has a large cult following. It is perhaps most notable for being Jennifer Aniston’s movie debut. Aniston herself rarely acknowledges the movie’s existence, seemingly embarrassed by her involvement. The true star of the series though is Warwick Davis, who plays the titular Leprechaun in six out of the eight movies. He provides plenty of much-needed humor, and steals every scene he is in with a gleeful grin and a ton of energy. Beneath all the grim make-up, there was always a sense that he was having so much fun as the joyfully violent supernatural being. Davis chose not to return after the sixth movie, despite initially showing interest in stepping into the role for a seventh consecutive time. In the end, he chose not to return as he said it would not feel right to lead a horror movie after having kids. The seventh movie ended up being Leprechaun: Origins, a vastly different addition which many fans regard as the weakest in the franchise.
Zach Lipovsky was the director of Leprechaun: Origins, which turned out to be a sort of prequel/reboot with an entirely new look for the Leprechaun. Lionsgate and WWE Studios teamed up – as they had done on the moderately successful slasher See No Evil – and WWE star Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl took over the Leprechaun role. The franchise was no stranger to negative reviews, but Leprechaun: Origins was met with the worst reception the franchise had seen. It failed to impress the cult following the original movies had amassed, nor did it win over new audiences. It took a risk by resetting the well-established comedic tone of the franchise, and went for a darker approach. The problem was that a large part of the Leprechaun movies being enjoyable was their ability to laugh at themselves. The concept of a killer Leprechaun may not be very scary, but it could be very funny, and the blatant stupidity of the previous movies – particularly the sequels – at least showed a self-aware nature which meant the audiences could have fun with them. To the franchise’s credit, it does try and do something different in each film by transporting the Leprechaun to various locations including Vegas, space, and, infamously, the hood. Despite the near-identical plots of each, seeing the variety of environments in each movie brought at least some levels of creativity and freshness. Leprechaun: Origins quite simply forgets to have fun with its concept, and fails as a result. The noticeable absence of humor is not helped by the abundance of clichés, and while it may not quite be the travesty some make it out to be, it is easily the most forgettable installment. Four years later, Leprechaun Returns wisely brought the franchise back to its roots, and only served to prove further that Leprechaun: Origins was a huge misjudgement.
In an unexpected return to form, Leprechaun Returns brought back the tone of the original movie, as well as a handful of old characters. It takes place in the same house as the 1993 movie, and acts as a direct sequel with no acknowledgement of any other sequels in the same way 2018’s Halloween did. Once again, Davis elected not to return to his iconic role, and Linden Porco took over. Porco’s interpretation of the character is much closer to Davis’ than Hornswoggle’s with lots of semi-rhyming monologues and a joyful Irish accent. Porco does a decent job in the role despite his accent occasionally slipping, but his appearance suitably differs from Davis allowing him to make the character his own in many ways. He admitted to only watching the original Leprechaun movie before he got the role so that he had enough room to differentiate from Davis’ performance. The movie directly follows the original, and re-introduces the unintelligent but well-meaning Ozzie Jones with Mark Holden reprising his role after twenty-five years. He slips back into the role with ease, playing Ozzie as aged and matured but still bumbling and dim. The focus of the movie is on Lila (Taylor Spreitler), the daughter of Tory Redding (Aniston), and her moving into a sorority house which just so happens to be the location of the events of the original Leprechaun. The murderous being is soon resurrected in a genuinely gruesome and impressive sequence in which he oozes out of a character’s torso.
The movie certainly ensures that its comedic side is front-and-center, and it manages to brilliantly parody the slasher genre as a whole, while simultaneously feeling like a true sequel to Leprechaun. Extravagant gore, creative kills, and, a host of dumb but still likable characters see the film go along briskly. Big laughs are provided through the absurd and ironic dialogue between the protagonists. Spreitler leads the movie excellently, and has very good chemistry with co-stars Pepi Sonuga and Sai Bennett who each face off against the Leprechaun in the final third. Stephen Konstanski’s smart direction, and Suzanne Keilly’s witty screenplay superbly complement each other, and crucially, the movie never feels like it is just remaking the original. It modernizes it, and even tops it in multiple areas. Yet, despite its obvious stupidity, it is as much of a parody as it is a sequel to the original, cheerfully poking fun at nonsensical nineties slashers. Aniston’s “involvement” in the movie’s climax is like a chef’s kiss of self-deprecating humor thanks to Heather McDonald's spot-on impression.
The final scene hints at a possible future, but no further development has been made, four years later. Spiral: From the Book of Saw director Darren Bousman has expressed interest in making another movie in the franchise. Lionsgate are supposedly still open to pitches for a ninth installment, and Bousman seems to understand the franchise well, stating that he would not attempt to change the movie’s tone like Leprechaun: Origins tried to. The truth is though, if Leprechaun Returns is the finale of the franchise, then it has certainly gone out with a bang.