Images via Trimark Pictures/Peacock App

When I look at some horror movie franchises, I can’t help but notice how little the makers care for continuity and making sure not to create inconsistencies or plotholes. In some cases, the makers will try to make the immediate sequels somewhat consistent with the previous movie, but once they’re like 3, 4…7 movies in, they really seem to stop caring about continuity and just start doing whatever the hell they want. Pretty much the only constant in horror movie is the villain which is why so many horror movie villains go on to be such iconic characters. One series that follows this rule is the Leprechaun series.

The Leprechaun franchise spans 8 movies and it wasn’t until the most recent one, Leprechaun Returns that we finally saw a direct sequel to the original film. To be fair though, the 7th movie, Leprechaun: Origins which was made by WWE Studios was supposed to be a reboot of the franchise. The plot for all of these movies is about 90% the same: there’s a murderous Leprechaun, he’s after something, usually it’s his pot gold and he’s willing to kill anybody who gets in his way.

Warwick Davis played the titular Leprechaun, Lubdan (although I don’t remember hearing his name being used in any of the movies) in the first six movies before he was replaced by Dylan Postl AKA Hornswoggle in Leprechaun: Origins and Linden Porco in Leprechaun: Returns. Davis is probably the most famous little person in show business. Davis played Wicket the lead Ewok in the Return of the Jedi and a few other characters in the Star Wars movies. He was also the title character in Willow, and has had smaller roles in Harry Potter and Narnia movies. In fact, Davis’s work in both Star Wars and Harry Potter has led to him being named the highest grossing supporting actor of all time.

Throughout the series the Leprechaun is shown to have a number of weaknesses and abilities depending on when the plot calls. Some of the abilities that are shown the most include teleportation, telekinesis, illusion generation, the ability to create/teleport objects when he needs them, super strength, durability, and a healing factor. As for weaknesses, they also vary depending on the movie. In the first, fifth, and sixth films the Leprechaun is vulnerable to four leaf clovers, however the level of vulnerability to four-leaf clovers is not consistent with the first movie showing the Leprechaun to be extremely vulnerable to them while in the fifth and sixth films, four-leaf clovers just weakening him. In the second film the Leprechaun is vulnerable to wrought-iron which can kill him while in the third film the Leprechaun has a mystical connection to his pot of gold, where if the gold is destroyed the Leprechaun is destroyed with it. In the third and fifth films we also see that the Leprechaun is vulnerable to a magical amulet which transforms him into a stone statue when placed around his neck.

One thing I want to point out about the Leprechaun movies is that they never really explore the Leprechaun’s origin or backstory too much. For most of the series the audience is left to rely on their own inherent knowledge on Leprechaun folklore and myth to explain things, and in some cases they might reference a children’s book or something about the Leprechaun to give a little more backstory, but this was mostly just a clever way of explaining whatever weaknesses or abilities the Leprechaun would have in that film.

Another thing I want to point out-and this is just a fan theory that I came across. It’s never actually confirmed if it is the same Leprechaun in all the movies. If it a different Leprechaun in each movie then it’s a good way of explaining how he keeps returning after being killed in each movie without any explanation, as well as the inconsistencies in the backstories.

Considering the theme of this post, I really wish I was putting this up around St. Patrick’s Day to try to get a boost from possible searches but since I’m only able to do this right because most of them are currently available for free on the Peacock App, and I figure I might as well get it out of the way while I have access to these movies. Also, compared to other movie write ups that I’ve done in the past I won’t go into too much detail with each movie which is part of the reason I’m doing multiple movies per post. I looked at them and there’s really not that much to analyze. Maybe someday if I can think of something, I might revisit some of the movies and do a deeper analysis of them, but that day is not today.

Leprechaun

Returning to his farmhouse in North Dakota after having made a trip to Ireland for his mother’s funeral, Dan O’Grady reveals to his wife that they are rich after he had captured a Leprechaun and stolen his pot of gold from him. After hiding the gold, O’Grady is horrified to learn that the Leprechaun has followed him to America and murdered his wife. Using a four-leaf clover, a leprechaun’s one weakness, O’Grady is able to incapacitate the Leprechaun and imprison him in a crate. However the strain of dealing with the Leprechaun plus remnants of the Leprechaun’s magic causes O’Grady to have a stroke.

Ten years later, Los Angeles natives, J.D. Redding and his teenage daughter Tory have purchased O’Grady’s farmhouse and have hired local handy man Nathan, Nathan’s younger brother Alex, and their dim-witted (and heavily implied to be mentally challenged) friend Ozzie to help fix it up. While exploring the house’s basement, Ozzie accidentally frees the Leprechaun from his crate. The Leprechaun demands Ozzie return his gold to him, however Ozzie manages to get away due to the Leprechaun’s powers still being weakened. Ozzie tries to tell the others about the Leprechaun, but due to his child-like behavior nobody believes him.

Seeing a rainbow and remembering the myth that rainbows can lead to a leprechaun’s pot of gold, Ozzie follows the rainbow with Alex behind him to an old, dilapidated truck where the two find the Leprechaun’s gold coins that O’Grady had hidden years before. Wondering if the gold is real, Ozzie tries to test a coin by biting into it but instead accidentally swallows it. Alex and Ozzie decide to take another gold coin to get examined by an expert while hiding the rest in an old well on the property.

Meanwhile, the Leprechaun lures J.D. into a trap by imitating a cat and biting his hand, forcing the others to take him to the hospital in town, with the Leprechaun following on a tricycle. While Tory and Nathan take J.D. to the hospital, Ozzie and Alex slip away to a pawn shop to get a gold coin appraised. After Ozzie and Alex leave the pawn shop, the Leprechaun appears, kills the shop owner and takes back his coin before making his way back to the farmhouse on a go kart. Along the way, the Leprechaun kills a sheriff’s deputy who had attempted to pull him over for speeding. Returning to the farm house, the Leprechaun ransacks the house looking for the rest of his coins while also shining any shoes he finds.

When Tory, Nathan, Alex, and Ozzie return to the house they assume that the mess was made by a wild animal looking for food. When the group start to hear strange sounds coming from outside, Nathan goes to investigate, and is injured by a bear trap set by the Leprechaun who reveals himself to the group. The group fight the Leprechaun with flashlights and rocks before chasing him away with a shotgun.

The group attempt to flee in Nathan’s truck, but find the engine has been sabotaged by the Leprechaun. After the Leprechaun rams the truck with a modified go-kart, the group take refuge in the farmhouse where Ozzie reveals the existence of the Leprechaun’s gold which he and Alex had hidden in the well. Tory retrieves the gold and gives it to the Leprechaun.

Believing that the worst is behind them, the group prepare to flee the farmhouse. However, the Leprechaun counting his gold, discovers that the coin that Ozzie swallowed is still missing. Assuming the group had tried to cheat him, the Leprechaun resumes terrorizing them. Ozzie then suggests that they ask Mr. O’Grady for help to defeat the Leprechaun with Nathan revealing that he had been living in a nursing home since his stroke.

Distracting the Leprechaun with some shoes, Tory manages to make it to her jeep and heads to the nursing home, however the Leprechaun follows her on a pair of roller skates. Arriving at the nursing home, Tory encounters the Leprechaun disguised as O’Grady. Fleeing from the Leprechaun, Tory encounters a seriously wounded O’Grady who reveals that the power of a four-leaf clover can kill the Leprechaun, and she can find one in the clover patch on his farm. Arriving back at the farm, Tory immediately heads to the clover patch to find a four-leaf clover, however the Leprechaun attacks her and chases her to his lair where he had been keeping the Sheriff’s deputy’s body and car, and toys that he stole from the pawn shop owner.

Hearing Tory’s cries for help, Ozzie and Nathan go to help her by stunning the Leprechaun with a shotgun blast before heading back to the clover patch where they find a four-leaf clover. Meanwhile Alex tries to set a trap for the Leprechaun using the bear trap he used to wound Nathan. However the Leprechaun finds Alex and attempts to crush his head in the trap.

Hearing Alex’s cries for help, Ozzie comes to Alex’s rescue, revealing that the last gold coin is in his stomach. The Leprechaun chases Ozzie and tries to cut Ozzie open with the buckle from his shoe. Alex grabs the clover from Tory and wraps it up in his gum before shooting it down the Leprechaun’s throat with his slingshot, causing the Leprechaun to melt down to a skeleton and fall down the well. The Leprechaun’s skeleton climbs up from the well demanding his gold, however Nathan knocks him back down the well before blowing it up with gasoline. As fire, medical, and police personnel arrive at the farm, the movie ends with a voiceover from the Leprechaun, vowing that he will not rest until he gets back every last piece of his gold, setting the stage for sequel.

As I said earlier there’s really not that much to analyze from Leprechaun, it’s a pretty straight forward B horror movie. The only thing really noteworthy about this movie is the cast.

For starters you have a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston playing Tory Redding.

Mark Holton played Ozzie. Prior to Leprechaun Holton played Francis Buxton, Pee-wee Herman’s equally childish rival in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

Then you have Ken Olandt who played Nathan. I was tempted to skip Nathan but after looking at his Wikipedia page I learned he was the protagonist on Super Force, a prime-time sci-fi/action show that I have vague memories seeing as a kid. On Super Force, Olandt played Zachary Stone, an astronaut turned police officer wanting to avenge the death of his father and clear his missing brother’s name who has been accused of being a crooked cop. Stone fought crime using an advanced suit of armor, originally designed for use in space, and a heavily armed jet-propelled motorcycle equipped with a variety of James Bond-esque gadgets.

Super Force sounds like something I would love to take a closer look at. I just need to find it on a streaming site. I did find a DVD set for sale on Amazon but I’m on the fence dropping the money to get it

As a horror movie, Leprechaun doesn’t really have that many scary moments. Although, the premise of the movie is scary enough by itself: being terrorized by a psychotic little person with magic powers? How could you not find that terrifying?

Also, I didn’t’ really realize this until doing this write up, but for a ’90s horror movie, body-count for the first Leprechaun is pretty light and the deaths themselves are actually pretty mild. I mean,

https://youtu.be/W6OBwwIkMQw?t=88

There’s Mrs. O’Grady who gets her neck broken when she’s pushed down a flight of stairs.

The Shopkeeper, who gets pogoed to death, probably the most terrifying death in the film.

The Sheriff’s Deputy who gets his necked snapped. Considering how long this whole scene goes I would say it’s more suspenseful than it is terrifying. Also the broken neck seems a bit anticlimactic. I mean the guy is running in fear, a classic horror movie trope and that is how it ends? I really wish they put more thought into making his death more elaborate.

Finally, there’s Mr. O’Grady who is beaten and mutilated off screen before being thrown down an elevator shaft. Another death that seems a bit disappointing but I feel was done just so they had a way of fluidly explaining the Leprechaun’s weakness.

Leprechaun 2

In Ireland in 994, the Leprechaun tells his slave, William O’Day that he will celebrate his 1,000th birthday (which also happens to be St. Patrick’s Day) by taking a wife, revealing that if the woman he chooses sneezes three consecutive times without somebody saying “God bless you” he will be able to claim her. O’Day is initially excited at the idea of the Leprechaun to be married since it will mean he will be free, but he quickly becomes horrified when he learns the Leprechaun has chosen his daughter to be his wife. Unwilling to let his daughter be taken by the Leprechaun, O’Day says “God bless you, my child” when the Leprechaun tries to get her to sneeze three times. The Leprechaun angry at O’Day for denying him a bride, kills O’Day and promises that he will marry O’Day’s descendant.

1,000 years later, in present-day Los Angeles, teenager, Cody Ingall is running a celebrity death tour with his Uncle Morty, driving tourists around Los Angeles in a hearse to various places with supposed macabre history behind them. On St. Patrick’s Day, Morty is too drunk to drive a tour, forcing Cody to drive, irritating his girlfriend Bridget, whom he had plans to hang out with.

While driving passed the ruins of Harry Houdini’s mansion, the Leprechaun emerges from a tree transplanted to America from Ireland. After ripping a gold tooth out of a homeless man’s mouth, the Leprechaun begins his search for a bride.

Cody tries to salvage his relationship with Bridget by taking her to the go-kart track ran by his rival, Ian, however this fails as Bridget shows visible signs of being irritated with Cody’s behavior. Cody, frustrated by the status of his relationship with Bridget, runs a red light in front of a cop and gets arrested. After Morty bails Cody out of jail, he suggests that Cody try to fix things with Bridget.

Ian, having taken Bridget home, attempts to make a move on her, however Bridget rejects his advances and sends him home. While leaving, Ian is enchanted by an illusion of Bridget created by the Leprechaun which tricks him into sticking his face into a set of spinning lawn mower blades, killing him. Cody arrives at Bridget’s house with chocolates and flowers which cause Bridget to sneeze. When Bridget sneezes three times, the Leprechaun reveals himself and kidnaps her but loses one of his gold coins in the process. Cody finds the coin and runs back home to consult Morty over what to do.

The Leprechaun takes Bridget to his lair under the tree and tells her his intention of making her his bride, revealing that she is a descendant of William O’Day. While getting ready to marry Bridget, the Leprechaun realizes one of his coins is missing and sets off to go find it.

The Leprechaun returns to Bridget’s house, where police are investigating Bridget’s disappearance and Ian’s murder. Due to Cody leaving behind a card with his name on it and Bridget’s parents knowing about his relationship with her, Cody is made a suspect in both cases. Using his magic, the Leprechaun steals a card with Cody’s information on it from one of the detectives.

Returning home, Cody and Morty consult a folklore book and learn about the Leprechaun’s evil nature, his plans to claim a bride, and his weakness to cast iron. The Leprechaun appears and demands his coin back, forcing Cody and Morty flee to a local bar celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Morty noticing that the Leprechaun has caught up to them, challenges the Leprechaun to a drinking contest, reasoning that as long as the Leprechaun is with them, he can’t harm Bridget. Morty tricks the Leprechaun into getting drunk, but the Leprechaun flees before Cody and Morty can get Bridget’s location from him.

Remembering the Leprechaun’s weakness to cast iron, Cody and Morty head to the go-kart track where there is a huge cast iron safe. Cody manages to trap the Leprechaun in the safe, but Morty’s greed gets the better of him and he demands the Leprechaun give him the three wishes he’s entitled to for capturing the Leprechaun. Morty first wishes for the Leprechaun to give him his gold but the Leprechaun twists Morty’s wish by causing the gold to appear in his stomach. In pain, the Leprechaun is able to trick Morty into using his second wish to free him, and his third wish to remove the gold from his body. Twisting his wish again, the Leprechaun kills Morty by ripping him open to remove the gold. The Leprechaun tries to kill Cody, but Cody learns that the Leprechaun can’t harm him as long as he has the gold coin. Frustrated at being unable to kill Cody, the Leprechaun leaves.

Cody, remembering hearing a homeless man’s rant about encountering the Leprechaun by Houdini’s mansion while he was held in police custody, realizes the Leprechaun’s lair is underneath the ruins of Houdini’s mansion. Arriving at the Leprechaun’s lair, Cody frees Bridget. While attempting to escape the maze of tunnels that make up the Leprechaun’s lair, Bridget and Cody get separated. Cody finds Bridget, who asks Cody to give her the coin. Cody gives Bridget the coin, who reveals herself to be the Leprechaun in disguise. The real Bridget appears and begs the Leprechaun to spare Cody, but the Leprechaun uses his powers to make Cody stab himself with a cast iron rod he brought with him as a weapon. The Leprechaun attempts to celebrate his victory, however Cody gets up and stabs the Leprechaun with his cast iron rod, revealing that the coin he gave him was a chocolate coin he got at the bar.

The Leprechaun explodes as Cody and Bridget escape the Leprechaun’s lair. Reunited, Cody and Bridget kiss before Cody discards the Leprechaun’s coin, telling Bridget “it’s not worth it.”

Compared to the original Leprechaun, there’s a bit more to talk about with Leprechaun 2. For starters I want to say that Leprechaun 2 follows the basic horror sequel rules that are laid out in Scream 2.

“The Body count is always bigger, the death scenes are more elaborate…”

Leprechaun 2 has one of the higher body-counts of the entire franchise as well as some of the most gruesome deaths.

You have Ian, the guy who the Leprechaun gets to stick his face into a lawnmower. It’s offscreen but the implication is still pretty gory.

Then you have the barrista who he scalds to death with a cappuccino machine.

Morty, who gets his stomach ripped open by the Leprechaun.

And a security guard who gets run over by a go kart. Another off-screen death, but one that just seems to imply that it’s gruesome.

Also while the main cast of Leprechaun 2 isn’t that noteworthy, there are however a few notable people playing small parts throughout the film.

Ron Howard’s brother, Clint played a tourist on Morty’s death tour.

Michael McDonald of MadTV fame played a flamboyant Barrista.

And Tony Cox, another famous little person played the Black Leprechaun who gives Cody a chocolate gold coin.

Looking back at Leprechaun, I’m thinking the reasoning for the transplant to Los Angeles and be somewhat close to Hollywood so they could include this scene

Which is actually a tribute/rip off of this scene from the 1932 movie Freaks.

Leprechaun 3

In Las Vegas, a disheveled man missing an eye, hand, and leg enters a Las Vegas pawn shop with a Leprechaun statue wearing a medallion. Desperate to be rid of the statue and eager to leave Las Vegas, the man sells the statue to the pawn shop owner, warning him not to remove the medallion. The pawn shop owner ignores the man’s warning, and removes the medallion causing the Leprechaun statue to come to life and a pot of gold to appear. The shop owner attempts to claim the gold but the Leprechaun beats him with his shillelagh, only stopping when the shop owner tries to shield himself with the medallion, causing the Leprechaun to flee into the pawn shop’s storage room with his pot of gold, dropping a coin in the process. While counting his gold, the Leprechaun realizes a coin is missing and swears to kill anybody who gets in his way of finding it.

Across the city, Scott McCoy, on his way to California for college stops to help Tammy, an aspiring magician whose car has broken down. Unable to get her car fixed and late for work, Tammy gets Scott to drive her to the Lucky Shamrock, a casino where she works as an apprentice and assistant to Fazio, a mediocre magician whose lack of talent keeps him from finding work at higher-quality venues.

Back at the pawn shop, the shop keeper after consulting a children’s CD-ROM about Leprechaun myth, enters his storage room to get the Leprechaun’s pot of gold, but the Leprechaun scares him away.

Meanwhile, Scott mesmerized by the trappings of Las Vegas, cashes the check his parents gave him for school and tries his hand at gambling, only to lose all his money at a roulette table ran by Loretta, one of the Lucky Shamrock’s crooked dealers. Out of money, and with no options, Scott follows Loretta’s advice of pawning his watch at a nearby pawn shop which also happens to be the one the Leprechaun is at.

At the pawn shop, the owner attempts to negotiate a deal to get half of the Leprechaun’s gold, but the Leprechaun double crosses him and kills him before hiding when Scott enters the shop. Scott finds the shop owner’s body and one of the Leprechaun’s gold coins. Hearing from the shop owner’s CD-ROM how a Leprechaun’s gold can grant wishes, Scott wishes that he was back at the casino on a winning streak. The coin following Scott’s wish, teleports him back to the casino before the Leprechaun can kill him with an axe. Knowing that Scott has one of his coins, the Leprechaun goes on a rampage through Las Vegas to get it back.

Back at the Lucky Shamrock, Scott uses the power of the gold coin to win back all his money and more at the roulette wheel, forcing Mitch, the Lucky Shamrock’s shady owner to shut down the table and give Scott a free room. Loretta having seen Scott use the coin to make his winning bets, realizes the coin is magic and conspires with Fazio to steal the coin and Scott’s winnings.

Fazio breaks into Scott’s hotel room and grabs the coin but is chased out by Scott before he can find Scott’s money. The Leprechaun appears and attacks Scott, biting him in the hand before Scott manages to stab him in the head with a fork and throw him out a window, but not before some of the Leprechaun’s blood mixes into Scott’s wound..

Fazio brings the coin to Loretta who tries to show him its magic powers. Unconvinced due to not being able to get the coin to work, Fazio tells her to find a coin dealer so they can sell it and split the money. Mitch however sees Loretta with the coin and claims it for himself as compensation for the money Scott won from her. While holding the coin, Mitch unintentionally wishes that he could have any woman he wants causing Tammy to fall in love with him and go with him to his private suite. Having heard Mitch say “I wish” before seeing Tammy’s change in behavior, Loretta realizes that she needs to say “I wish” in order to activate the coin’s powers.

Up in Mitch’s suite, Tammy dances seductively for Mitch while Loretta sneaks in and steals back the coin, breaking the spell over Tammy. Tammy unaware at what has happened is shocked when she realizes she was about to have sex with Mitch. Mitch, angry at Tammy’s sudden change in behavior fires her, sending her from his suite in tears. The Leprechaun then appears and creates an image of a beautiful woman for Mitch to have sex with. Mitch enamored by the Leprechaun’s illusion, is horrified when the Leprechaun drops the illusion revealing that the woman is really an animatronic robot which electrocutes him to death.

Meanwhile, due to the Leprechaun’s blood mixing with his own, Scott slowly begins transforming into a Leprechaun and adopting some of his mannerisms such as speaking in rhymes and craving potatoes. Scott seeing Tammy in tears and after learning what happened decides to help Tammy confront Mitch.

Arriving back at Mitch’s suite, Tammy and Scott are horrified when they find Mitch’s dead body and the Leprechaun who demands his coin back. Tammy and Scott flee, however Scott’s transformations begin to cause him excruciating pain. Trying to figure out what is going on, Scott and Tammy decide to return to the pawn shop where Scott found the gold coin for clues about the Leprechaun’s origin. At the pawn shop, the two over hear from the shop owner’s CD-Rom that the gold is the Leprechaun’s weakness. Scott’s new Leprechaun senses kick in and he finds where the Leprechaun has hidden the rest of his gold. The Leprechaun appears and attacks Scott and Tammy who managed to elude him once again. Due to Scott’s transformation getting worse, Tammy decides to take him to a hospital to see if they can do something for him.

Back at the casino, Loretta has used the coin to wish herself a younger, sexier body which she shows off to Fazio. Fazio finally convinced the coin is indeed magic, steals the coin and locks Loretta in his dressing room before wishing that he was the greatest magician in the world.

At the hospital, while doctors try to examine Scott, the Leprechaun lures Tammy to the morgue where he tries to torture her for information on his missing coin. Scott, sensing the Leprechaun’s presence saves Tammy with his new Leprechaun abilities and reveals to the Leprechaun that Fazio is the one who has his missing coin.

The Leprechaun heads back to the casino and kills Fazio in the middle of a show by sawing him in half in front of a horrified audience. Tammy and Scott appear and clear the casino by telling the audience about the Leprechaun’s murderous behavior.

The Leprechaun attempts to form an alliance with Scott by offering him half his gold. However, Scott rejects his offer and grabs a flame thrower that Fazio used in his act and shoots the gold with it causing the Leprechaun to burst into flame and die.

With the Leprechaun dead, Scott returns to normal and he Tammy walk out of the casino together.

I read somewhere that Leprechaun 2 being such a failure at the box office led to Leprechaun 3 being released direct-to-video. Although if this was a case it makes you wonder why Trimark would agree to make another Leprechaun movie if the previous 1 was so bad.

That kind of logic kind of reminds me of Patton Oswalt’s bit on the Death Bed movie and how even though the idea seems so stupid it actually made it through the entire process of being made into a movie. On the plus side Leprechaun 3 did end up becoming the highest-selling direct-to-video movie of 1995.

There’s really not that much I can say about Leprechaun 3. At a glance it seems the cast is pretty forgettable with most of them not doing anything that makes them stand out too much with the only exceptions being John DeMita and John Gatkins.

John DeMita who played Fazio has had a pretty successful career doing voice work which include English dubs on various animes. Although unless you’re somebody who actually reads the credits for those I highly doubt you’ll recognize his name.

John Gatins who played Scott, would go on to become a writer and director who wrote Flight, Kong: Skull Island and that Power Rangers movie from 2017. He also worked with Eddie Murphy on three separate occasions, Norbit, Meet Dave, and A Thousand Words—three Eddie Murphy movies I’m sure many people wish never happened.

Looking at Leprechaun 3, I’m a bit curious what was the decision to have the movie take place in Las Vegas. My guess is that because the Leprechaun is primarily motivated by greed, and because with gambling it’s just so easy to win big or lose it all, Las Vegas just seemed like a great location for another Leprechaun movie.

Unfortunately because the movie does take place in Vegas we’re treated to a horrible scene where the Leprechaun meets an Elvis impersonator which is topped off by the Leprechaun doing his own Elvis impression.

As a horror movie, I’d say Leprechaun is a bit all over the places with the horror, there’s just too much of a weird juxtaposition between what’s supposed to be scary and the absurd.

This clip for example, how the Leprechaun deals with Art and Tony by using his magic to turn Tony into a human slot machine just seems too much like something out of a cartoon. Then there’s the part where the Leprechaun appears in front of Scott. Maybe if it was done with a jump scare it would have been scarier, but seeing the Leprechaun come in pushing the cart just looks so stupid.

This scene where the Leprechaun attempts to torture Tammy in the hospital scene. I’m sure back in the ’90s this scene would have been terrifying, but the fact that it’s intercut with scenes of Scott who is in mid-Leprechaun transformation just ruins it because you can’t help but focus on Gatkin’s poor attempt at playing a Leprechaun.

The deaths in Leprechaun 3 are a bit all over the place. Some are mild, some are horrifying, however when they are horrifying-they get really horrifying.

The first death, the Pawn Shop owner’s death is pretty tame since all the Leprechaun does is beat the crap out of him before strangling him with a phone cord. It’s a mild death scene, however final moment when the shop keeper’s eyes turn towards the Leprechaun does seem a bit creepy.

Then there’s Mitch. Being electrocuted isn’t that bad of a death, although him being electrocuted by some creepy looking animatronic sex doll complete with latex boobs and head does make it look like something out of somebody’s nightmares.

Art and Tony’s death are another set of mild deaths since they’re just more shillelagh beatings. Even when one of them loses an eye you don’t really find it that terrifying. Grotesque maybe, but not terrifying.

Loretta’s death is probably the most terrifying and gory of the entire movie. When the Leprechaun kills her by hyperinflating parts of her body not only do we graphically see her body explode but we’re also treated to some crazy body deformity as we see her lips, tits, and ass grow bigger and malformed.

Then there’s Fazio’s death: sawed in half with a chainsaw. The actual sawing is done off screen with some blood splatter thrown in to imply some gore. However what really makes this scene disturbing is how they show the Leprechaun pulling apart Fazio’s bisected corpse and showing his remains to the audience.

As for the Leprechaun, his death in Leprechaun 3 seems to be the most absurd of the entire series. Bursting into flames when his gold is hit by the flamethrower? Okay I guess it makes sense, but then for dramatic effect they make his flaming corpse fly through the air before dropping to the ground. Might have been better if they had him run around on fire. Seeing him flail wildly through the air while on fire just ruins the scene.

That’s it for this this part of the franchise. Originally I was going to do all 6 in 1 post but when I realized how much I had to say I thought it might best to split it up.

Don’t forget to check back soon for part 2.