FORMAT: BLU-RAY (REWATCH)
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
(As it appeared in my book, The Bloody Book of Horror)
As much as I love the Leprechaun movies and Warwick Davis’ performances in them, I went into this reboot/sequel with an open mind. For one, it was produced by WWE Studios, who gave us the classic wrestler slasher movie, See No Evil. Another reason was that the Leprechaun would be played by none other than Hornswoggle. He’s not as well-known as some other wrestler-turned-actors like Kane, The Rock, or Rowdy Roddy Piper, but that’s okay. Since his career has more or less been devoted to wrestling in a leprechaun outfit; Leprechaun: Origins seemed like an ideal vehicle for him to make his dreams of movie stardom come true.
A bunch of American college students go to Ireland. While drinking in a bar, some old dude offers to give them a ride to a cabin in the woods. They soon find themselves locked in the cabin with a diminutive demon Leprechaun.
The opening scenes feature a lot of POV shots (gold-tinted of course) of the Leprechaun stalking his prey. That led me to believe it would take a while before we actually got a good look at the new Leprechaun. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take long to see the new Leprechaun in all its (gory) glory. Oddly enough, it looks a lot like the Elf from Elves. Disappointingly, he DOESN’T speak OR make goofy rhymes.
Okay, I get it. They were trying to go the “serious” and “scary” route for this one. However, making a “serious” and “scary” movie about a killer Leprechaun is just kind of stupid. Sure, the other movies in the series were stupid too, but this is a different kind of stupid. At least the Warwick Davis pictures were knowingly stupid. This is the wrong kind of stupid.
I really missed the original incarnation of the character. This mindless monster could’ve been anything really as it doesn’t particularly resemble a Leprechaun. I’m not even sure why Hornswoggle would’ve even wanted to be in this. I mean he is completely silent and covered head to toe in make-up the whole time. Not exactly the best way to get noticed in Hollywood. Maybe he owed Vince McMahon a favor or something.
Leprechaun: Origins is not supremely shitty or anything. It’s “watchable” at best, but it never comes close to approaching “enjoyable”. It’s just incredibly miscalculated.
There are some okay moments. I liked the part where the dumbass boyfriend falls asleep before getting it on with his hot girlfriend. There’s also a great “Oh shit” scene where The Final Girl mistakes her friend for the Leprechaun and buries an axe in her face. The gore is also decent as the Leprechaun rips out gold earrings and tongue piercings, and pulls out one guy’s spine. (Maybe the guy had a gold plate in his back or something.) There is a callback to the “Fuck you, Lucky Charms!” line from the original, but that’s about it in ways of connective tissue with the original films.
As bad as most of this is, I didn’t hate it. I wouldn’t even mind a sequel with Hornswoggle in the lead. Just… you know… next time make him an actual Leprechaun who says rhymes and kills people. I’m sure it’s not much to ask, is it?
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