Classic Movie Review: 'Leprechaun' 30 Years Later

Leprechaun (1993)

Directed by Mark Jones

Written by Mark Jones

Starring Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt, Mark Holton

Release Date January 8th 1993

Published January 9th, 2023

Reflecting the movie Leprechaun 30 years later, it's a movie that should not exist. To steal a phrase from a popular podcast, 'How did this Get Made?' How did a filmmaker look at a box of Lucky Charms and think to himself: Leprechaun horror movie. The existence of Leprechaun is perplexing enough but then, when you actually watch the movie, the questions only grow. This bizarre amalgamation of horror tropes, looney tunes gags, and endless continuity errors is undeniably entertaining but not for many of the reasons the filmmakers intended.

Leprechaun begins on the sight of our titular anti-hero, the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis), savoring his pot of gold. Then, smash cut to a limousine somewhere in North Dakota. Inside the limo is Dan O'Grady (Shay Duffin), fresh from a trip to Ireland and flush with new found money. It seems that Mr. O'Grady, at some point unseen by us, captured and robbed the Leprechaun of his precious gold. Unfortunately for Dan and his beloved wife, Mrs. O'Grady (Pamela Mant), the Leprechaun wasn't keen on this idea and has followed Dan back to America for revenge.

Cut to 10 years later. Dan O'Grady is gone after having trapped the Leprechaun in a crate in his basement with the aid of a four leaf clover, the kryptonite of the Leprechaun world. A father and daughter, J.D and Tory Redding, John Sanderford and Jennifer Aniston, yes that Jennifer Aniston, are moving into the former home of the O'Grady's. Through a series of coincidences involving the unusual trio of young men hired to paint their new home, the titular Leprechaun escapes and goes on a rampage in search of his lost gold.

Leprechaun began life as a straight ahead horror movie. Writer-Director Mark Jones admits that he looked at a box of Lucky Charms and that's where the idea came from. What with Halloween and Christmas having successfully launched horror franchises, why not St. Patrick's Day? That kind of mercenary logic is how you get something as strange and memorable as Leprechaun. This was 100% not a passion project for anyone, it was strictly a means to creating a cheap, repeatable holiday horror franchise. Mix in terrible Irish stereotypes, embarrassing, dad-joke level puns, and bizarre gory elements and you have Leprechaun.

The only element that no one could have predicted was how much actor Warwick Davis would take to his Leprechaun character. The beloved star of Willow appears to delight in the role of a murderous Leprechaun. Davis is having a blast in this big broad character and it's hard not to enjoy just how much he is enjoying the nonsense he's involved in. Little of what he does or that the character is capable of makes any lick of sense but Davis performs all the nonsense with such relish that you can't help but have a little fun.

The rest of the cast is essentially here as potential fodder, each filling various quotas for horror-comedy. Jennifer Aniston, pre-Friends fame, is the star, playing the classic final girl role. Her performance sadly is most notable for her constant frustration over being mansplained to throughout the entire run time of the movie. Even when she is saving the day a male member of the cast, most notably, male lead and love interest, Ken Olandt, is explaining things to her. Her apparent frustration is entertaining in that it only appears half intended.

Mark Holton plays the simpleton character in Leprechaun, a man so dimwitted as to swallow a large gold coin. Holton's performance is thankfully not a take on mental handicap, he's just an overgrown man-child. The character is perhaps a little developmentally delayed but thankfully the movie avoids insensitivity. Instead, Holton's Ozzie is slightly more akin to Curly from the Three Stooges, minus the aggressiveness of that character. It's a bad performance, don't get me wrong, I'm just happy it wasn't as offensive as it could be.

The fact that the movie started out as straight horror only to have looney tunes style gags inserted later makes a lot of sense. The movie appears heavily edited and haphazardly stitched together. There is a charm to that in a Mystery Science Theater sense; it's easy to poke fun at a movie like Leprechaun. And I did have a blast watching it with friends for a podcast. We laughed a lot, not all of it because the movie intended for us to laugh. Like I mentioned, this movie is slapped together, derived from Frankenstein parts from other horror franchises and literal lifts from Bugs Bunny.

This includes a scene where the Leprechaun is on roller skates and crashes through a fence leaving behind a perfectly Leprechaun shaped hole in the fence. Later, Davis rides a skateboard back in forth as a shotgun is fired and narrowly misses him, a la Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. And then the Leprechaun hides in a series of cabinets, never remaining in the one he entered, another stolen Bugs Bunny gag. To say that Leprechaun is lacking in originality is a bit of an understatement.

That said, I did enjoy watching it. I enjoyed making fun of Leprechaun more than anything. But, I can't knock Warwick Davis. The man commits deeply to this bizarre undignified performance and you can't resist his infectious joy of performance. Davis is having a blast on screen and while the plot is nonsense and the supporting cast is subpar, save for Aniston, Davis shines. The reason that we still talk about Leprechaun 30 years after the cash grab landed in theaters is because Warwick Davis is so, so good.

I mentioned before that I watched this for a podcast and indeed I did. Leprechaun is the kick off of a new spinoff podcast for the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast. Hosted by me alongside my 18 year old co-host, M.J, and Everyone's a Critic guest host, Amy K, Everyone's a Critic 1993 is going to feature one 1993 movie every week on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast feed. Subscribe to the Everyone's a Critic Podcast and you will get the main show and Everyone's a Critic 1993 on your favorite podcast app.

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