Reviews (16)

Not as good as I expected but still awesome!
This movie was no where near as good as I expected. It had many flaws. However it does have good acting and a lot of money was probably dumped on this movie. I would recommend this to anyone who likes inhabited or leprechaun. Check it out, you won't be disapointed but its probably not what you will expect.

anyway this movie is about a little goblin, rumplestiltskin, who stills babies...and that is the main plot. its pretty cool!

SCARY
I remember watching this film as a little girl and to be honest it terrified me.

I now have been trying to find this film for sometime but forgot the title and well I obviously found it.

I think that this film is a GREAT horror film and will have everyone hat watches it scared as hell.

Yes, this was in theaters
To answer your question, yes this movie was in theatures and I saw it not once, but twice. If you are going to judge this film on its filmatic achievements, or wonderful acting, its definitely not for you because the movie itself is horrible, and never quite reaches the bar that Leprechaun set for it. However, if you like funny horror flicks or are a fan of the Leprechaun series you should check it out, its pretty funny. One scene in particular sees good ole Rumple lose his head. The head is trying to tell the body where to go to find the head, its quite humorus.

theatrical or not?
Im jw if anyone knows if this movie played in theatres or if it was straight to video. to my prior knowledge it is direct to video but a reviewer said they saw it in theatres. anybody know?

Amazing
This movie is by far the greatest I have ever seen. 5 stars all the way. ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Gosh and begorrah, this is one silly horror movie
The basic premise of this movie isn't that bad: a really ugly, mean leprechaun is robbed of his gold, forced to lie trapped in a crate for ten years, and then comes out willing and able to kill everybody who stands in the way of his recovering his gold. That could work. Unfortunately, it doesn't, not in this movie. Leprechaun is the sort of movie I might expect to see from someone who took a dare that he couldn't make a horror movie in less than seven days. The movie does have one good thing going for it, though, and it's not Warwick Davis' inane portrayal of the villain. Although you may never hear her mention this film among her credits, a young Jennifer Aniston glides enticingly throughout this entire film, making one forget at times just how silly and mediocre the movie actually is. Aniston plays Tory Reding, a spoiled young lady from L.A. forced to spend the summer with her father in an all but condemned house in North Dakota. She refuses to stay in the nasty new house only to run into a young painter outside who accuses her of being afraid, at which point she immediately decides to stay after all. What no one knows is that the house's former owner not only stole a leprechaun's gold, he trapped the little bugger in a crate down in the basement, sealed with the magic of a four leaf clover. Thanks to Ozzie, a backward but good-natured member of the far from talented Three Guys Who Paint, the little green guy escapes and goes on the rampage again. The brains of the painters' outfit, a 12 year old boy, actually finds a bag of gold at the end of the rainbow, yet still he (and everyone else) refuses to believe Ozzie's leprechaun story. The rest of the movie consists of your basic "when leprechauns attack" scenario, providing nothing resembling fright or dark comedy or anything else. There is a slight bit of blood and gore, but the leprechaun spends more time trying to be funny (with little success) than providing us with satisfying deaths. Far too many ridiculous sight gags and tricks are played, insulting the intelligence of even the youngest of viewers, and the climax occasions nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders on the part of the viewer. In the world of horror movies, Leprechaun is mediocrity personified.

This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!
If you like low budget horror movies then this is the movie for you. This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!If you have not seen it then this is what it is about: It's about this girl and her dad and they move into this house and it's disgusting. Then these painters get there and one of the painters hears something in a crate down in the basement of the house. So he brushes a four leaf clover off of the crate and he lets out a killer Leprechaun! And the Leprechaun threats to bite the painter's ear off if he does not tell him where his gold is. But the painter escapes. Then he and another painter find a bag of gold in a 50s truck. And then the Leprechaun goes on a murder spree. The first time I ever saw Leprechaun was one night Leprechaun was on the SCIFI Channel. so my mom asked: "Hey Tony want to watch Leprechaun?" So I said OK. And then my uncle gave me a copy on dvd cause I told him I want to own it. And I also bought a copy on tape too. And I am getting Leprechaun 2 from Netflix.com. But if you have not seen this movie and you want to see it's seqels don't bother with Leprechaun 3 because me and my uncle are Leprechaun fans and my uncle said that Leprechaun 3 was stupid and gross because the plot was stupid and it had gross stuff like fingers getting cut off. And my uncle said that Leprechaun and Leprechaun 2 were the best ones but my uncle remembers little about Leprechaun 2 but I don't think he's seen Leprechaun 4: In Space yet. And don't bother with Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood because my uncle says it is the same as Leprechaun 3. So if you haven't seen this film make sure you get it from here because it is a good film. But as I said don't bother with Leprechaun 3 Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood.

Waver B Davis best
In Leprechuan Irish men catches a leprechaun makes him get his gold. The Leprachun is partically imposible to kill. He can only be killed if a frehs pluck four leefed clover is placed on his body.

The Leprechaun tracks the man to his house where he kills his white. The Leprechaun is locked in a crate where he remainds traped for ten years. Later ozz fat dork guy is tricked into releasing the creature.

He leaves a trail of death and destructions. Like childplay has somecheesy death scenes. Like when the Leprechaun kills this guy with a Pog Stick by jump un and down on top of his lung. Than he takes the coin and steals a tinny toy car.

In the end the Leprechaun is killed she the movie and watch its explosive conclusion. If you like this see the five sequels to it.

IT'S OK
AN EVIL LEPRECHAUN [WARWICK DAVIS] GOES ON A GORY KILLING SPREE TO RETRIEVE SOME STOLEN GOLD. HAS COOL MURDER SEQUENCES. THE PLOT JUST GETS TOO THIN AFTER A WHILE. WARWICK DAVIS IS THRILLING AS THE LEPRECHAUN. THE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE WITH THIS MOVIE IS THAT IT SOMETIMES GETS BORING. BUT, IT DOES RATE AS AN ACCEPTABLE MOVIE. FOLLOWED BY FIVE SEQUELS, THE FIFTH SEQUEL WILL BE RELEASED ON VIDEO AND DVD ON THE 30TH OF THIS MONTH.

First One and Best of the Lot
We have Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, and Britney Spears; so why not have a malevolent leprechaun played by the minuscule Warwick Davis of "Willow" fame? Davis's turn as the evil Irish urchin in this film translated into four sequels with another one on the way at the end of this year. In fact, the "Leprechaun" franchise may rank as one of the most rushed series in movie history. The first one came out in 1993, meaning that the powers that be behind this series made six films in ten years. Not bad, I guess, unless you are one of the unfortunate viewers willing to watch all of the "Leprechaun" films as I did recently. While the first picture is watchable and interesting in a purely mindless, harmless way, the rest severely suffer from the dreaded law of diminishing returns. I can't begin to imagine in what odd directions they will take Davis's character with future releases, but if the folks at Trimark decided to make six films we can rest assured that they are planning a few more before the game is up. My recent "Leprechaun" marathon tells me that game should have been up long, long ago.

Nothing beats an original idea, and the first "Leprechaun" film does spark marginal interest about the shenanigans unfolding onscreen. The film opens with a drunken Irishman named Dan O'Grady managing to capture a leprechaun, thereby forcing the little monster to give up his pot of gold. Regrettably for this son of Eire, the evil fairy isn't about to give up his wealth without a fight, tracking down the man who robbed him just in time to open up a big can of hurt on the man's wife and inflicting a massive stroke/heart attack type illness on O'Grady. Before he does so, however, Danny Boy traps the leprechaun in a wooden crate and imprisons him there by placing a four leaf clover on the top of the box. It seems that Irish folk monsters cannot withstand this powerful charm, and it looks as though the leprechaun will be trapped forever in this abandoned house.

Not so fast. A few years later Tori Reding and her father move into the decrepit house. Tori hates the new digs but rapidly adjusts to her surroundings when she encounters the buff Nathan Murphy, a local fella hired by Dad to paint the house. Along for the ride is the overweight but mentally challenged Ozzie and a smart mouthed kid named Alex, both of who work with Murphy in his paint business. Predictably, it isn't too long before Ozzie inadvertently lets the leprechaun out of his prison. Despite dire warnings from Ozzie about an evil elf on the loose, everyone laughs at such a ludicrous idea and goes about their business. Not for long, though, because all heck breaks loose at incredible speed: Tori's father suffers a serious hand injury requiring medical attention, Ozzie and Alex discover the pot of gold the Irishman left on the property, and the leprechaun emerges out of the shadows for all the world to see. The small demon demands the return of his gold, and if he doesn't get what he wants he will kill everyone he can get his hands on. Lots of moronic stuff happens throughout the film, like the leprechaun riding around on some sort of go cart contraption he just happened to find in a barn and getting pulled over by a local cop, Tori incredibly managing to contact the ailing Irishman at the local old folks home before he dies, and the gang finding a four leaf clover just in the nick of time to stop the creature. If nothing else, "Leprechaun" is worth watching for a few good snorts and chuckles. Look for the shoe shining incident and try not to laugh. I dare you.

Of course, none other than Jennifer Aniston plays the role of Tori Reding. A close viewing of the film reveals many of the mannerisms this actress made famous in her later career, such as scrunching her face up, gasping, and acting flustered. She doesn't have a fancy coif here, though, and that will surely disappoint die hard fans. No, the real joy of seeing Aniston in this movie comes from watching her acting and reacting to Warwick Davis's hammy performance as the leprechaun. In Roman times, when a successful general came home from battle to have his triumph through the streets of Rome, a slave stood next to him on his chariot and whispered in his ear that all glory is fleeting. The same principle should apply to Aniston anytime she has a hit movie, except this time the attendant would remind her that she starred in "Leprechaun." Seriously though, most of the performances in this movie aren't all that bad for a low budget horror film. The thespians in this picture certainly stand head and shoulders above the wretched hacks that appear in the ham handed sequels.

The DVD is a pretty basic number: a trailer for the film and a few other trailers for other Trimark junk adorn the disc. All of the "Leprechaun" DVDs usually have the same sorts of trailers, namely a few "Leprechaun" trailers and perhaps a sneak peak at one or two of the "Warlock" films. As for the transfer, the picture quality is good even though its in full screen. The first film in this series will never win any awards, but it is probably the best entry in the franchise. Not very scary, not too gory, and full of Davis's trademark cackles; that is the best you can hope for from this seminal moment in cinematic history. Luck o' the Irish to ye with this one. ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Gosh and begorrah, this is one silly horror movie
The basic premise of this movie isn't that bad: a really ugly, mean leprechaun is robbed of his gold, forced to lie trapped in a crate for ten years, and then comes out willing and able to kill everybody who stands in the way of his recovering his gold. That could work. Unfortunately, it doesn't, not in this movie. Leprechaun is the sort of movie I might expect to see from someone who took a dare that he couldn't make a horror movie in less than seven days. The movie does have one good thing going for it, though, and it's not Warwick Davis' inane portrayal of the villain. Although you may never hear her mention this film among her credits, a young Jennifer Aniston glides enticingly throughout this entire film, making one forget at times just how silly and mediocre the movie actually is. Aniston plays Tory Reding, a spoiled young lady from L.A. forced to spend the summer with her father in an all but condemned house in North Dakota. She refuses to stay in the nasty new house only to run into a young painter outside who accuses her of being afraid, at which point she immediately decides to stay after all. What no one knows is that the house's former owner not only stole a leprechaun's gold, he trapped the little bugger in a crate down in the basement, sealed with the magic of a four leaf clover. Thanks to Ozzie, a backward but good-natured member of the far from talented Three Guys Who Paint, the little green guy escapes and goes on the rampage again. The brains of the painters' outfit, a 12 year old boy, actually finds a bag of gold at the end of the rainbow, yet still he (and everyone else) refuses to believe Ozzie's leprechaun story. The rest of the movie consists of your basic "when leprechauns attack" scenario, providing nothing resembling fright or dark comedy or anything else. There is a slight bit of blood and gore, but the leprechaun spends more time trying to be funny (with little success) than providing us with satisfying deaths. Far too many ridiculous sight gags and tricks are played, insulting the intelligence of even the youngest of viewers, and the climax occasions nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders on the part of the viewer. In the world of horror movies, Leprechaun is mediocrity personified.

This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!
If you like low budget horror movies then this is the movie for you. This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!If you have not seen it then this is what it is about: It's about this girl and her dad and they move into this house and it's disgusting. Then these painters get there and one of the painters hears something in a crate down in the basement of the house. So he brushes a four leaf clover off of the crate and he lets out a killer Leprechaun! And the Leprechaun threats to bite the painter's ear off if he does not tell him where his gold is. But the painter escapes. Then he and another painter find a bag of gold in a 50s truck. And then the Leprechaun goes on a murder spree. The first time I ever saw Leprechaun was one night Leprechaun was on the SCIFI Channel. so my mom asked: "Hey Tony want to watch Leprechaun?" So I said OK. And then my uncle gave me a copy on dvd cause I told him I want to own it. And I also bought a copy on tape too. And I am getting Leprechaun 2 from Netflix.com. But if you have not seen this movie and you want to see it's seqels don't bother with Leprechaun 3 because me and my uncle are Leprechaun fans and my uncle said that Leprechaun 3 was stupid and gross because the plot was stupid and it had gross stuff like fingers getting cut off. And my uncle said that Leprechaun and Leprechaun 2 were the best ones but my uncle remembers little about Leprechaun 2 but I don't think he's seen Leprechaun 4: In Space yet. And don't bother with Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood because my uncle says it is the same as Leprechaun 3. So if you haven't seen this film make sure you get it from here because it is a good film. But as I said don't bother with Leprechaun 3 Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood.

Waver B Davis best
In Leprechuan Irish men catches a leprechaun makes him get his gold. The Leprachun is partically imposible to kill. He can only be killed if a frehs pluck four leefed clover is placed on his body.

The Leprechaun tracks the man to his house where he kills his white. The Leprechaun is locked in a crate where he remainds traped for ten years. Later ozz fat dork guy is tricked into releasing the creature.

He leaves a trail of death and destructions. Like childplay has somecheesy death scenes. Like when the Leprechaun kills this guy with a Pog Stick by jump un and down on top of his lung. Than he takes the coin and steals a tinny toy car.

In the end the Leprechaun is killed she the movie and watch its explosive conclusion. If you like this see the five sequels to it.

IT'S OK
AN EVIL LEPRECHAUN [WARWICK DAVIS] GOES ON A GORY KILLING SPREE TO RETRIEVE SOME STOLEN GOLD. HAS COOL MURDER SEQUENCES. THE PLOT JUST GETS TOO THIN AFTER A WHILE. WARWICK DAVIS IS THRILLING AS THE LEPRECHAUN. THE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE WITH THIS MOVIE IS THAT IT SOMETIMES GETS BORING. BUT, IT DOES RATE AS AN ACCEPTABLE MOVIE. FOLLOWED BY FIVE SEQUELS, THE FIFTH SEQUEL WILL BE RELEASED ON VIDEO AND DVD ON THE 30TH OF THIS MONTH.

First One and Best of the Lot
We have Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, and Britney Spears; so why not have a malevolent leprechaun played by the minuscule Warwick Davis of "Willow" fame? Davis's turn as the evil Irish urchin in this film translated into four sequels with another one on the way at the end of this year. In fact, the "Leprechaun" franchise may rank as one of the most rushed series in movie history. The first one came out in 1993, meaning that the powers that be behind this series made six films in ten years. Not bad, I guess, unless you are one of the unfortunate viewers willing to watch all of the "Leprechaun" films as I did recently. While the first picture is watchable and interesting in a purely mindless, harmless way, the rest severely suffer from the dreaded law of diminishing returns. I can't begin to imagine in what odd directions they will take Davis's character with future releases, but if the folks at Trimark decided to make six films we can rest assured that they are planning a few more before the game is up. My recent "Leprechaun" marathon tells me that game should have been up long, long ago.

Nothing beats an original idea, and the first "Leprechaun" film does spark marginal interest about the shenanigans unfolding onscreen. The film opens with a drunken Irishman named Dan O'Grady managing to capture a leprechaun, thereby forcing the little monster to give up his pot of gold. Regrettably for this son of Eire, the evil fairy isn't about to give up his wealth without a fight, tracking down the man who robbed him just in time to open up a big can of hurt on the man's wife and inflicting a massive stroke/heart attack type illness on O'Grady. Before he does so, however, Danny Boy traps the leprechaun in a wooden crate and imprisons him there by placing a four leaf clover on the top of the box. It seems that Irish folk monsters cannot withstand this powerful charm, and it looks as though the leprechaun will be trapped forever in this abandoned house.

Not so fast. A few years later Tori Reding and her father move into the decrepit house. Tori hates the new digs but rapidly adjusts to her surroundings when she encounters the buff Nathan Murphy, a local fella hired by Dad to paint the house. Along for the ride is the overweight but mentally challenged Ozzie and a smart mouthed kid named Alex, both of who work with Murphy in his paint business. Predictably, it isn't too long before Ozzie inadvertently lets the leprechaun out of his prison. Despite dire warnings from Ozzie about an evil elf on the loose, everyone laughs at such a ludicrous idea and goes about their business. Not for long, though, because all heck breaks loose at incredible speed: Tori's father suffers a serious hand injury requiring medical attention, Ozzie and Alex discover the pot of gold the Irishman left on the property, and the leprechaun emerges out of the shadows for all the world to see. The small demon demands the return of his gold, and if he doesn't get what he wants he will kill everyone he can get his hands on. Lots of moronic stuff happens throughout the film, like the leprechaun riding around on some sort of go cart contraption he just happened to find in a barn and getting pulled over by a local cop, Tori incredibly managing to contact the ailing Irishman at the local old folks home before he dies, and the gang finding a four leaf clover just in the nick of time to stop the creature. If nothing else, "Leprechaun" is worth watching for a few good snorts and chuckles. Look for the shoe shining incident and try not to laugh. I dare you.

Of course, none other than Jennifer Aniston plays the role of Tori Reding. A close viewing of the film reveals many of the mannerisms this actress made famous in her later career, such as scrunching her face up, gasping, and acting flustered. She doesn't have a fancy coif here, though, and that will surely disappoint die hard fans. No, the real joy of seeing Aniston in this movie comes from watching her acting and reacting to Warwick Davis's hammy performance as the leprechaun. In Roman times, when a successful general came home from battle to have his triumph through the streets of Rome, a slave stood next to him on his chariot and whispered in his ear that all glory is fleeting. The same principle should apply to Aniston anytime she has a hit movie, except this time the attendant would remind her that she starred in "Leprechaun." Seriously though, most of the performances in this movie aren't all that bad for a low budget horror film. The thespians in this picture certainly stand head and shoulders above the wretched hacks that appear in the ham handed sequels.

The DVD is a pretty basic number: a trailer for the film and a few other trailers for other Trimark junk adorn the disc. All of the "Leprechaun" DVDs usually have the same sorts of trailers, namely a few "Leprechaun" trailers and perhaps a sneak peak at one or two of the "Warlock" films. As for the transfer, the picture quality is good even though its in full screen. The first film in this series will never win any awards, but it is probably the best entry in the franchise. Not very scary, not too gory, and full of Davis's trademark cackles; that is the best you can hope for from this seminal moment in cinematic history. Luck o' the Irish to ye with this one. ... Read more

Reviews (49)

Gosh and begorrah, this is one silly horror movie
The basic premise of this movie isn't that bad: a really ugly, mean leprechaun is robbed of his gold, forced to lie trapped in a crate for ten years, and then comes out willing and able to kill everybody who stands in the way of his recovering his gold. That could work. Unfortunately, it doesn't, not in this movie. Leprechaun is the sort of movie I might expect to see from someone who took a dare that he couldn't make a horror movie in less than seven days. The movie does have one good thing going for it, though, and it's not Warwick Davis' inane portrayal of the villain. Although you may never hear her mention this film among her credits, a young Jennifer Aniston glides enticingly throughout this entire film, making one forget at times just how silly and mediocre the movie actually is. Aniston plays Tory Reding, a spoiled young lady from L.A. forced to spend the summer with her father in an all but condemned house in North Dakota. She refuses to stay in the nasty new house only to run into a young painter outside who accuses her of being afraid, at which point she immediately decides to stay after all. What no one knows is that the house's former owner not only stole a leprechaun's gold, he trapped the little bugger in a crate down in the basement, sealed with the magic of a four leaf clover. Thanks to Ozzie, a backward but good-natured member of the far from talented Three Guys Who Paint, the little green guy escapes and goes on the rampage again. The brains of the painters' outfit, a 12 year old boy, actually finds a bag of gold at the end of the rainbow, yet still he (and everyone else) refuses to believe Ozzie's leprechaun story. The rest of the movie consists of your basic "when leprechauns attack" scenario, providing nothing resembling fright or dark comedy or anything else. There is a slight bit of blood and gore, but the leprechaun spends more time trying to be funny (with little success) than providing us with satisfying deaths. Far too many ridiculous sight gags and tricks are played, insulting the intelligence of even the youngest of viewers, and the climax occasions nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders on the part of the viewer. In the world of horror movies, Leprechaun is mediocrity personified.

This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!
If you like low budget horror movies then this is the movie for you. This is the best horror movie I have seen since Halloween 8!If you have not seen it then this is what it is about: It's about this girl and her dad and they move into this house and it's disgusting. Then these painters get there and one of the painters hears something in a crate down in the basement of the house. So he brushes a four leaf clover off of the crate and he lets out a killer Leprechaun! And the Leprechaun threats to bite the painter's ear off if he does not tell him where his gold is. But the painter escapes. Then he and another painter find a bag of gold in a 50s truck. And then the Leprechaun goes on a murder spree. The first time I ever saw Leprechaun was one night Leprechaun was on the SCIFI Channel. so my mom asked: "Hey Tony want to watch Leprechaun?" So I said OK. And then my uncle gave me a copy on dvd cause I told him I want to own it. And I also bought a copy on tape too. And I am getting Leprechaun 2 from Netflix.com. But if you have not seen this movie and you want to see it's seqels don't bother with Leprechaun 3 because me and my uncle are Leprechaun fans and my uncle said that Leprechaun 3 was stupid and gross because the plot was stupid and it had gross stuff like fingers getting cut off. And my uncle said that Leprechaun and Leprechaun 2 were the best ones but my uncle remembers little about Leprechaun 2 but I don't think he's seen Leprechaun 4: In Space yet. And don't bother with Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood because my uncle says it is the same as Leprechaun 3. So if you haven't seen this film make sure you get it from here because it is a good film. But as I said don't bother with Leprechaun 3 Leprechaun In The Hood and Leprechaun Back 2 Tha Hood.

Waver B Davis best
In Leprechuan Irish men catches a leprechaun makes him get his gold. The Leprachun is partically imposible to kill. He can only be killed if a frehs pluck four leefed clover is placed on his body.

The Leprechaun tracks the man to his house where he kills his white. The Leprechaun is locked in a crate where he remainds traped for ten years. Later ozz fat dork guy is tricked into releasing the creature.

He leaves a trail of death and destructions. Like childplay has somecheesy death scenes. Like when the Leprechaun kills this guy with a Pog Stick by jump un and down on top of his lung. Than he takes the coin and steals a tinny toy car.

In the end the Leprechaun is killed she the movie and watch its explosive conclusion. If you like this see the five sequels to it.

IT'S OK
AN EVIL LEPRECHAUN [WARWICK DAVIS] GOES ON A GORY KILLING SPREE TO RETRIEVE SOME STOLEN GOLD. HAS COOL MURDER SEQUENCES. THE PLOT JUST GETS TOO THIN AFTER A WHILE. WARWICK DAVIS IS THRILLING AS THE LEPRECHAUN. THE PROBLEM THAT I HAVE WITH THIS MOVIE IS THAT IT SOMETIMES GETS BORING. BUT, IT DOES RATE AS AN ACCEPTABLE MOVIE. FOLLOWED BY FIVE SEQUELS, THE FIFTH SEQUEL WILL BE RELEASED ON VIDEO AND DVD ON THE 30TH OF THIS MONTH.

First One and Best of the Lot
We have Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, and Britney Spears; so why not have a malevolent leprechaun played by the minuscule Warwick Davis of "Willow" fame? Davis's turn as the evil Irish urchin in this film translated into four sequels with another one on the way at the end of this year. In fact, the "Leprechaun" franchise may rank as one of the most rushed series in movie history. The first one came out in 1993, meaning that the powers that be behind this series made six films in ten years. Not bad, I guess, unless you are one of the unfortunate viewers willing to watch all of the "Leprechaun" films as I did recently. While the first picture is watchable and interesting in a purely mindless, harmless way, the rest severely suffer from the dreaded law of diminishing returns. I can't begin to imagine in what odd directions they will take Davis's character with future releases, but if the folks at Trimark decided to make six films we can rest assured that they are planning a few more before the game is up. My recent "Leprechaun" marathon tells me that game should have been up long, long ago.

Nothing beats an original idea, and the first "Leprechaun" film does spark marginal interest about the shenanigans unfolding onscreen. The film opens with a drunken Irishman named Dan O'Grady managing to capture a leprechaun, thereby forcing the little monster to give up his pot of gold. Regrettably for this son of Eire, the evil fairy isn't about to give up his wealth without a fight, tracking down the man who robbed him just in time to open up a big can of hurt on the man's wife and inflicting a massive stroke/heart attack type illness on O'Grady. Before he does so, however, Danny Boy traps the leprechaun in a wooden crate and imprisons him there by placing a four leaf clover on the top of the box. It seems that Irish folk monsters cannot withstand this powerful charm, and it looks as though the leprechaun will be trapped forever in this abandoned house.

Not so fast. A few years later Tori Reding and her father move into the decrepit house. Tori hates the new digs but rapidly adjusts to her surroundings when she encounters the buff Nathan Murphy, a local fella hired by Dad to paint the house. Along for the ride is the overweight but mentally challenged Ozzie and a smart mouthed kid named Alex, both of who work with Murphy in his paint business. Predictably, it isn't too long before Ozzie inadvertently lets the leprechaun out of his prison. Despite dire warnings from Ozzie about an evil elf on the loose, everyone laughs at such a ludicrous idea and goes about their business. Not for long, though, because all heck breaks loose at incredible speed: Tori's father suffers a serious hand injury requiring medical attention, Ozzie and Alex discover the pot of gold the Irishman left on the property, and the leprechaun emerges out of the shadows for all the world to see. The small demon demands the return of his gold, and if he doesn't get what he wants he will kill everyone he can get his hands on. Lots of moronic stuff happens throughout the film, like the leprechaun riding around on some sort of go cart contraption he just happened to find in a barn and getting pulled over by a local cop, Tori incredibly managing to contact the ailing Irishman at the local old folks home before he dies, and the gang finding a four leaf clover just in the nick of time to stop the creature. If nothing else, "Leprechaun" is worth watching for a few good snorts and chuckles. Look for the shoe shining incident and try not to laugh. I dare you.

Of course, none other than Jennifer Aniston plays the role of Tori Reding. A close viewing of the film reveals many of the mannerisms this actress made famous in her later career, such as scrunching her face up, gasping, and acting flustered. She doesn't have a fancy coif here, though, and that will surely disappoint die hard fans. No, the real joy of seeing Aniston in this movie comes from watching her acting and reacting to Warwick Davis's hammy performance as the leprechaun. In Roman times, when a successful general came home from battle to have his triumph through the streets of Rome, a slave stood next to him on his chariot and whispered in his ear that all glory is fleeting. The same principle should apply to Aniston anytime she has a hit movie, except this time the attendant would remind her that she starred in "Leprechaun." Seriously though, most of the performances in this movie aren't all that bad for a low budget horror film. The thespians in this picture certainly stand head and shoulders above the wretched hacks that appear in the ham handed sequels.

The DVD is a pretty basic number: a trailer for the film and a few other trailers for other Trimark junk adorn the disc. All of the "Leprechaun" DVDs usually have the same sorts of trailers, namely a few "Leprechaun" trailers and perhaps a sneak peak at one or two of the "Warlock" films. As for the transfer, the picture quality is good even though its in full screen. The first film in this series will never win any awards, but it is probably the best entry in the franchise. Not very scary, not too gory, and full of Davis's trademark cackles; that is the best you can hope for from this seminal moment in cinematic history. Luck o' the Irish to ye with this one. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Not as good as I expected but still awesome!
This movie was no where near as good as I expected. It had many flaws. However it does have good acting and a lot of money was probably dumped on this movie. I would recommend this to anyone who likes inhabited or leprechaun. Check it out, you won't be disapointed but its probably not what you will expect.

anyway this movie is about a little goblin, rumplestiltskin, who stills babies...and that is the main plot. its pretty cool!

SCARY
I remember watching this film as a little girl and to be honest it terrified me.

I now have been trying to find this film for sometime but forgot the title and well I obviously found it.

I think that this film is a GREAT horror film and will have everyone hat watches it scared as hell.

Yes, this was in theaters
To answer your question, yes this movie was in theatures and I saw it not once, but twice. If you are going to judge this film on its filmatic achievements, or wonderful acting, its definitely not for you because the movie itself is horrible, and never quite reaches the bar that Leprechaun set for it. However, if you like funny horror flicks or are a fan of the Leprechaun series you should check it out, its pretty funny. One scene in particular sees good ole Rumple lose his head. The head is trying to tell the body where to go to find the head, its quite humorus.

theatrical or not?
Im jw if anyone knows if this movie played in theatres or if it was straight to video. to my prior knowledge it is direct to video but a reviewer said they saw it in theatres. anybody know?

Amazing
This movie is by far the greatest I have ever seen. 5 stars all the way. ... Read more