Leprechaun Origins (Blu-ray / DVD)
Scott Hallam
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Starring Stephanie Bennett, Andrew Dunbar, Brandon Fletcher, Melissa Roxburgh, Garry Chalk, Teach Grant, Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl
Directed by Zach Lipovsky
Distributed by Lionsgate
You would think with a name like Leprechaun Origins that you would see, somewhere during the course of the egregious 90-minute running time of this monstrosity, a full-shot of a leprechaun. Just once. Give us one good look, not just multiple blurry, quick looks at his head or hands or feet. Or not just a super close-up of his freakishly deformed face, but just a simple, full-on shot so we can see just what our antagonist looks like. Even Cloverfield did that.
Well, that doesn’t happen in Leprechaun Origins. All you get are quick, usually in and out of focus, shots of the creature without ever getting a head-to-toe look at the beast. And, if it’s an origin movie, wouldn’t you expect it to be the beginning of something? Most likely a prequel to a movie that we’ve already seen and are familiar with? Leprechaun Origins provides none of that either. In fact, judging by the end of the movie, you can pretty much say it’s not the origin of anything.
Simply put, Leprechaun Origins takes four beautiful people (I know one of the character’s names was David and one was Sophie, but I’m not totally sure on the others. Needless to say, character development was not of the utmost importance to the filmmakers behind this atrocity) and stick them out in a cabin in a desolate area in Ireland as quickly as possible. We know one of the girls is some type of history buff, but that’s all the character development you get. After that, it’s one random leprechaun attack after another resulting in zero tension, zero thrills and zero fun. So the story goes, beautiful people on a trip through Ireland meet stereotypical Irish locals who offer them a cabin. Beautiful people accept offer from stereotypical Irish characters. Attacks from goblin-like creature intended to be a leprechaun ensue. Roll credits.
Leprechaun Origins goes completely away from the fun horror-comedy that made up the original series. Sure, by the time he got to space and ‘da Hood”, the Leprechaun films became a bit tired and overdone. But they never made the cardinal sin of film…they were never boring. This movie commits that sin in spades. And even in the one or two interesting moments of the movie (as there are few notable F/X moments), the reaction of the characters are so out of the realm of reality that you can’t take it seriously for a moment. And that’s the problem here. Leprechaun Origins wants to be taken seriously and the entire basis of the film rails against that. And the production of the movie ensured it wouldn’t happen.
If there are those of you who get through the movie and are actually inclined to see some special features, there are two featurettes included in Leprechaun Origins. The first is entitled Leprechaun: An Icon Reborn. Now, once you get through the uncontrollable laughing fit this title will certainly bring down upon your unsuspecting person, you will find the answer to why this movie was entitled Leprechaun Origins (and no, the answer isn’t because Leprechaun Steaming Pile of Crap was already taken). The filmmakers explain that they were going for the origin of the actual leprechaun legend, which would also be the genesis of the beloved Leprechaun character. And with the mention of him, let me say Mr. Warwick Ashley Davis, you were sorely missed in this role. This featurette goes on to include interviews with director Zach Lipovsky and stars Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl and Stephanie Bennett.
Additionally, for those who still decide to continue to plow ahead, there is a behind-the-scenes feature entitled Leprechaun: Behind the Blood which is actually a quite informative and interesting look into how some of the special F/X were created. Definitely the most compelling entry on the entire disk.
Overall, this thing is an epic fail. There was so much potential here. Postl has proven to be a very entertaining personality in his WWE career, and he could have used that to bring another snarky leprechaun to life who doles out one-liners as he’s terrorizing his victims. It would have certainly been an improvement over this. Aside from a couple moderately impressive F/X moments, there’s really nothing worth seeing here.
Special Features
- Leprechaun: An Icon Reborn featurette
- Leprechaun: Behind the Blood Featurette
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Film
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Special Features
Categorized:News
