Rating: **1/2
Starring: Warwick Davis, Charlie Heath, Shevonne Durkin
Then again, wasn't this the case for the first Leprechaun as well?
Once upon a time, during one St. Patrick's Day in the middle ages, an evil Leprechaun catches one of his slaves escaping. But as a sign of goodwill since that day is his birthday too, the Leprechaun decides to let the man live and tag him along with his evil plan to trick one fair maiden into being his bride by making her sneeze three times. But as it turns out, said "fair maiden" is the slave's own daughter, thus forcing the man to betray his master and got himself killed in the process. All's not lost for the murderous dwarf, though, as he plans to patiently wait for the next 1000 years to come back and try again. Why? Cuz he can. Let's leave just it at that.
So a thousand years later turns out to be 1994, and the Leprechaun returns on St. Patrick's Day to steal himself a wife, this time setting his eyes on one Bridget, a young and patient lover of this entry's hero, a horror-tour guide named Cody. As the little guy begins to magically kill his way through the competition, Cody has no choice but to stop the leprechaun from entrapping his girl to a life-time of being the wife of a guy who's half their size, spitting out bad one-liners! (Oh, and is homicidal. Let's not forget that part!)
But how can he when every cop is out there looking for him as he is suspected of murdering those that the Leprechaun has killed?
Still following the traditions of a badly directed corn-puff of a movie, Leprechaun 2 (1994) is hardly a sequel that improved. In fact, I believe it's better to see this movie as a reboot of the original as it barely mentioned the events of previous film, as well as the mythology behind the Leprechaun is vastly different here save for the his taste for gold. (He seems to be more fond of the shiny stuff as he'll take it from anywhere or anyone) It's all in the same level of the first, a hammy B-flick that aims to entertain through dark humor and a bodycount.
Script-wise, we got some very standard (otherwise disposable) cast of characters. Charlie Heath as Cody and Shevonne Durkin as Bridget, as much as we would like to have them survive this ordeal, made it kinda tough to care whether they win or not since they're so flat and uninteresting. Warwick Davis is still a devilish fun fella behind the latex, which is understandable since he is the main critter in this movie, a Godsend compared to the two thin leads we got here. He's still the big scene-stealer who's giddy to murder anyone who steps in the way, interestingly more magic oriented here with deaths by go-carts from hell and deadly illusions. You would, though, expect this entry to be bloodier than the first as most sequel would, but it's quite spotty with the gore, showing off simple blood splatters and cut-aways, something I have to knock off half a rating for from a possible three star. (I wasn't lying when I said it's as good as the original)
Once upon a time, during one St. Patrick's Day in the middle ages, an evil Leprechaun catches one of his slaves escaping. But as a sign of goodwill since that day is his birthday too, the Leprechaun decides to let the man live and tag him along with his evil plan to trick one fair maiden into being his bride by making her sneeze three times. But as it turns out, said "fair maiden" is the slave's own daughter, thus forcing the man to betray his master and got himself killed in the process. All's not lost for the murderous dwarf, though, as he plans to patiently wait for the next 1000 years to come back and try again. Why? Cuz he can. Let's leave just it at that.
But how can he when every cop is out there looking for him as he is suspected of murdering those that the Leprechaun has killed?
1 male magically strangled, neck broken
1 male had his face shredded through a lawnmower
1 male steamed to death
1 male had his gut magically filled with gold, disemboweled
1 male ran over with a weaponized go-cart
Leprechaun 3 is definitely the best in the series.
ReplyDelete"But it's as restrained as the first, limiting the gore to simple blood splatters and cut-aways"
I read somewhere that a lot of the gore scenes (like an extended version of the lawnmower shredding) were cut. The footage is probably rotting somewhere, or has been destroyed. Sad.