From: blake7@herahera.cc.bellcore.com (berardinelli,james)
Subject: Review:  LEPRECHAUN (SPOILERS)
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 15:47:40 GMT
Summary: Ugh.

LEPRECHAUN

     Running Length:  1:31
     Rated:  R (Violence, gore, language)

     Starring:  Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt, Mark Holton,
          Robert Gorman
     Director:  Mark Jones
     Producers:  Jeffrey B. Mallian
     Screenplay:  Mark Jones
     Music:  Kevin Kiner
     Released by Trimark Pictures

When a leprechaun's treasure is stolen, he hunts down the thieves and 
kills them - at least that's the premise of LEPRECHAUN.  In this case, one of 
the wee folk (Warwick Davis) has been relieved of 100 gold coins.  In an 
attempt to regain the lost treasure, he's captured by means of a four 
leaf clover and trapped in a box.  10 years later, a girl (Jennifer Aniston) 
and her father move into the house where the leprechaun is trapped.  
Surprise of surprises, the leprechaun gets free and starts to kill and maim 
everyone in sight.

To begin with, this is a feeble premise for a movie.  What the "creative" 
team behind LEPRECHAUN manage to do with it, however, is a travesty.  
I know that there are far more bad horror films than there are good ones, 
but this goes beyond simply being "bad".  It's so unpleasant, in fact, that it 
isn't even worth a look as one of those popular "so bad they're good" 
films.  It is legitimately unwatchable.

The plot is a mishmash of cliches.  The dialogue was written with the brain-
dead viewer in mind.  Not only is it stilted and unrealistic, but writer Mark 
Jones seems determined to explain everything, no matter how obvious (and 
often ludicrous) it is.  Of course, toward the end, the leprechaun has to be 
"killed" twice.  This "sudden return" from the dead has, over the past few 
years, become one of the most-overused plot devices in Hollywood.  

The actors seem perfectly suited for the stock characters they portray.  
Warwick Davis enjoys himself in an over-the-top performance, and Jennifer 
Aniston shows that, in different circumstances, she might be competent, 
but everyone else is horrible.  

As is usual in pictures of this genre, there's a lot of blood, but, while some 
slasher flicks take pride in the art of presenting a murder, there's no style 
evident in LEPRECHAUN's various killings.  The copious amounts of 
gore are more laughable than sickening.  True to its unoriginal form, 
the leprechaun follows the recent trend of wisecracking whenever he 
injures or murders someone.  Compared to the other homicidal maniacs 
like Freddy and Chucky, his lines are more idiotic than pithy.

Then there's the intelligence of the characters to consider.  Now I 
recognize that it's necessary for people occasionally to do stupid things in 
horror movies to advance the plot, but LEPRECHAUN thrives on far 
too many of these contrivances.  How is the audience supposed to sympathize 
with a group of morons who act like they flunked out of kindergarten?  
For example, if you suspect that a cat is rabid, would you stick your hand 
into a hole in a tree to try to get it out?  Neither would I, but the 
characters of LEPRECHAUN approach the matter differently.

It's not worth wasting any more time on this review.  LEPRECHAUN is 
a movie with virtually no redeeming qualities and even the most film-
starved horror fan would do better watching HALLOWEEN for the umpteenth 
time than putting himself/herself through this torture.  It's hard to believe 
that ninety-one minutes can seem this long.

                      Rating:  1.1 (F-, *)