Leprechaun 4: In Space

Promotional poster

**Leprechaun 4: In Space** is a 1997 American science fiction horror comedy film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith from a screenplay by Dennis A. Pratt, the film stars Warwick Davis, Brent Jasmer, and Debbe Dunning. It is the fourth installment in the Leprechaun franchise and last chronology.

## Plot

In 2096 on a remote planet, the Leprechaun attempts to court a princess named Zarina, in a nefarious plot to become king of her home planet. The two agree to fake marry, with each partner planning to kill the other after the wedding night in order to enjoy the marriage benefits (a peerage for the Leprechaun, the Leprechaun's gold and jewels for the princess) undisturbed.

A platoon of space marines arrive on the planet and kill the Leprechaun for interfering with mining operations. Gloating over the victory, one of the marines, Kowalski, urinates on the Leprechaun's body. Unbeknownst to Kowalski, the Leprechaun's spirit travels up his urine stream and into his penis, where his presence manifests as gonorrhea. The marines return to their ship with the injured Zarina, whom they plan to return to her homeworld in order to establish positive diplomatic relations. The ship's commander, the cyborg Dr. Mittenhand, explains his plans to use Zarina's regenerative DNA to recreate his own body, which was mutilated in a failed experiment. Elsewhere on the ship, the Leprechaun violently emerges from Kowalski's penis after he is aroused during a sexual act. The marines hunt the Leprechaun, who outsmarts them and kills most of the crew in gruesome and absurd ways.

While pursuing Zarina, the Leprechaun injects Mittenhand with a mixture of Zarina's DNA and the remains of a blended scorpion and tarantula, before initiating the ship's self-destruct mechanism. A surviving marine, Sticks, rushes to the bridge to defuse the self-destruct but is stopped by a password prompt. Mittenhand—now a grotesque monster calling himself "Mittenspider"—entangles Sticks in a giant web. Meanwhile, the other survivors confront the Leprechaun in the cargo bay, where they inadvertently cause him to transform into a giant after shooting him with Dr. Mittenhand's experimental growth ray.

The ship's biological officer, Tina Reeves, escapes to the bridge and rescues Sticks by spraying Mittenhand with liquid nitrogen. The only other surviving marine, Books, opens the airlock so the giant Leprechaun is sucked into space and explodes. Books joins the others at the helm and they deduce that the password is "Wizard", since Dr. Mittenhand previously compared himself to the Wizard of Oz. After stopping the self-destruct sequence, Books and Reeves kiss, while Sticks looks out the window to see the Leprechaun's giant hand giving him the finger.

## Cast

* Warwick Davis as Lubdan the Leprechaun
* Brent Jasmer as Staff Sergeant ‘Books’ Malloy
* Jessica Collins as Tina Reeves
* Guy Siner as Dr. Mittenhand/Mittenspider
* Gary Grossman as Harold
* Rebekah Carlton as Princess Zarina
* Tim Colceri as Master Sergeant ‘Metal Head’ Hooker
* Miguel A. Nunez Jr. as Private ’Sticks’
* Debbe Dunning as Private Delores Costello
* Mike Cannizzo as Private Danny O’Grady
* Rick Peters as Private ‘Mooch’
* Geoff Meed as Private Kowalski
* Ladd York as Private ‘Lucky’
* James Quinn as Computer Voice

## Production

### Pre-production

An executive in charge of production for the first three movies, this film originally started out as a spoof of Apollo 13 (1995). A senior Trimark executive saw the promo art for Apollo 13 and immediately had artwork made up replacing Tom Hanks's face on the poster with the Leprechaun's face, and this is what started the script work for the movie. Private Kowalski’s death is what sold the idea to producer Mark Amin.

## Release

The film was released on February 25, 1997. It was released on Direct-to-video by Trimark Home Video.

## Reception

### Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics, who criticized its acting, dialogue, CGI, and it’s low-budget but praised the Leprechaun and his make-up.

This film holds a 0% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews; the average rating is 1.5/10. The A.V. Club wrote that "the outer-space setting comes off as a desperate ploy to continue a horror series without having to pay any attention to continuity or the laws of reality."

## Trivia

* Had the same director as Leprechaun 3.
* Throughout the movie, the Leprechaun is never called a "Leprechaun" by the other cast members.