Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood

Promotional Poster

**Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood** is a 2003 American horror film written and directed by Steven Ayromlooi. It is the sixth installment of the Leprechaun franchise, and as of now, the last entry in the franchise to star Warwick Davis as a Leprechaun.

## Plot

The film opens with an animated prologue revealing the origins of leprechauns, stating that they were summoned by a king to protect his gold. After the death of the king the Leprechauns returned to their places of origin, all except one Leprechaun who through the ages slowly became corrupted and obsessed with the gold he still guarded.

In the present, Father Jacob finds the leprechaun's gold and intends to build a youth center. Jacob manages to banish the Leprechaun, summoning demonic hands which drag him underground, but soon after dies of injuries inflicted by the leprechaun during the fight.

One year later, two friends Emily Woodrow and Lisa Duncan, have their fortune told when the clairvoyant Esmeralda who warns them that they will attain great wealth soon, but it must be denied as it will come at a great price and summon a terrible evil. While having a barbecue at the abandoned youth center construction site with Lisa, their stoner friend Jamie Davis and her ex-boyfriend-turned-drug dealer Rory Jackson, Emily falls through a hole and discovers the Leprechaun's gold in a tunnel where it was hidden by Father Jacob. Evenly splitting up the gold, the quartet of friends use it to fulfill their fantasies, unaware that by taking the gold they have released the Leprechaun, who begins stalking the group (killing a guest by impaling his chest with a bong, taking one of his coins at a party held by Jamie, prompting the police to temporarily arrest him). At the salon where Emily works the Leprechaun sneaks in and, after killing a regular customer, Doria, on the massage table by breaking her neck, attacks Emily, who barely escapes and warns Rory and the recently released Jamie, who rush to get to Lisa's. In her house, Lisa is attacked by the Leprechaun and manages to fight him off for a short while, but is killed when the Leprechaun claws her in the stomach, with her friends finding her body.

While Emily and Jamie want to return the gold, Rory does not and takes off with it; shortly after realizing Rory is gone, Emily is attacked and chased outside by the Leprechaun, but is saved when Rory has a change of heart and comes back for her. Searching for Rory, Leprechaun stops by his house and kills Rory's profligate girlfriend Chanel by tearing out her jaw, reclaiming the gold she used to make a tooth while Rory and Emily are stopped and harassed by Officers Thompson and Whitaker. After the Leprechaun appears and kills the two officers, Emily and Rory escape and regroup with Jamie, only to be confronted by a machine gun wielding group of Rory's drug-dealing rivals, led by Watson and Cedric. Planning on killing Rory for infringing on their territory, Watson and his gang are all disposed of by the Leprechaun, while Emily, Rory and Jamie drive off in Watson's car (which Leprechaun latches to the bottom of for a short while) and go looking for help from Esmeralda.

Told to use four-leaf clovers against the Leprechaun by Esmeralda, Rory laces the hollow-point bullets of his gun with clovers Jamie finds in the marijuana Rory had earlier sold him. When the Leprechaun arrives, Rory shoots him several times with the clover bullets, only for his gun to jam before he can finish the Leprechaun off. Rory and Emily are given the chance to run with the gold when the Leprechaun is distracted by Jamie, who is quickly wounded with a baseball bat to the leg, and Esmeralda dies in a magical duel with the Leprechaun. Followed to the roof of the building, Rory tries fighting Leprechaun and is knocked out, though before the Leprechaun can kill him, Emily taunts him by throwing some of his gold into nearby wet concrete and lures him into the ruins of the youth center, where she tosses his gold into a furnace before knocking the Leprechaun in with it.

Believing the Leprechaun is dead, Emily returns to Rory, only for the Leprechaun to renew his attack on them. Knocking Emily off the roof and leaving her barely holding on, Leprechaun taunts her, but is shot several times in the middle of his speech by Rory, who had fixed his gun. Shooting the Leprechaun repeatedly, Rory runs out of bullets, but distracts him long enough for Emily to hit Leprechaun with the chest of coins, sending him off the rooftop and into the wet concrete below, where the Leprechaun sinks and becomes trapped with his gold.

The film then cuts back to the animated prologue like the one at the beginning, and the Leprechaun digs himself out of the ground.

## Cast

* Warwick Davis as Basil the Leprechaun
* Tangi Miller as Emily Woodrow
* Laz Alonso as Rory Jackson
* Page Kennedy as Jamie Davis
* Sherrie Jackson as Lisa Duncan
* Donzaleigh Abernathy as Esmeralda
* Shiek Mahmud-Bey as Watson
* Sticky Fingaz as Cedric
* Keesha Sharp as Chanel
* Sonya Eddy as Yolanda
* Beau Billingslea as Officer Thompson
* Chris Murray as Officer Whitaker
* Vickilyn Reynolds as Doria
* Willie C. Carpenter as Father Jacob

## Production

### Development

The original setting for the film was a tropical island in the midst of spring break, though executives at Lionsgate had director and writer Steven Ayromlooi change the location of the film to an urban environment like the previous entry in the series.

## Reception

### Critical response

The film holds a 25% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews. In its "25 Worst Sequels Ever Made" article Entertainment Weekly named the film the third worst sequel of all time, writing, "if a movie could spark a race riot, this is it.".

## Trivia

* Despite the title, this film has a new Leprechaun.
* This is the only movie where we see a Leprechaun’s bare feet.
* This is the last film in the original continuity.
	+ Though there is talks for a sequel.
* This is the only Leprechaun sequel to not have comedy as it’s main focus.