Leprechaun 5 - In the Hood

Having watched this movie I have to ask myself; What was the director's state of mind? Why did he feel the need to constantly place his main characters in the company of drag queens and even dress them up as such. I mean when I don't have a place to stay the home of the local drag queen isn't on the top of my list. Not since "To Wong FU thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar have I seen so many men sporting control top panty hoes. However this movie is not with out a bright side. Aside from such lovable and memorable characters like "Mack Daddy" and "Local Drag Queen" this movie also contains such memorable scenes as Leprechaun trying to get hand job from young boy in drag. Lets not forget the scene where Leprechaun attempts to have sex with what he at least thinks is a woman(but we all can guess what that means by now). So in closing if you have a fetish for Irish midgets or Drag Queens this move well definatly float your boat.

The moment Ice-T stepped into the frame sporting flares, platform shoes and a huge afro, I had a strong feeling I was going to really enjoy Leprechaun in the Hood. And I was right!

The fifth entry in the series proves to be an extremely fun, and knowingly daft movie, packed with camp humour and irresistible silliness from start to finish. Warwick Davis once again returns as the murderous, magic, Oirish fellow, this time causing all manner of trouble for a trio of young rappers when they steal his horde of gold to pay for some audio equipment.

With such unforgettable visual treats as Davis' character puffing weed, Lep hanging with a group of hot, zombie ho's, a death by afro-comb, a cross-dressing homie meeting a bloody end, an utterly pointless guest appearance by Coolio, and even a rap song from the little green fellow himself, it's hard not to have a good time with this film.

Don't believe the negative comments here on IMDb; some people are just naturally unable to have a good time! Besides, if the idea of a three foot tall killer leprechaun toking on a joint and getting nasty with his bitches tickles your funny bone, I say trust your instincts.

Not the greatest in the series, not the worst either. Not the greatest series in the world, but not the worst either. The Leprechaun films have always been silly horror movies that never try to take themselves too seriously (In Las Vegas? In Space? In the Hood?); unfortunately, none of them have ever excelled at that . . . but they've always been watchable.

Leprechaun in the Hood falls somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. Like the latest trends of just about any franchise, the film takes its audience for a bunch of a morons and feels the need to shove overused and no-longer-funny jokes down their throats. Some of these gags, granted, still manage to have a chuckle-value; most, like the fruit, could if it was handled better. Unfortunately, finesse is not part of Lep 5's vocabulary. No, instead let's throw the crap on the screen and wrap on the shoot ASAP. So, typically, the humor spills more out of sheer chance than talent. After all, if you throw 100 gags into a film one of them has to be funny . . . sooner or later.

It's not as bad as say Leprechaun 4 in terms of going overboard with the humor in a dramatic over-the-top fashion. We're still stuck with archtypes and a group of aspiring morons we'd rather see get killed than survive. Kill them, Warwick! Kill them all!

After the 'safe' scene, things got too wacky for my taste in dark comedy. The plan to catch up with the Leprechaun was plain retarded even by modern sitcom standards. `Leprechauns for Dummies?' Old joke that's painfully not funny anymore.

So that leaves Warwick Davis, himself, who once again steals the show as the title character. He still remains charming in the role of the Leprechaun in his own sick and demented way. Something about the irony of dangerous demonic nature in a creature so small makes the Leprechaun films a guilty pleasure in a way that most Child's Play films are lacking. Not since the Gremlins has any Hollywood Creature had so much fun causing death and destruction. Most of the humor in this film that does work does so directly because of Davis' involvement.

So, at sequel number five, I think it's safe to say fans know what they're getting into with a rental and whether or not they'll find it enjoyable. Leprechaun still has enough moments to get my rental at least for one more film. Have a ball, my little green friend.

Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)

* (out of 4)

Another awful entry in an all-around awful series. This time out a pimp (Ice-T) steals the gold from the leprechaun (Warwick Davis) and manages to get the medallion around his neck turning him to stone. Flash-forward a couple decades an a rap trio decide to break into the pimp's home and steal some cash but end up taking the medallion and freeing the leprechaun. The only joke about LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD is the title itself. I'm sure this silly title was a hit among video renters and I'm sure this thing sold or rented millions of copies. I mean, we did eventually get a sequel to this thing. This fifth film in the series pretty much puts the horror elements on the back burner and instead we have the leprechaun getting into all sorts of situations. Now I'm sure there will be someone out there who witnesses these situations as nothing more than racial stereotypes but if you're taking a movie called LEPRECHAUN IN THE HOOD seriously then you have many more problems than could be dealt with in this movie. The entire joke is that the leprechaun finds himself in the hood and sadly there's just nothing funny about it. You know having the lep and Ice-T in the same movie that at some point the two would have to smoke some weed. When this scene happens it's just silly and certainly not funny. Other scenes has a Korean store owner who of course tries to rap. Another sequence has a cross-dressing hooker trying to pick up the lep. We even have an entire subplot dealing with the three rappers trying to get their business done so that they can appear at a rap contest in Las Vegas. What's so annoying about that is that us poor viewers have to sit through some of the worst rap songs I've ever heard. They're corny, poorly written and are just so annoying that you can't help but want to hit the fast forward button. The entire movie could have been exploitation gold but instead we just get a cheap mess of a film that has no scares or laughs. The movie isn't nearly as over-the-top as one would hope and what gore you do get just looks rather silly. The previous four films were pretty bad but at least Davis gave it his all and usually delivered a memorable performance. Even that's not the case here because he too just seems bored with the material.

Although not quite as good as "Leprechaun II", "Leprechaun 5: In The Hood" does an admirable job at capturing the essence of the humorous evil that only the Leprechaun can deliver. He's still just as mean, and twice as violent! I would rate this on a par with #3, where he goes to Las Vegas. Seeing him as a rap artist battling Ice - T is almost too much fun for one movie.