Leprechaun 5 : La Malédiction

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.

OK, it wasn't that bad, I just really wanted to get to use that line for once (my friend who went to see Lep 1 in the theater yelled it out during the movie and got a standing ovation).

My same friend also made a good point about watching the Lep series in general: you know exactly what you're getting up front. It's not like after the movie you're going to say to yourself, surprised, "well, THAT was a total piece of sh--". You can't really be mad at yourself. It's not like going to see, say, Play It To the Bone or 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag where you think you might actually laugh once or twice at something or enjoy the movie at some points, but end up wanting to punch everyone involved in the face (even Joe Pesci). no-one tricked you into it.

Anyway, this one was better than part 4 (In Space), but of course that's not saying much. The best one of the series (I can't believe I'm saying that-I should say "the least painful to sit through" instead) was the one set in Vegas. This one I rented mainly because I heard it was mildly amusing, better than part 4, but mainly I wanted to see Ice-T in a 70's pimp outfit with a big 'fro. I think the whole budget went towards paying his salary and they didn't have much left over for costumes, special effects, sets, etc. Oh well, still beats The Haunting.

This one had at least some entertainment value because it didn't take itself too seriously. A couple of things happened I didn't expect. Of course, couple things also happened that I didn't WANT to happen but had a horrible premonition that they were going to, such as the Leprechaun smoking a blunt and rapping (though not at the same time, Thank God). They were a few times I was surprised to burst out laughing at stuff that I think was supposed to intentionally be funny. There was one particularly funny moment when the heroes are hiding from the Leprechaun that was worth the money I paid to rent it, because it was exactly like a scene from Scooby-Doo (in fact, I think it WAS a scene they stole from Scooby-Doo, but at least they stole from something amusing). I thought at first it was just because I had the flu at the time I watched it and had lots of Nyquil, but then my husband laughed at it too. There's another scene where two characters are having a very serious discussion about how to go after the Lep -- this is after a tragic event occurs, so I figured the movie was going to stop trying to be funny-- and you see that one of them is holding "Leprechauns For Dummies". For some reason (maybe this time it was the Nyquil) that also struck me as pretty amusing.

I bet Spike Lee would be really offended by this movie. For instance, you could easily have a Leprechaun 5: In the Hood Drinking Game with your friends (hey, you could use Nyquil! It's even green) during the movie just by drinking every time a character says, "a'ight", "yo", "homie", or "that sh*t is WACKED, man!". So, while on the negative side, we have the fact that the movie is completely stupid and mindless, with little gore, and really cheap production values, we do have the positives of a few good laughs and the fact that it would pi$$ off Spike Lee. I've seen a lot of horror movies WAY worse and more insulting to viewer's intelligence, so I didn't really want my money back after I rented it.

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.

Dont waste your time its even worse than the space one thought it would be so bad its good but it sont event work on that level . Havent seen 6 n after this one dont want too. A complete waste of time. Worse of seriers.

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.