Leprechaun 3

Leprechaun is another one of those horror franchises that goes on and on, sequel after sequel, new cast and crew every time, all that jazz, but unlike its fellow horror franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, Leprechaun doesn't even try to be good. They're all unconscionably dumb. Self-aware, but dumb. There isn't even a thread of a narrative to connect the movies other than there's an evil leprechaun who speaks in ridiculous rhymes and needs his gold and will kill anyone in his way to get it. But for any fan of camp, Leprechaun may be the horror franchise for you. And I'm using horror in the absolute loosest sense of the word because I got more shivers down my spine watching Jack and Jill than I did during any of these movies. What puts it in the horror category is simply the fact that it's an evil entity that likes to kill people, and there's bountiful gore and T&A.

Having said all that, Leprechaun 3 is probably the best in the series. There's something oddly fitting about the Leprechaun running around Vegas using real magic to fool gamblers and phony magicians, which makes for some entertaining developments. The cast is passable. Discussing the acting in a Leprechaun movie is as fruitful as analyzing the intricacies between Adam Sandler's Jack and Adam Sandler's Jill (I don't know why Jack and Jill is my go-to comparison but sure, why not). But overall, it's passable; a huge improvement over Leprechaun 2's acting which was just infuriating to watch. The movie actually has a plot, too! One of the Leprechaun's gold coins falls into the wrong hands and goes from person to person in a casino, granting the holder whatever they wish for. Again, story-wise this is by far the most practical of the Leprechaun movies.

What prevents this from being a great movie is the fact that it's vehemently stupid. I know that's the point, but there were moments where Leprechaun 3 felt like a legitimately decent movie. I enjoyed where the plot was going, the Leprechaun was throwing some classic one-liners, the deaths were highly amusing, but then it would shift gears and focus on a particular character or subplot that no one cares about and it would kill its momentum. If the whole movie focused on the main narrative of the coin going 'round and 'round the casino and the Leprechaun having to go through hurdles to find it and kill every poor sap in his path, it would've been a good movie. But they throw in crap like the Leprechaun now has werewolf powers so if he bites someone, they'll also turn into a leprechaun. Also before the Leprechaun actually gets to the casino, the movie is really boring. It's like ten minutes of the Leprechaun antagonizing some random store owner and spitting out stupid dialogue for the sake of spitting out stupid dialogue with no advancement to the plot.

Truthfully, I enjoyed this movie. A lot more than I thought I would actually. The first Leprechaun was decent, just barely, because Jennifer Aniston was great eye-candy. The second one was an abomination even by camp horror standards. This is one of those instances where the third time really is a charm. I mean, it's not much of a charm, but it accomplishes what it sets out to. It's amusing, it's ridiculous, basically the quintessential stoner horror movie, and it reaches the potential that its predecessors missed. Now, is it a good movie? Get the f*ck out of here. You know it's not. But is it a fun watch? Sure it is, especially if you're under the influence of a foreign substance. Even then, as far as campy horror movies go, you could do a lot worse than Leprechaun 3. You could do a lot better, too.

Brian Trenchard Smith 'gets' it: those who settle down for a third instalment of the Leprechaun series aren't expecting a groundbreaking work of art… they simply want another undemanding dose of tongue-in-cheek horror, with Warwick Davis hobbling around spouting appalling rhymes, and a spot of really hokey gore. And that's exactly what Trenchard-Smith delivers with Leprechaun 3, along with some T&A for good measure.

This chapter sees the malevolent titular character causing trouble in Las Vegas, killing those unfortunate enough to find themselves in possession of one of his gold shillings. Meanwhile, college student Scott McCoy, bitten on the arm by the mischievous imp, is slowly transforming into a leprechaun himself. With help from beautiful magician's assistant Tammy (Lee Armstrong), can Scott defeat the evil Oirish fellow and thus return to normal?

Highlights from Leprechaun 3 include Indian pawn shop owner Gupta (Marcelo Tubert) having his ear and toe bitten off, Caroline Williams (Stretch from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) exploding, magician Fazio being sawn in half with a chainsaw (John DeMita), casino owner Mitch (Michael Callan) electrocuted by a topless female cyborg, and virtually any scene featuring the lovely Lee Armstrong, since she spends the majority of the film in corset and stockings.

This gets decent marks only for one reason: it's entertaining. Other than that, it has no redeeming value, is classless, has poor acting and even poorer dialog....but sure was fun to watch a couple of times.

The Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) has some very funny lines and rhymes and is the undisputed star of the show. There are a lot of special effects used for both comedy and for horror. This is the third of about four of these type of films, and the only one I thought worth keeping, mainly for the laughs. Eventually, the quality of the tape was so bad I canned it. Maybe I should check out the DVD, which was subsequently released.

Lee Armstrong provided the female lead role and she was a pretty woman but obviously not much of an actress and few people have heard of her before or since.

If you want something stupid but entertaining, a good mix of horror and comedy, this little dirty Leprechaun should fill the bill....but only this edition. Don't bother with the rest in the series.

Leprechaun 3 was the best film in the 6 part series. In this one, the lep is in Las Vegas creating trouble. Several people die like in the other films, but even an evil and greedy leprechaun knows better than to disrespect Elvis in Sin City-he briefly bonds with an Elvis impersonator without causing him any harm.

The lep also has some good lines, and this one even features a naïve college student (Scott) who gets bit by the lep and starts to turn into one of the green monsters. Fortunately, the naïve college student and his sexy female companion (Tammy-working as magician's assistant to a wannabe magician (Fazio) who gets sawed in half by the lep)defeat the little evil green guy. Scott even manages to avoid becoming a little evil green midget at the end of the film.

My favorite death scenes are the one where the an older woman jealous of Tammy's good looks finds one of the lep's coin, and wishes she was beautiful again. The lep makes her boobs, lips, and butt big and then proceeds to blow her up. The other good death scene is where the dirty old man casino owner gets seduced by a sexy female robot with big boobs, and then gets electrocuted by the lep.

The lep also manages to ruin Fazio's magic trick by turning an animal into a pile of poop in his hand-that was also very funny.

If you have limited time and want to check out this series, recommend watching this one as the 1st film to view.

This very broad and very gross horror comedy is a step up from the junk called "Leprechaun 2", but that's not saying very much. The script is nothing new (Lep yet again counts his coins, finds one missing, goes after whoever might be in possession of it), but it's certainly busy enough, with two or three parallel plotlines running simultaneously. Anyway, if you want to see the title character impersonating Elvis or giving people the finger, this may be your only chance. (**)