Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood

Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood

directed by

Steven Ayromlooi

After some very bad sequels, a Leprechaun film has been made which can happily conclude the Irish monster's saga. It might have a reference to the hood in the title, but hardly similar to the previous attempt. Here they have created a worthy sequel. There may still be the problems with some of the characters and their dialogue, as well as some obvious plot holes, but Lep 6 actually worked on building up the characters, as well as a back story for the Leprechaun. Speaking of Leprechaun, Davis also manages to finish of his Leprechaun story, with one of his best Lep performances.

`. . . he's the man behind the mask!' Oh wait, that's the song from F13pt6. Nevermind.

Here we are on another visit to the land of horror, where the monsters never die and no two sequels explain the title character the same way, but this is a given for anyone remotely familiar with franchise horror. No, you don't get a cookie for guessing that other than the title character and on-screen references, this film has no narrative connection to its predecessors.

In reviewing Leprechaun 5, I expressed my overall disappointment, but stated that `Leprechaun still has enough moments to get my rental at least for one more film.' Well, the Lep's second trip to the hood is far more entertaining than the first. The humor is fresher, more precisely delivered, with plenty of little nudges at the Leprechaun's height which I found the funniest – especially coming from Warwick, himself, with quite a bit of enthusiasm so it's all in good humor. Okay, that and an ancient creature discovering our technology and customs is interesting (and not painfully done as in the first ‘Hood' Leprechaun movie).

The script/characters are more intelligent than some previous films (don't get your hopes up; it's not saying much) . . . overall it's one of the more entertaining Leprechaun sequels (again, that's not saying much.)

I dunno ‘bout other fans of the series, but Warwick Davis is my interest in the Leprechaun films and anything else that isn't hideous is a bonus. Other than typical complaints and shortcomings that all horror sequels showcase, I didn't have much to gripe about . . . so the sixth Lep outing satisfied my expectations.

Saw this for the first time few months back while on a marathon of the series. The film is once again set in the hip hop area but nowhere connected with the earlier one. Here we get to see the origins of leprechauns in animation. In the present day we see a priest gets hold of the gold while managing to send off the leprechaun back to the hell pit before succumbing to his injuries. His intention of building a youth centre gets sidelined due to his untimely death. One year later few friends enjoying a barbecue at an abandoned youth centre discovers the leprechaun's gold and they use it to fulfill their fantasies unaware that none can enjoy the leprechaun's gold. Jokes n nudity is missing but it has some gore but nothing memorable. Stabbing by a bong, jaw gets removed, stabbing by a flashlight, a heart gets ripped off but the best is the ripping off the entire leg of a karate kicker. This time our leprechaun does get a beating, he gets kicked, he gets mowed down by a bike n later by a car, his eyeball gets removed, he gets shot by a shot gun, automatic machine guns n a pistol, he is punched, fried n concretised in a pool of cement.

The evil Leprechaun is back to reclaim his gold but this time he's got to resist the temptation of... smoking a bong?!? Leprechaun meets the boyz in the hood and proves that he's got what it takes to be the baddest mofo around. Lep is back to the hood and up to no good... again.

I'm not an avid Leprechaun fan. In fact, I've never paid much attention to these movies until this year came around. I've seen Leprechaun 1, 2, 3 and now 6 (Back 2 Tha Hood) and I'd say that "Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood" would have to be the best of the series. I had seen some parts of part 3 and about half of Leprechaun 4 a couple of years ago but I don't think I'd seen enough to pass judgment.

What attracts me to this film the most is that it's so different from the rest of the series. When I say this, I'm thinking of how Jason X was to the rest of the Jason movies. I mean, the Leprechaun isn't used to dealing with these smart-ass ghetto thugs. The jokes used in the movie aren't very original and are either hit or miss. You either like this kind of humor or just think that it's been done before and move on. For me, it was a guilty pleasure.

None of the characters in this movie are likable except for the Leprechaun, but if he wasn't likable, he wouldn't have gotten to this many sequels, would he? For the most part, I was happy to see these smart-asses get beaten up and impaled by bongs, stabbed with sharp objects and all harmful acts that happened during the movie. Some of the slow motion was well-placed and made the film evermore funny (i.e. Lep's eye incident) but for the most part, it didn't suit the movie all that well but didn't really harm it either..

The Leprechaun looked so much better in this film, he looks a lot creepier than he used to. Every time I'd see a Leprechaun film, I'd wonder if people actually got scared of him because he was always so comical with his appearance and annoying rhymes. Luckily, I only remember the Leprechaun blubbering out one rhyme in this movie which was a welcomed change, instead of rolling my eyes at another lame one-rhymer.

When it all comes down to it, this is an average horror film but a good addition to the Leprechaun series. If you're bored and want some horror fun, check out this film because you got about a 50/50 chance of splitting your sides in laughter like I did or just staring blankly at the screen. I say, give it a chance.

Leprechaun In Tha Hood (2000) was arguably the worst of the Leprechaun movies (Except the remake) so another one had me fearing the worst.

This was also the last official Leprechaun movie, the last one to feature Warwick Davis and it's hardly a fitting end for the little fella.

It tells the story of a group who find the Leprecauns gold and become stalked by him. Pretty formulaic stuff, but the main difference here is how dark is.

The Leprechaun movies are comedy horrors and aren't to be taken seriously, with over the top death scenes and regular quips they are supposed to be silly fun. This has minimal comedy, Leprechaun doesn't quip and the deaths are far from comedic. That was a really strange decision by it's creators and in this guys opinion and a really really stupid one.

If you enjoyed Leprechaun In Tha Hood you might enjoy this but as a final entry to the series this was somewhat undeserving.

The Good:

Has its moments

The Bad:

The lack of comedy hurts the film

I struggled to care about anyone

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

No Leprechauns were harmed in the making of this motion picture. The Leprechauns featured in this production were handled with care and concern for their safety and well-being