Leprechaun's Revenge

Leprechaun's Revenge (2012)

** (out of 4)

Teenager Karen (Courtney Halverson) goes into the woods with her grandfather and she picks a red clover, which gives her the curse of the leprechaun. According to legend she will die in four days unless she can kill the creature first and thankfully her grandfather (William Devane) believes in the things but her sheriff father (Billy Zane) isn't so open minded. LEPRECHAUN'S REVENGE has no connection to the Warwick Davis series and it's pretty much what you'd expect from something on SyFy. The movie's biggest problem is that the screenplay is pretty bad from start to finish. While watching the movie it really does seem like they filmed it in order and just made things up as they went along because there are events that happen that are never really explained or mentioned anytime going forward in the movie. The ending pretty much comes out of no where and seems rather rushed and lazy. Another problem is that none of the characters are really fleshed out but I'll give this a pass since we are talking about a low-rent B movie. Those expecting a lot of gore won't be too disappointed as we get some cheap CGI gore ranging from arms being bitten off to one poor guy who gets half his face ripped off. The effects are all of the CGI type so don't expect anything too ground-breaking. The special effects in the film aren't all that impressive but I will at least give them credit for making the leprechaun look decent and original. Those expecting the short, Davis type are going to be disappointed because this one here seems more like a green Pumpkinhead more than anything else. I found Halverson to be good in the lead role as she managed to turn in a believable performance and she's quite better that what you'd expect to see from a film like this. Zane, as you'd expect, is all over the place but he's mildly entertaining. Devane pretty much delivers what you'd expect from him. LEPRECHAUN'S REVENGE isn't a good movie and it's mainly going to appeal to fans of "B" movies but I must admit that it's probably the best killer lep movie I've seen and yes I know that's not saying too much.

I mean, if you're comparing this to the movies with big-time budgets and big-time stars, then yeah it's not all that great. But for a Syfy original movie, Leprechaun's Revenge is honestly pretty decent. I watched it on St. Patrick's day and I was in a good, Irish-loving mood, so maybe that helped me enjoy it. The basic Syfy movie stuff is here: cheap special effects, a weird-looking monster, some cheesy acting, but the movie also has it's positive points. The script is pretty good and I love the small towns in movies, and Keening has its own special charm. This is definitely a step above what I'd expect from a Syfy original. It seems as if the people involved actually cared to make a good product, and they mostly succeeded. I would have given this movie 8 stars out of 10, but I just had to minus one star because of the silly scene where the leprechaun hops into a car (isn't he from the 1700's? How can he drive?) and runs someone over. It was just too ridiculous to be scary, but the rest of the movie, despite some predictability, was quite enjoyable. By the way, I admit that these lower budget Syfy movies induce some sort of feeling in me that makes me want to watch and enjoy them. Who knows?

After Dark Films are a production company who've been churning out a series of cheap and cheerful monster and horror flicks for the last decade. For RED CLOVER, it's time for another creature flick as the film throws a monstrous spin on the old legend of the leprechaun. The original title was LEPRECHAUN'S REVENGE, which was much better than RED CLOVER, but perhaps they thought we'd mistake this for a Warwick Davis sequel or something.

RED CLOVER is also a SyFy Channel-produced movie so quality is guaranteed. In actual fact, this is largely forgettable stuff, with various characters wandering around in the woods and getting bumped off by some generic leprechaun monster that looks like a zillion others. There's a little gore thrown into the mix, alongside lots of indifferent acting and a storyline that it's impossible to get excited about.

The most interesting thing about the production, for me, was the inclusion of two hit names in the cast: William Devane and Billy Zane, playing a father/son combination. Devane is the best actor here, even though he's almost unrecognisably aged, while by contrast Zane is on autopilot for the most part. It's a shame that the younger cast members are so lacklustre compared to these old timers.

Starts off great--great tension, atmosphere, characters, mystery. Somewhere along the way, it starts making mistakes. Diminishes Zane's character for no reason. Tries to introduce a romance between the protagonist that doesn't work due to poor writing and absence of chemistry. The creature doesn't quite obey the lore which introduces confusion. Deaths of prominent characters trivialized. It's as though the second half of the movie were written by someone else.

Billy Zane, William Devane, and Courtney Halverson all turn in great performances, but chemistry does not abound, particularly between Zane and the rest of the cast--then again, Zane's character, who is heroic enough throughout the film, is turned into a chump at the end for no good reason that I can see (I've mentioned it twice, so you can tell I'm sore about it--this was going to be a 5-star review but when they did that, they lost a star).

Supporting cast is also strong. I enjoyed Azure Parsons as Deputy Petterson.

It's not a bad movie, but it is disappointing. The first 30 minutes or so feel promising but that promise is not fulfilled.

The movies that premiere on the Syfy Channel generally range from bad to absolutely unwatchable. This should come as no surprise since these films have typically super low budgets and have drastically short shooting schedules, leaving little chance for them to be well put together. However, a decent film occasionally makes its way onto the air and Leprechaun's Revenge is one of those rare cases where the results of the minuscule budget and rushed production schedule doesn't destroy the end result. While Leprechaun's Revenge still seems like a movie that would have greatly benefited from having more time spent on it, the final cut is much better than the schlocky title implies. The first thirty minutes or so are actually engaging. The opening scene is fairly creepy, the tone is set up perfectly, and its clear from the beginning that the protagonist isn't a stereotypical horror movie moron. Yet for whatever reason, the premise stops being effective after a while and the sense of rhythm that was established in the first half seems off in the second half(which I suspect was due to aforementioned time constraints and budgetary problems). Still, Leprechaun's Revenge remains a great flick to watch on St. Patrick's Day with a bunch of friends and it is certainly more entertaining than 90% of all the other Syfy originals. The cast is solid, the effects are reasonably cool, and there is a sense of humor to the proceedings that's hard not to enjoy.

Note: To clear up any confusion, Leprechaun's Revenge is in no way related to the endless series of Warwick Davis horror pictures. If I had to guess, Syfy was hoping for people to assume a vague relation in order to get viewers to tune in.