Leprechaun: Origins

Going in to watch this movie the ratings were indeed alarming, at 3.3 one could hardly expect a masterpiece I knew that.

I did think that possibly the low ratings could be due to die hard fans of the leprechaun series being angry with the lack of Warwick Davis and the movie not staying true the story.

And while that is all true, the movie is just completely different in all aspects of the original franchise

Now, I'm not gonna say that the Leprechaun series is a classic, or even good for that matter, they kinda aren't, but one thing that they always manage to do is entertain... This one does not

And while the Leprechaun series playfully played with the silliness of the plot and at many times would be better viewed as a comedy than a horror, the whole comedy aspect is totally disregarded in this "reboot" it takes itself and it's characters way too seriously and that definitely stands in it's way from making this enjoyable

The leprechaun as a character is also completely changed, while Warwick Davis was a witty green faced leprechaun in the original movies, the new Leprechaun can't even speak and he looks more like an alien than the Leprechaun we know and love

He's also a lot taller than the original, the bio says he's 4.4 but he looks average-sized tbh in the movie

The first 45 minutes is bearable but the last 35 minutes is almost exclusive to the cast running back and forward in the woods

On top of that while it's supposed to take place in Ireland, it's filmed in Canada with American and Canadian actors with bad Irish accents

There's really not much good to say about this movie, if anything, even if you look beyond the fact that it's a reboot and watch it as a standalone movie it's still a crappy movie

You cant take a poor version of Descent-like creature n call it a Leprechaun. Wher is the hat, clothes, shining boots n above all the rhyming jokes? N what's the obsession with the irritating roars/growls? The film starts with the same ol stuff, a couple running away from something which makes irritating noise. The camera work is tedious n we dont get to c anything. Cut the scene n we get to c highly educated tourists who r lured into the deeper woods by a local, claiming to show em some historical stuff. Ther is some tension n gory stuff but the shaky cam stuff combined with the nite scenes n unnecessary loud noises as if some lame lion roaring, makes it an awful experience. This film ain't worthy of being called the origins of Leprechaun. One scene is a bit reminiscent of Anthropophagus aka Grim Reaper n Cottage. We have one axe n another decapitation scene but still a lousy film.

The original Leprechaun's cinematography was top notch. It was set in the dry sunlight settings n even the nite scenes were well shot but in this case the scenes r short in the dark n the pov of the creature n its noise is very very irritating. In fact the scene before the end credit with the growl sound is unendurable. O boy, the end credit lasts for twelve mins with the cam jus lingering on farm tools n then zap, once again the horrible growl. The first three parts of Leprechaun were awesome cos of the humor.

Ther was an ol fugazi leprechaun, whose balls were made of fine brass. So in stormy weather they'd clang together n sparks wud fly out of his ass.

Try as they will , try as they might, who cheats me with a fugazi Leprechaun won't live thru the nite.

Diddley diddley dee I'm a fake leprechaun me.

The college students and friend Sophie (Stephanie Bennett), Ben (Andrew Dunbar), Jeni (Melissa Roxburgh ) and David (Brendan Fletcher) are spending vacation traveling through Ireland. They stop in a bar in a small village in the countryside and are convinced to visit a remote area by the local Hamish (Garry Chalk) and his son Sean (Teach Grant) drives the group to the spot. The two couples spend the night in an old cabin and soon they discover that Hamish has locked them inside. Further, a Leprechaun (Dylan 'Hornswoggle' Postl) is hunting them down to feed.

"Leprechaun: Origins" is a terrible movie with an awful story. It follows the old formulaic plot of slash movies with a group of youngsters reaching a remote area and taking stupid decisions and attacked by a creature that kills one by one. The worst is that the invincible monster is easily defeated by a clumsy young woman. The writer Harris Wilkinson challenges the viewers' intelligence with this story. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Duende: As Origens" ("The Leprechaun: The Origins")

They took the name "Leprechaun" only so they can sell this, cause believe me, it has almost nothing to do with it. Maybe the mythological beast, but, except the gold thing, which also was very, very bad treated, this movie was down right bad!

So lets see: the acting was OK, I approve to the characters, the Leprechaun had a terrible design, way too look alike "Creep" or "Underground", the habits of the creature were NOT explored properly, and the plot is extremely poor. I will not recommend this one as a "Leprechaun" movie, but as a stand alone, it will go hand in hand with "Animal" (2014) per example, something to pass 90 minutes. Again tho, I am seriously disappointed, I will grade it 4, cause it doesn't even deserve a 5, an above good horror. "Leprechaun: Origins" is not what it seems, what you'd expect or desire, has almost to nothing to do with what you once saw. Look at "Evil Dead", well the remake still had some connections to the first, went the darker path, to which I approve, but maintained some bounds. This one on the other hands, goes solo from start to finish and fails miserably.

"Leprechaun: Origins" or how to waste money and a serious potential. You have been warned, probably quite sure you will still desire to see it, just as I did, but after doing so, please warn people. It almost ruins the first series to be honest. Amazing how bad it is.

Cheers!

I thought long and hard about adding this review... After all, I'd be adding nothing that others had not already said: no mythology, no fun, no seeing the creature, poor script, etc. I mean, it says "A horror icon is reborn", and even the title is misleading, "Leprechaun: Origins". With a name like that, you'd think it was a prequel...but nope, all you really get it a movie that feels like it began as a spec script and was slightly tweaked to try and fit the Leprechaun series...which it doesn't. What baffles me is that this is as far from a Leprechaun movie as you can get. No one really expected these movies to be scary, and a large part of their charm was the goofy nature of the films. That's what we wanted to see: a wisecracking midget that would just as soon kill you, and make fun while he did it.

So why am I writing this? My hope, dim as it may be, is that those in charge would read these reviews and think twice before "tweaking" something that didn't need it. There's obviously a desire from people to see these types of films, and there's nothing wrong with that. By changing the nature of the character from wisecracking villain to grunting animal you kill what made it fun in the first place. I honestly haven't been as confused or let down by a movie in a long time.

So there it is, my plea, sent to the Interwebs to anyone that can help.