O Duende 5

The moment Ice-T stepped into the frame sporting flares, platform shoes and a huge afro, I had a strong feeling I was going to really enjoy Leprechaun in the Hood. And I was right!

The fifth entry in the series proves to be an extremely fun, and knowingly daft movie, packed with camp humour and irresistible silliness from start to finish. Warwick Davis once again returns as the murderous, magic, Oirish fellow, this time causing all manner of trouble for a trio of young rappers when they steal his horde of gold to pay for some audio equipment.

With such unforgettable visual treats as Davis' character puffing weed, Lep hanging with a group of hot, zombie ho's, a death by afro-comb, a cross-dressing homie meeting a bloody end, an utterly pointless guest appearance by Coolio, and even a rap song from the little green fellow himself, it's hard not to have a good time with this film.

Don't believe the negative comments here on IMDb; some people are just naturally unable to have a good time! Besides, if the idea of a three foot tall killer leprechaun toking on a joint and getting nasty with his bitches tickles your funny bone, I say trust your instincts.

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.

This is the line that is uttered in the chorus that this pint sized demon leprechaun sings at the end of the movie. I first seen a portion of this movie on October 31, 2000 and it was okay. It wasn't until 2 and 1/3 years later that I ended up seeing the whole thing so I had a better judgement. This movie was okay. I would give it a C+ Some things I had a problem with while watching this movie. For one, if most people would agree, it was too comedic. If this is a horror movie then keep it strictly scary!! This is the same thing that happened to Freddy Krueger. He started out as a dark force, something to be scared of, but by the fourth installment he became a Martin Lawrence for wisecracking boogeymen. Another thing, how are they going to have the preacher cursing? That's when you know that the film really started to get silly. The leprechaun looks like a little pimp instead of this entity of terror. I notice while looking at what genre they listed this movie as, they listed it as "action," "horror," "comedy," and "thriller." This movie does not fit the three of them except for comedy which it is. It has so much comedic elements in it. This movie wasn't bad at all. It was okay. It was much better than Leprechaun in Space. Now that was stupid! Rent Leprechaun in the Hood and watch it on a weekend when you don't feel like going out. It's so funny.

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.

Having watched this movie I have to ask myself; What was the director's state of mind? Why did he feel the need to constantly place his main characters in the company of drag queens and even dress them up as such. I mean when I don't have a place to stay the home of the local drag queen isn't on the top of my list. Not since "To Wong FU thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar have I seen so many men sporting control top panty hoes. However this movie is not with out a bright side. Aside from such lovable and memorable characters like "Mack Daddy" and "Local Drag Queen" this movie also contains such memorable scenes as Leprechaun trying to get hand job from young boy in drag. Lets not forget the scene where Leprechaun attempts to have sex with what he at least thinks is a woman(but we all can guess what that means by now). So in closing if you have a fetish for Irish midgets or Drag Queens this move well definatly float your boat.