O Duende 5

Not the greatest in the series, not the worst either. Not the greatest series in the world, but not the worst either. The Leprechaun films have always been silly horror movies that never try to take themselves too seriously (In Las Vegas? In Space? In the Hood?); unfortunately, none of them have ever excelled at that . . . but they've always been watchable.

Leprechaun in the Hood falls somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. Like the latest trends of just about any franchise, the film takes its audience for a bunch of a morons and feels the need to shove overused and no-longer-funny jokes down their throats. Some of these gags, granted, still manage to have a chuckle-value; most, like the fruit, could if it was handled better. Unfortunately, finesse is not part of Lep 5's vocabulary. No, instead let's throw the crap on the screen and wrap on the shoot ASAP. So, typically, the humor spills more out of sheer chance than talent. After all, if you throw 100 gags into a film one of them has to be funny . . . sooner or later.

It's not as bad as say Leprechaun 4 in terms of going overboard with the humor in a dramatic over-the-top fashion. We're still stuck with archtypes and a group of aspiring morons we'd rather see get killed than survive. Kill them, Warwick! Kill them all!

After the 'safe' scene, things got too wacky for my taste in dark comedy. The plan to catch up with the Leprechaun was plain retarded even by modern sitcom standards. `Leprechauns for Dummies?' Old joke that's painfully not funny anymore.

So that leaves Warwick Davis, himself, who once again steals the show as the title character. He still remains charming in the role of the Leprechaun in his own sick and demented way. Something about the irony of dangerous demonic nature in a creature so small makes the Leprechaun films a guilty pleasure in a way that most Child's Play films are lacking. Not since the Gremlins has any Hollywood Creature had so much fun causing death and destruction. Most of the humor in this film that does work does so directly because of Davis' involvement.

So, at sequel number five, I think it's safe to say fans know what they're getting into with a rental and whether or not they'll find it enjoyable. Leprechaun still has enough moments to get my rental at least for one more film. Have a ball, my little green friend.

I rented the original "Leprechaun" when it first came to video, and got lots of laughs- some of them intentional, many of them not. Who could forget the image of the evil Lep tearing ass in the go-cart, or what must be the only death scene in the history of cinema to involve a pogo-stick? The first sequel was god awful in just about every respect, but was made bearable by the Lep's rhyming one-liners. The third made decent use of its Vegas location and had some ok death scenes. I have never had the (dis)pleasure of seeing the fourth installment, which took place in space. That brings us to "Leprechaun in the Hood", which jumped off the shelf at me with its sharp cover art, hilarious title, and marquee value of Ice-T (ha). The flick unfolds just like the other sequels, with no explanation of how the Leprechaun got to his location, or even a reference to the other movies. The three lead characters are a trio of Compton rappers- Postmaster P, Stray Bullet, and Dutch, who are trying to avoid the gansta scene of hip-hop by preaching a positive message. Greed gives in when they loot the house of Mack Daddy Onassis (Ice T), the local crime lord/record mogul. They happen to swipe the lep's stolen magical flute, and before they know it are being stalked separately by Mack Daddy and the now awakened Lep. Along the way we see the Lep smoke weed ("What a curious aroma"), go to bed with a drag queen, and make a few pop culture references ("Come hand me gold you thieving hoods, You've got more loot than Tiger Woods!!"). Sadly the death scenes are lame, with a few victims just being strangled, some even killed off screen. Effects wise, glowing green eyes and dry ice seems to be the extent of what the low budget would allow, but the movie is always entertaining with its campiness. For every bad effect we get a good line like "From the depths of the neverworld, I summon my zombie fly girls") A worthy rental, especially on DVD- it has the trailers for Lep 1 and 2.

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.

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.

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.