Leprechaun's Revenge

In the town of Keening in eastern USA, a teenager (Courtney Halverson) inadvertently resurrects a creature linked to her Irish heritage while out hunting with her grandad (William Devane). They attempt to convince her skeptical father, who happens to be the sheriff (Billy Zane), as they try to figure out how to stop the murderous lil' devil.

"Red Clover" (2012) was originally titled "Leprechaun's Revenge," but it has nothing to do with the series featuring Warwick Davis. The creature here is uglier, humorless and more malevolent, ripping faces off, disemboweling victims and cutting a person in half. The scriptwriter wrote "Headless Horseman" and the contemporaneous "American Horror House," as well as directed "Sharknado" the next year. This is cut from the same TV-budget cloth.

Redhead Courtney Halverson is decent as the teen protagonist with her unique look, but she's almost anorexic looking. They needed someone who is able to keep the viewer's attention in a flick of this ilk, like Cindy Busby in "Behemoth" or Danielle C. Ryan from "Snowbeast," both of which came out a year earlier. Erin Karpluk from "Wyvern" is another good example while Joelle Westwood in "The Hunting" is a more recent one.

Yet the green-hued cinematography is welcome and I liked how the actors took the material seriously with an occasional stab at droll humor. The father's explanation for the missing mother, however, is ridiculous and leaves a bad taste, along with the ending in general.

The flick runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

GRADE: C.

I absolutely loved this movie! I'm a fan of "bad" horror flicks and such, but this was a genuinely good and fun flick! It's a perfect mix of horror and comedy, with some genuine startle-moments, some genuine creepiness, and some incredibly good humorous moments.

My biggest gripe was that the ending felt quite rushed and that it ended a bit too abruptly, that there was no final Climactic Showdown as I might've expected, no hand-reaching-up-from-underground-to-grab-the-heroine, no "twist" like that.

Courtney Halverson was a treat to watch, a sort of redheaded Abby Brammell, and showed a fine mix of strength and vulnerability in her character.

William Devane was great as the cantankerous (but right!) grandpa.

Billy Zane was a real treat in all his billyzanian goodness, and delivered some PERFECT humorous lines (especially about his nametag!).

The movie didn't take itself seriously. It was NOT intended to be a straight-up horror flick, but was filled to the brim with self-deprecating humor. Those who poo-pooed "Red Clover" (sorry, but that's the title that flashes on the screen in the movie that I have) obviously didn't "get it". Quips such as "It's like I'm trapped in some bad monster movie and I can't get out." are so up-front and obvious about that, I'm amazed anyone DIDN'T get it.

It's unfortunate that the somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic ending is the last you'll experience of the movie, and what you'll likely remember most, but the rest of the movie, the first 99% of it, is well worth the time spent in giving this little gem a go.

First, take the movie for what it is: a fun horror-comedy that pokes fun of itself with some biting humor. Second, don't expect the antagonist to be the Lucky Charms dood (who's creepy in his own right, granted), but more Pumpkinhead instead. Keep those two points in mind, and you should love and appreciate this flick as much as I do.

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.

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.

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.