Leprechaun Returns (2018)
Synopsis: Twenty-five years after being defeated by a now-deceased Tory Redding, the Leprechaun is reborn. As he seeks out his gold, he discovers the North Dakota farm he once terrorized now belongs to an eco-conscious sorority and one of the sorority members is Tory's daughter, Lila, who believed her mother's stories about the Leprechaun were just the ravings of someone who was mentally ill.
Who's in it? The movie stars Linden Porco, Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, Sai Bennett and Emilie Reid.
Review: My wife and I decided to spend another Saturday night at home and, instead of going out, ordered a pizza, took a break from binge-watching The Traitors and found a movie to watch. After some consideration, I picked Leprechaun Returns.
I made this choice with some reluctance. While we both liked Leprechaun, most of the sequels were just terrible and I had some serious doubts about yet another film that didn't even star Warwick Davis as the title character. However, this did turn out to be better than expected.
I think this movie managed to have a healthy mix of horror and comedy, with some corny one-liners from the Leprechaun (Porco) to soften some of the gorier scenes and some overall goofiness from his would-be victims as they attempted to find a way to escape him or kill him. This resulted in a film that wasn't necessarily terrifying but was entertaining.
Some of the characters were a bit stereotypical and over-the-top but this was one of those movies where that kind of thing did work because it helped advance the plot. Without the irresponsible and oft-drunk party girl, Meredith (Reid) for example, you wouldn't have had the two unimportant male characters that set things up by being the first victims. Without the uptight and oft-stressed Rose (Bennett), you wouldn't have the twist involving the Leprechaun's gold. It was considerably better than just having characters like that for the sake of having them.
My only real complaint about the movie would be the various tie-ins to the original also left me with a lot of questions. For example, Lila's (Spreitler) mom told her stories about the Leprechaun but somehow didn't bother to mention the well he was trapped in? Plus, why didn't Ozzie (Mark Holton) try to warn Lila when he learned who her mother was? I'm just saying, for someone who grew up listening to her mother's stories about the monster that haunted her, Lila sure wasn't given any information.
Final Opinion: It's not as good as the original but, at minimum, I would rank it above most, if not all, of the sequels. It might have been slightly better had it been a true horror film rather than a horror/comedy, but I was entertained.
My Grade: B-
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Here are some reviews of other Leprechaun sequels:
Movie Review: Leprechaun 2 (1994)
Movie Review: Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Movie Review: Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)
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