Movie Review: Leprechaun: Origins (2014)
Synopsis: A group of four college friends stop at a remote village while touring Ireland. When they are told about a little-known historic landmark, they accept an offer to stay the night so they can hike to see it the next day. What they don't know is the cabin they are invited to stay in is actually a cell and they are being sacrificed to a leprechaun that has terrorized the village ever since they stole its gold.
Who's in it? The movie stars Dylan Postl, Stephanie Bennett, Andrew Dunbar, Melissa Roxburgh, Brendan Fletcher, Teach Grant and Garry Chalk.
Review: To be honest, I had purposely avoided watching Leprechaun: Origins despite plenty of opportunities to do so. This was primarily because it was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment as a vehicle for a wrestler (Postl) whose gimmick was to play a leprechaun in the ring. That combination, frankly, sounded awful.
However, the movie my wife and I originally planned to watch last night turned out to be so bad, I couldn't even make it through the first ten minutes. So, rather than spend an hour debating alternatives, I picked this film solely because of availability.
I am almost ashamed to admit it was a pleasant surprise.
I think the thing I liked best about this movie is, unlike the films from the original Leprechaun franchise, it was a true horror film rather than a horror/comedy. There were no comical stunts or corny one-liners, just a leprechaun (Postl) that was demon-like (or as my wife described it, alien-like) in appearance and obsessed with both gold and killing people.
In fact, as my wife and I discussed, it almost seemed like Postl was a bit wasted in the role considering there was nothing about the creature that made him even remotely distinguishable. Just about anyone could have been the leprechaun.
Another thing I liked about this movie was the remoteness of the location. It made the terrifying situation seemingly impossible for the friends to escape, especially since the entire village was in on the deadly plot. Even their one potential ally, the reluctant Sean (Grant), seemed unwilling to help them when his back was against the wall.
As is the case with most movies in this genre, I did think the film's protagonists were a bit on the dumb side. I mean, seriously, have none of these characters ever seen a horror movie? At minimum, if a remote cabin with a whole lot of locks on the outside of the door wasn't a red flag, I would think seeing your host shoot at a dangerous "wild boar" would at least cause you to have second thoughts about going hiking.
I, of course, have seen enough horror movies to know it is wise to politely decline when offered a chance to see an "important landmark" nobody has heard about and requires me to walk into the woods.
In all fairness though, this lack of situational awareness wasn't just horror movie related. I liked Sophie (Bennett) but found myself losing quite a bit of respect for her when she announced she planned to put her dreams on hold so she could move to the East Coast with her boyfriend, Ben (Dunbar) even though Ben CLEARLY wasn't interested in that kind of commitment (and was kind of an ass about it too). It took Ben not helping her when they were being chased by the leprechaun for Sophie to even remotely realize maybe he wasn't the right guy and that revelation was almost comical.
Final Opinion: Like many others, it is a movie that only happens because of poor choices made by the protagonists. However, it turned out to be a reasonably good horror film that is worth watching.
My Grade: B+
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Here are some reviews of other movies starring professional wrestlers:
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