Leprechaun: Origins (2014)

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of movies where little things terrorize big things. I love everything from "Attack of the Puppet People" to "Child's Play" to the massive catalogue of Charle Band Full Moon Features exploiting this horror sub genre (i.e. "Puppet Master," "Demonic Toys," "Dollman," "Gingerdead Man," etc.). What all these films have in common is that they embrace the absurdity of little things menacing big things, particularly how ridiculous it looks visually, and that is where this film fails. "Leprechaun: Origins" attempts to make a darker more serious version of the Leprechaun story and fails miserably. Trying to sell a serious and scary story about a 3-foot tall magical (and evil) creature who just wants their gold comes off as just dumb. It works when the filmmakers don't take themselves seriously or at lease include a wink at the audience here and there, but this film's attempt to be "The Hills Have Eyes" set in Ireland is just dumb. It's not to say that this horror sub-genre can't be scary. The original "Child's Play" film was incredibly suspenseful and at times scary, but the filmmakers in that case understood the inherit silliness of a possessed killer doll and made knowing winks to acknowledge that fact. I think the filmmakers on "Leprechaun: Origins" wanted to make something along the lines of "The Descent," changing the quaint folk creature of the prior series into more of a cave monster with night-vision. I will admit to chuckling when one of the heroins, right before shooting the leprechaun, says "F- you, Lucky Charms," although that's a line stolen right out of the original 1993 Jennifer Aniston "Leprechaun" film. But overall, there's really no reason for this film to exist unless you happen to believe that WWE professional wrestler Hornswoggle was deserving of a film career.

Hiking through the Irish countryside, a group of tourists encounters a group of demented locals living in a remote village offering sacrifices to a deadly leprechaun intending them to be next and must find a way to fight off the villagers as well as the deadly creature.This one isn't nearly as bad as its reputation. One of the strongest aspects of this one is the fact that there's a lot of work done here to enhance the historical connection of their trip with the folklore of the area. The film features some rather enjoyable work about the story of the Celtic origins of the area, from their stories about the past settlers and it's connection to the different monuments around the woods to the different measures of protecting them from the creature as it sets out to hunt them one-by-one all manage to readily make this one quite nice in that regard. As well, there's plenty of incredibly fun action to be had throughout here which carries this one along quite fast and frantic, with the opening stalking of the couple lost in the woods, the later scene of the group getting chased through the woods into the secondary cabin where not only do they come face-to-face with the true intentions behind the arrival there and a pretty enjoyable brawl in the woods where they're captured and prepared for the sacrifice. The ensuing fight with the creature when it appears is rather decent as well, and the final lead-up to the brawl in the cabin where it tracks them down for its final big fight is a big highlight, yet none of this is possible without the glorious high-impact action with them trapped in the cabin unaware of the creature stalking them outside. Discovering their trapped inside, the first hints that something is inside with them and the different means of barricading themselves away and it breaking through which really enhances the suspense of the situation and gives this one a ton of action along the way. The finale does come close to the impact of this one, with the scenes of them inside the truck and escaping into the woods with the creature right on them and leading into the house ambush which is rather tense and gives this some solid action to finish this off on a high- note. Along with the fine gory kills, these here hold this one up over it's few flaws as it did have a few troubling issues. The film's biggest problem is the fact that the creature never really seems consistent in its motivations. Initially it seems to be after them for encroaching on its territory, then it goes after the franchises' storyline of the desire for gold and then it becomes a part of the sacrificial storyline which doesn't make any sense and contradicts most of the other issues here as it never really seems to be consistent within itself. Neither of these really make it play that well into the franchise as well which gives it a rather odd feeling of being just an ordinary creature on the loose and has nothing in common with the others so it does feel somewhat out-of- place in that regard. The other problematic area is the rather lousy special effects on the creature itself, which is usually so blurry and distorted by the rapid-fire quick-cut editing that you never get any kind of view of it and can tell what it looks like until the end despite it being present most of the movie. These here really drag it out.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME. Zach Lipovsky IS A MORONIC AND INCOMPETENT DIRECTOR as is the writer, Harris Wilkinson. I cannot believe anyone funded this garbage. You will be checking the time every 6 to 7 minutes to see how much more horribly directed crap you have to sit through.Characters fall over just from standing still, not tripping over anything, not running, they just fall down as if they have no balance (although they all trip while running too, and then act as if they are paralyzed from head to toe). When they get somewhere safe, the directors and writer have them go outside one by one to get killed for no reason, even though they were untouchable where they were. The director has them leave whatever weapons they have in hand when moving from one location to the next- they literally just set them down before they run. Without even shooting a round, characters always cock their guns whenever they point them at something as if there wasn't a round in the chamber the first fifty times; even the double barrels have a cocking sound effect added even though that's impossible. Shotguns hold as many rounds as a machine gun. When characters with machetes and axes are waiting for a guy they know has a gun to come through a door, they stand in front of the doorway on the opposite side of the room rather than next to the door off to the side (seriously writers and directors? How stupid are you to make such a weak movie). Everyone falls down and then dies, now you don't have to waste your time. Only good part is the the actors were great which is even worse because now their careers will be permanently sullied by this trash.

Director Zach Lipovsky has done some extraordinary work with this essential film in the Leprechaun Canon. Harris Wilkinson's brilliant screenplay adds a great deal of vital background information, explains unexplained motivations from previous cinematic entries, and ties up some troubling loose ends. Beautifully filmed and with a dark atmosphere of overwhelming fear and dread, this is the epitome of motion picture horror. The Leprechaun franchise has never been better served by any other effort since the original Leprechaun masterpiece of years ago. In honoring those origins while offering a bit of a fresh artistic vision to his film, Lipovsky has managed to not only pay tribute to what amounts to a cinema legend but even breathe new life into the mythology. No one who has followed the Leprechaun saga and even students of the series should be more than pleased with what Leprechaun: Origins achieves.