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The MONTH of HORROR - Day 5: Leprechaun

Hoo boy, how about this one, hey? What a stinker! Promising way to kick things off, right? You know something is wrong when commercials for Lucky Charms cereal are more entertaining--I'd say that bodes pretty well.

I'm not really sure what the filmmakers were thinking with this one but I did read up on it to gain some insight into why this is such an awful movie, and came away with some information that at least makes sense. You see, 'Leprechaun' was originally conceived, and filmed as a PG-rated horror flick for kids, maybe in the same vein as something like 'Revenge of the Red Baron' which would come out a few years later. Alright, I can see that. Warwick Davis dressed up as a mythical Irish trickster, sporting ghoulish makeup, and scaring kids while looking for his bag of gold coins. Kids might like that but what about adults? Surely, this idea is far too silly for grown ups to buy into! Enter the studio who felt the same way, and wanted something much more adult-oriented, and violent--thus large portions of the movie were re-shot with bloody killings, foul language but unfortunately no T and A from Jennifer Aniston (her film debut). Darn.

The result of all this tinkering is an end product that is so tonally off the wall that basically nothing works at all. You've got a precocious pre-teen boy--a smart ass beyond his years--who is teamed up with an older, dim-witted buffoon; basically a corny, Disney version of George and Lennie from 'Of Mice and Men'. Then you have the bloodthirsty leprechaun, tearing faces apart, snapping necks, and disemboweling folks. People die, sometimes ludicrously so (a pogostick death, really?), and then there's a jarring sight gag which is supposed to be amusing but obviously belongs in another movie entirely. I bet Jennifer Aniston wished she were in a different movie, too.

The acting is bad, the story is bad, the look of it all is bad. It's just, you know, what's that word... not good. Aniston was smoking hot in it though, best part.

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