Leprechaun (1993)

Written and Directed by: Mark Jones

Featuring: Warwick Davis, Mark Holton, Robert Gorman

Rating: R (Horror, Violence, and Language)       

Runtime: 92 mins.

Release Date: 1993 Trimark Pictures (Lionsgate)

           

            Who doesn’t love a good cheesy horror flick??? Well if you answered no, then avoid this movie and its entire franchise. Now I am not saying this is a bad movie, as a matter of fact I really enjoy this movie, but if you are looking for an Oscar worthy performance from anyone in this film, well then you just are in the wrong place. In fact you are on the wrong blog! We don’t do Oscar worthy here at Hellful Horror. What we do is fun, enjoyable, entertaining films that can make you laugh (with corny dialogue and terrible acting), cry (some movies are just terrible and make you sad that you wasted your time), and give you a lifetime of memorable quotes (that you can use to poke fun at your friends and even yourself). Now with the being said, Leprechaun is a fun movie that has all the classic elements of a good low to no budget horror movie. Good laughs, a decent and obviously fictional storyline, and the feature film debut of one of Hollywood’s hugest stars.

            We begin with the arrival of Daniel O’Grady. He pulls up in front of his run down home in a fancy limousine. Returning from Ireland, and his mother’s funeral, to find his wife on the porch stupefied by her husband’s frivolous spending. After tipping the driver, he informs his wife that while in Ireland, he captured a Leprechaun and forced him to give Dan a pot of gold. Laughing at the absurd story Mrs. O’Grady is quickly shocked to find out that Danny had sent home an urn that was not filled with his mother’s ashes but a bag of gold coins. What Mr. O’Grady doesn’t realize is that he has also brought home the evil gnome he had stolen from.

           

            Hell-bent on retrieving his most prized possession, the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis- Willow and the Harry Potter series) uses his magical powers to quickly gain the upper hand in finding his fortune, but Mr. O’Grady has an ace up his sleeve. Trapping the wee man in a wooden crate under the power of a 4 leaf clover, and while trying to destroy the carton, Mr. O’Grady suffers a stroke and fails at putting an end to the “Little Green Bastard.” This leaves the Leprechaun trapped in the box forever…

            10 years later, Tory Reding (Jennifer Aniston- Friends and Office Space) and her father are driving through the mountains toward a house her dad just bought as a fixer up home. Tory is mortified by the condition of the rundown trash heap of a house. Standing nearly 10 years untouched, it is in dire need of work, has the biggest and nastiest spiders around, and a Leprechaun trapped in the basement in a large wooden crate. Bolting for the door, Ms. Redding is trying to book a hotel room when she bumps into Nathan, a painter hired to anoint the outside of the house. After a friendly game of flirt, Tory no longer wishes to leave, but she wants to stay and mingle with this stereotypical macho man.

           Nathan has two helpers along to help with the painting, though they tend to mess up more than they actually fix. Alex (Robert Gorman- Mr. Nanny, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead) is a wise cracking, smart alecky boy, and Ozzie (Mark Holton- Teen Wolf I & II, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) is a gullible buffoon who sees the Leprechaun escape after the clover’s spell is removed. Ozzie keeps yammering about the Leprechaun, which no one believes he saw. Ozzie is an 8 year old kid trapped in a 30 year old man’s body. He supplies quite a few childish laughs, including calling the police and yelling, “Help! Help! It’s happening, the attack is on! The Leprechaun is attacking, send the Army, Navy, guns, Marines…” The deputies then mock that Ozzie had called freaking about Aliens and Bigfoot in the past. Ozzie and Alex see a rainbow and run off to try to find the end of it. They actually make it to the end of the rainbow and find the Leprechaun’s gold, taking a piece to get examined later in town for authenticity.

            While the kids are off playing, Mr. Reding is attacked by a cat (the Leprechaun using a cat call). They make it back just in time to rush off to the emergency room with Tory and Nathan to get Mr. Reding checked out. Tory’s father is kept overnight at the hospital for observation and misses all the forthcoming fun.

            After they return to the home, the real shenanigans begin. The house has been ransacked by the Leprechaun, Ozzie keeps trying to blame the mythical creature, but everyone is growing tired of his stories. Shortly after, Nathan goes outside to investigate a noise (see the horror elements??? Lol) and falls into a bear trap set by our Tiny Green Friend. Now the word is out, Leprechauns are real, and they are not the joyful little guys protecting their lucky charms. This magical menace continues to taunt the group looking for his precious pot.

            Alex and Ozzie finally confess to knowing where the gold is and it is returned to the greedy troll. Thinking the worst is over, Tory and her friends try to relax, but the Leprechaun returns even more angered. He was short one schilling. Where is the missing schilling? Can the faction finish off the virtually indestructible gremlin? What powers does the 4 leaf clover have over this mighty midget? All this and more is answered in the comically entertaining conclusion of this children’s movie that was altered to an adult themed horror film.

            Leprechaun has gone on to make several sequels. It is a fun movie to watch with an R rating, it is still pretty mild. I believe the R was only because of a few F-bombs and some bloody scenes. My four year old son loved this movie and greatly enjoyed the sequels also. This film is also easily obtainable; Wal Mart carries a 4 film set including Leprechaun 1-4 for $5. I personally think that is a small fee for a set of movies you can have fun with.

           

           

My View:  4/5 I think this is definetly worth a watch and even worth the purchase. If you totally hate it, you are only out $5 and donate it to your local library. Then you’re also helping the community.

Body Count: 4 (5 if you count the Leprechaun himself)

Nudity: 0

Link to Leprechaun 1-4 

Lightning Bug Update

I recently checked up on the Amazon rental and purchase link and it shows the item out of stock, here is a new link for it.

New Lightning Bug amazon link...

Lightning Bug

Lightning Bug

Written and Directed by: Robert Hall

Featuring: Bret Harrison, Laura Prepon, Kevin Gage

Rating: Unrated       

Runtime: 97 mins.

Release Date: 2004 (Anchor Bay Entertainment)

           

            Many times I have gone to the video store on a lonely Friday evening and just glanced around for something new, unusual, or even just a risk of a rental; surprisingly, I have found many really good films by doing this; films that I normally would never have given a second thought if I only followed previews on TV or looked at the Top 10 release listings. Lightning Bug is one of these great unknown films.

            The beginning of the film is a bit confusing. A swerving car barreling down the road, a woman falls from the passenger side door, and the car comes to a screeching halt. The driver gets out and grabs a tire iron from the trunk. Fading to black this has brought us to the opening credits. Thankfully this scene is explained later, but the movie plays on showing Jenny Graves (Ashley Laurence of Hellraiser fame) pulling up to a rundown trailer in the middle of the night. Her oldest son, Green (Bret Harrison) wakes up to see the dump his mother has brought him too. Jenny assures Green this is only a temporary home.

            Flash forward several years to a vision of Green, now 18, and his preteen brother, Jay (Lucas Till) getting off the school bus in front of the same rundown trailer that is now even more dilapidated. The boys enter the house to meet Earl (Kevin Gage Strangeland and Heat). Earl is their mother’s new boyfriend. Jenny hopes he will be the answer to her financial and life problems. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

As time goes on we learn more about the world of Green; he is a fairly talented make up effects artist, and he spends a lot of time with his brother and their two best friends, Billy and Tony. The boys are firm supporters of Green’s talent, and his hope to move to Hollywood and pursue a career in horror movies. They seem to have a strong bond between them, but you can tell Green seems to have a distance towards Billy and Tony, maybe because he knows he is leaving soon or maybe because Tony seems dimwitted and Billy has an unhealthy urge towards his first cousin; I know this sounds ridiculous, but it’s only played for laughs and for character development. However, when Green needs these boys the most, they prove their loyalty to their comrade.

Green has a plan to finance his move to Hollywood. He had applied the previous year to run the Halloween spook house in their small Alabama Town, but was turned down by Mr. Tightwiler, who runs the event. This year Green has a plan. He convinces old man Tightwiler to hire him, this time, by putting on a show of his talents. Nearly giving the unsuspecting man a heart attack, Tightwiler agrees to hire Green and pay him part of the ticket sales.

            The next several weeks become the most trying times of young Green’s life. He meets a girl, Angevin Duvet (Laura Prepon). I know this sounds promising, and in ways it is, but Angevin’s mother. Ms. Duvet is a member of the local church that is protesting the haunted house Green is working on; she thinks Green should be using his gift for doing God’s work. She is willing to go to many lengths to stop Green from running the horror house and also from ruining Angevin’s life, who we learn already has a tainted past. Green’s stepfather turns into an abusive drunk; his brother joins the church with Ms. Duvet trying to find some kind of stability in his life; and it just continues getting worse from there. Will Green be able to pull off the Horror Show?  Will he be able to help his mother overcome her abuse? Will Billy make whoopee with his cousin? Guess you have to watch to find out.

            The back cover of this film refers to it as “semi auto-biographical.” I don’t know how much of this film is real and how much is fictitious, but this film is very good at tackling some very realistic life issues. Domestic violence, physical and verbal abuse, and the power of love, as well as hate, are just a few of these problems. One of my favorite parts of the movie comes in the form of proving that brains over brawn is a very true aspect in life. Green uses his make-up effects to take care of a burly physical tormentor.  I find it inspirational to see all the adversities Green faces and still treks on toward his dreams in Hollywood. This movie is also great in the sense that almost every character in the film is battling their own personal dilemmas. The characters are not just one dimensional people; they help show that when people put you down for going after a goal it is usually because of their own short comings. The lightning bugs are referenced quite a few times in this movie, but they are also symbolic. The bugs are trapped in jars by inquisitive children, and no matter how hard they try they can’t get out of the jar. As people, we live in this jar of life, and sometimes it seems no matter how hard we try we aren’t going to make it out, and we are just forced to make it work where we are. However, Green is one of the exceptional “bugs” that is able to escape the jar.

            The ending of this film isn’t the typical “happily ever after” finale. It is a sad and troubling ending and does leave a few unanswered loose ends, but I have to say all in all this is a great movie.  The film’s acting isn’t bad, has a well written and inspirational message, and is relatable on many levels. The film is not the easiest to find. After renting it, the only place I could find the title to purchase was online, which some sights are now offering it as a digital rental (See link below). I strongly suggest giving it a shot.

Rating: 4.5/5

Body Count: 2

0 Bare breasts (though we do get a close encounter with Laura Prepon)

Amazon: Lightning Bug Purchase or Digital Rental Link