Last night, the queen of Birmingham’s Irish Quarter, Nicky Getgood, asked me to screen schlock horror film Leprechaun for her and a small group friends interested in Irish-themed film. Hopefully I conveyed in advance that they were not in for a piece of Oscar-winning cinema, but I’m still not sure I fully prepared them for how truly low-rent (and yet amazing) Leprechaun is. If you’re not familiar, it’s an early-nineties horror starring Warwick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter, Star Wars) as the diminutive mischief-maker of the title. I say “mischief”… he’s very much up the naughtier end of the scale, pushing old ladies downstairs, pogo-sticking innocent shop-keepers to death and setting beartraps for various folk. You know, murderous mischief. And all because someone stole his gold.
I like this film partly because it’s always fun to see a genuine star (Jennifer Aniston) in their pre-fame work, and partly because having interviewed the Leprechaun himself, Warwick Davis, last year, I have a soft spot for his work (if you’re interested, you can see a black and white PDF of the magazine version of the interview here, and a slightly different treatment I did online over here). It’s also just good schlock: critically panned, tasteless and funny. Brilliant.
You can buy the boxset of the first five Leprechaun films (yes, there is also a sixth, not included in the boxset) over on Play for a mere £16.99, so if you’ve got some elderly Irish relatives you’d like to offend this Christmas, look no further.
Now, for the record, here’s that Leprechaun saga in full with taglines:
Leprechaun (1993) “Her luck just ran out”
Leprechaun 2 (1994) “This time, luck has nothing to do with it!”
Leprechaun 3: Leprechaun In Vegas (1995, direct to video) “Welcome To Vegas… The Odds Are You Won’t Leave Alive!”
Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997, direct to video) “One small step for man. One giant leap of terror!”
Leprechaun In The Hood (2000, direct to video) “Evil’s in the house.”
Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood (2003, direct to video) “Evil has a whole new rap!”
This list is not quite as good as the 99 sequels to The Crow list on Another Little Disappointment, but this one is real. And that’s probably enough Leprechaun for one day. I’ll leave you with a fake trailer for a film I feel should be made, Leprechaun Vs Wishmaster.
4 responses so far ↓
Stuart // December 2, 2008 at 2:16 pm |
Wishmaster vs. Leprechaun. Brilliant, and making me think of all sorts of amusing minor horror clashes. Chucky vs. the rubbish hook-armed fisherman out of I Know What You Did Last Summer In That Tightly-Fitting Rain-Soaked White Top. Pamela Springsteen in Nightmare Vacation vs. Michael Myers. I’d pay to see that.
Stuey // December 2, 2008 at 3:25 pm |
c’mon Catherine, surely you are making those other ones up.
catherinebray // December 2, 2008 at 3:42 pm |
I swear they are all true! Made-up ones that I would like to see in the ‘vs’ sub-genre:
Leprechaun vs Pinhead
Leprechaun vs Blackula
Leprechaun vs Maniac Cop
Leprechaun vs Captain Spaulding (the House of 1000 Corpses Spaulding, not the Marx Brothers one. Although, Groucho vs Warwick would be fun.)
Leprechaun vs Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Stuey // December 2, 2008 at 5:03 pm |
Hee hee, that’s made me think of that bit in The Simpsons : “Tonight on Blaxploitation Theatre Blackula, Blackenstein and the Blunch Black of Blotre Blam”