Leprechaun in the Hood

Boy I remember when this came out and it piqued everyone’s interest, everyone.  I think since hood movies were passé by 2000 that only made the prospect more intriguing.  Similar to Leprechaun 4: In Space the title says it all and certainly sounds like a joke.  More fish out of water shit.  So does it work?  Not really.

Of all the movies so far this one has the most story.  Three friends form a hip hop outfit and approach record mogul Ice-T (Surviving the Game) to show off their demo.  He’s willing to work with them but after the group shows hesitation over proposed changes to their image he withdraws his services.  The rappers decide to get revenge by breaking into Ice-T’s office to steal his shit.  One of the pieces they swipe is a medallion that’s hung around a statue of a Leprechaun.  As in part 3 once removed the Leprechaun comes to life and chases after the guys who stole his gold.

Three pals trying to make it in the music biz while struggling with life in the hood is deeper than any other plotline explored in the series.  It’s also sorta generic.  You need strong characters, writing and performances to pull off a story like this and they come up short.  There’s an extra angle involving the Leprechaun’s magic flute that the three friends use to hypnotize their audience into thinking they’re the best performers ever (this is how Ice-T got rich (the character in this film, not the real life person, at least that I’m aware)).  In a dramatic picture I could see this being an idea worth exploring.  Do you use the flute to obtain wealth and fame?  If you do then would you feel like a fraud?  None of this is delved into so whatsoever.

The feeling I get is this was not originally a Leprechaun script.  It was some old thing the filmmakers decided to jam the wee lad into.  I swear he has the least amount of screen time compared to the other installments.  There are long stretches where he’s simply forgotten about and extra scenes are added using either POV shots or other actors to give the illusion he’s just out of view.  Bummer.

In that same vein the film isn’t technically up to snuff.  For example it seems that either they forget to get certain shots or some of the shots they did get were unusable because the editing is kinda terrible and baffling at times.  Also, several deaths oddly occur off camera.  And there are two separate scenes of guys in drag which is redundant.  And the same nighttime cityscape establishing shot is used over and over again to help link scenes.  And none of this is good.

While this is undoubtedly a hood film with the Leprechaun smoking weed, banging a horde of chicks, our protagonists battling to break free from their surroundings, etc. the end product doesn’t come together.  The strangest aspect is that the concept came along at least six or seven years too late.  I mean the Leprechaun even does a full rap at the end with fly girls by his side doing a choreographed dance routine.  Yes it’s awful and somewhat embarrassing and shit that people did like a decade prior.  It’s so fucking weird.