Leprechaun

This first film is a matter of practicality.  Almost the entire thing takes place in one remote location, there’s a small cast of characters, they use editing to massage the action oriented and gorier scenes, they tailor the premise and gags on a relatively modest scale, etc.  They clearly put the money into the design and makeup effects of the Leprechaun which is what they needed to do.  And he does look very nice.  Gruesome blotchy skin, scraggily hair, rotted teeth, long sharp fingernails, a pervasive grin, it all works.  In fact it fared so well that no serious alterations were made during the entire series.

Of course Warwick Davis’ (Skinned Deep) performance is what really sells the whole piece.  You can tell he’s having a blast shooting scowls everywhere, cackling like a screwball jester, delivering his lines dramatically but always with whimsy, butchering anyone who stands between him and his gold.  It’s a very theatrical presentation and essentially a dark twist on the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.  The humor is key.  That puts him in Freddy Kreuger territory where you can have fun with the scenes.  The audience can laugh along with the villain.  I don’t think this would’ve worked nearly as well if the filmmakers took the character in a completely serious direction.

With all of that said the movie isn’t terribly remarkable overall.  They did what they could to put their twist on a slasher and that aim is somewhat commendable especially considering how tired and out of fashion the genre was in the early 90’s.  Unfortunately all the characters besides the Leprechaun are incredibly bland, the shooting style and production design aren’t that memorable and the horror gags they came up with aren’t unique enough.

I could be wrong but it seems like besides some of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels Evil Dead may have been the next biggest influence.  There’s a house in the middle of nowhere, the amount of humor injected with some of it veering into cartoon land, the Leprechaun’s hand gets cut off at one point and starts to crawl around on its own, the lower camera angles used for the POV of the Leprechaun is reminiscent of the POV of the malevolent force racing through the woods, the protagonists find the Leprechaun in a box in a dusty basement filled with other assorted crap, the enemy is a supernatural entity and etc.

If they never made another Leprechaun film this would probably only be a mild curiosity that left most folks minds long ago.  However, this little guy grossed enough to warrant a sequel.  And then another.  And then another.  And then etc.