The first movie in the Leprechaun franchise was a success, at least a monetary success. The creators of the film, like so many others, didn’t want the glory to end. After a few more Leprechaun films, the creators finally got the message that, sometimes, a film is best left a standalone. Leprechaun 4: In Space is so vile and awful, that we believe it to be the worst movie we have ever seen. Seriously, this movie took years off our lives, and I’m irritated about each of the 96 minutes we endured .
This “film” does not deserve any more space in this article than what it just got. After the catastrophic failure that was Leprechaun 4, the creators took a hiatus from making Leprechaun films. They were scheming how to come back from a movie that was as terrible as Leprechaun 4 (please do not watch this film. You will regret it).
The first time we read the title of the fifth installment of the Leprechaun franchise, we knew we had to watch this movie together. Leprechaun in the Hood, a 2000 film that is just as absurd as the title makes it out to be, follows Butch, Postmaster P, and Stray in their quest to make it out of the hood. The group raps about “positivity,” and are trying to make it to a rap competition in Las Vegas, where they will hopefully be scouted by a record label.
The trio robs Mack Daddy, the wealthy head of a well-known record label, to finance their trip to Vegas. They steal the medallion that kept the infamous leprechaun frozen, and all the leprechaun’s gold, including a magical golden flute that transfixes anyone who hears its music. The leprechaun then goes on a murderous rampage to retrieve his gold, just like he did in the first Leprechaun film.
This movie had similar tropes as the first one. In the opening scene, their is an homage to the first film. The leprechaun walks down a stairwell and counts all his gold. He rhymes, but his rhymes don’t mean anything and are only for comedic purposes. Then, the leprechaun distinguishes this film from the first: “No one is safe from a lep in the hood.” I mention this line because, before it, I thought this movie was going to be another movie trying to out-do its predecessors in absurdity. Leprechaun 4 was so caught up in having shock value that the creators forgot the film needs to be good. Everything that would have been so ridiculous it was funny in the forth film was just plain annoying.
However, the opening sequence in Leprechaun in the Hood, immediately establishes a different tone than the fourth Leprechaun film. The creators learned from their mistakes and created a film like the first, with just enough absurdity to be funny.
The film has really silly and memorable moments. One of the standout characters in this film is Butch (this film is very 2000s, by the way, with some jokes made about different groups of people that would not be accepted today). The facial expressions he makes throughout the film elevate a scene from being monotonous and unmemorable to one that’s hilarious. It’s little details like Butch’s responses to other characters’ comments that make a movie comedic, not extreme or outlandish.
While this movie is not as good as the first Leprechaun film, it’s a close second. This film revitalized the franchise after three movies that were not received well and told the same story over and over again. We recommend watching this film if you’re looking for a good spoof. We rate it three out of five stars.
