By Geno McGahee
I am a pretty big fan of the LEPRECHAUN series and don’t really hate the bad ones like when they put him in space and in the hood. It’s just one of those series that is just fun and the last real entry when he was “Back in the Hood,” it turned out to be surprisingly good. They added some darkness to the character but kept the fun factor and that was the point in the SyFy production of LEPRECHAUN RETURNS, a brand new film in the series that is a direct sequel to the first.
Lila (Taylor Spreitler) is the daughter of Tory (Jennifer Aniston) from the 1993 original and she is planning a return to the original home of her mom. Her friend, Katie (Pepi Sonuga), forgot to pick her up, but there was somebody waiting for her. Ozzie (Mark Holton) returns and has been forever traumatized by the Leprechaun and his encounter with the little monster. Unfortunately, all of this activity at the old home has stirred up the Leprechaun and Ozzie has to face him again and it doesn’t end pretty.
The Leprechaun is played by Linden Porco this time, not Warwick Davis, and there were a lot of horror people bitching about this, but Porco did one hell of a job here. The combination of the darker look of the Leprechaun and the raunchier humor gave the character some new life. Porco immediately owned the screen. I loved his take on the character and the new tricks that the filmmakers gave him, including jumping out of his hat and ripping off his face to show his skull face. It was constant amusement here.
Rose (Sai Bennett) is at the home and she is very into saving the environment and is setting up the house to go green. Her group, including Lila and Katie are set to assist along with the troubled Meredith (Emliy Reid), filmmaker Matt (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins) and Katie’s ex, Andy (Ben McGregor). Meredith isn’t a big supporter of the cause and just wants to party and she is also a total jerk most of the time. When Lila notes that her mother was considered crazy , Meredith notes that it probably runs in the family.
The Leprechaun is desperately looking for his gold and he makes his presence known really quickly, going after Lila and insisting that she must know where his stash is. He then goes to Meredith and it was really funny how he’s out of touch and calls the cell phone a “Walkman and camera”. Meredith takes a selfie with the Leprechaun and he learns what’s going on. When Andy tries to take a selfie with him, he gives a big smile. It was really hilarious.
The group teams up to take on the Leprechaun and the dialogue is really funny and quick, especially with the Leprechaun. He has constant funny remarks throughout. There is no question that the essence of the series is captured here 100 percent but it’s still feeling new. This is a great example of how to relaunch a series and maintain the loyal crowd to the original films.
LEPRECHAUN RETURNS is a great and fun film and brings back the series in a big way. I hope they continue with this series. Linden Porco stole the show, no doubt, but the cast is very solid all-around and Taylor Spreitler did a great job, playing the strong and witty opponent for the little villain. I highly recommend LEPRECHAUN RETURNS. What a fun movie this was.
