ironhorse_iv Review of Leprechaun Returns

Leprechaun Returns (2018)

Good luck on trying to watch this movie sober! That's for sure. This movie is a really hard sit without some Irish whiskey!

[5/10 · 17 March 2019]

While, this 2018 SyFy original movie directed by Steven Kostanski, was indeed truly a huge improvement over the 2014 reboot 'Leprechaun Origins'. It still wasn't the gold standard of entertainment, I was looking for. It was an irritating watch. Don't get me wrong, the original 1993 motion picture is no masterpiece, as well. However, at least the characters there, were decent enough to care about. This film, not so much. All the college students feature here, were highly annoying at parts, with their tiresome one dimensional character trait. Not only that, but the story featuring them written by Suzanne Kelly, was really generic as hell. Plus, it was also lazily put together. Are we really out to believe, by sheer luck, that the college daughter of Jennifer Aniston's character from the first movie, Lila Redding (Taylor Spreitler) was not only willing to move back to the location, where the little creature was first defeated; but also cool enough to live in the same creepy old cabin!?! That's really stretching it, very thin. I get that, they were doing a solar energy project by living there, but come on! That building is a really out of the way for a sorority house. Another thing that bug me, was the idea that Ozzie Jones (Mark Holton) still had that coin in his stomach from all these years. It hasn't yet pass his system. That's hard to believe. If you going to keep that little detail around. Maybe, show more of him suffering from gold poisoning. The whole idea of the creature coming out of his stomach seem to come out of nowhere. It was a bit jarring. I really did forget about the coin being eaten from the first movie. Despite that, I don't mind that the film only serves as a direct faithful sequel to the original movie, ignoring the subsequent installments. Why? It's because none of the other films follow any kind of lore. They were all pretty inconsistent. However, the movie could had done a better job exploring the events of the first movie a little bit better than Lila spilling exposition dumps about her mother all the time or having ghost Ozzie follow her around. That subplot was a little too on the nose. It seem highly recycled from 1981 film 'An American Werewolf in London' for sure. Plus, it really doesn't make much sense for her to have nightmares of the Leprechaun (Linden Porco), seeing how the events happen, before she was even born. Regardless of that, the acting from Taylor Spreitler was not that good. While, she does have some comedic range with her Juno like Ellen Page performance. She still doesn't know how to act frighten or emotional when the film really needs it. Nor does, she have an intimidating presence when threating the Leprechaun. She sounds mostly disinterested, when spilling out cheesy one liners. As for the other performers playing the victims, they were also below average, much for the same reasons. They really didn't have the comedic chops as Taylor does. Nearly all the jokes from them, really did fall flat. One such example was the selfies. It really wasn't that funny. The only other victim character besides Lila that kinda got me to laugh a bit, was Rose. Sai Bennet seem to be, the only supporting actress in the film, well rounded enough to make me care about their character. I love her over the top facial expressions & delivery when trying to act afraid, angry or serious, throughout the film. It kept me glued to her character. As for the acting for the reprised characters. Mark was alright as Ozzie, even if he wasn't given much to do. As for Jennifer Aniston. She refused to resume her role as Tory Redding, nevertheless, the production contacted voice actress, Heather McDonald to do her voice in a few scenes. She did a hell of a job, imitating Aniston's tone. For the villain. Linden was fine as the Leprechaun. However, the pitch of his voice does go a little too high at times, making my ear's bleed. He was a still a good suitable replacement for Warwick Davis, whom downright refuse to reprise the role, due to fatherhood. As for all the prosthetics, the makeup does limited his facial expressions for certain scenes. Nevertheless, it's serviceable. Plus, it's not that noticeable. While, there is no nudity or even a lot of cussing in this movie. The film is a lot gorier than any of the previous installments. The practical effects for them were good, especially, during the bursting through the stomach scene or the drone blades chopping off somebody's head. It kinda looks real. Nevertheless, the sequences involving CGI could had been a little bit better. The solar panel falling down scene was a good example. The herky-jerky animation of plastic skin falling apart was not well done. Regardless, the movie was somewhat well shot. The moment where the Leprechaun look at the reflection of himself in a dead person's viewpoint, was unique to see. However, the night scenes were a little too pitch dark for my taste. I can hardly see, what is going on. Maybe, that's a good thing. Just note that watching 'Leprechaun Returns' is less like a pat in the back, but more like a shillelagh to the knee. In the end, it's a painful watch. Watch it if you dare, but I don't recommended. It's one movie that come a little short.