Leprechaun: Origins Review | 31 Days of Halloween 2021

Leprechaun: Origins is a 2014 horror film directed by Zach Lipovsky (Dead Rising: Watchtower), starring Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl, Stephanie Bennett (Grave Encounters 2) , Teach Grant, Bruce Blain, Adam Boys, Andrew Dunbar, Melissa Roxburgh, and Brendan Fletcher (Freddy vs. Jason).  Set as a reboot to the Leprechaun film series, the film follows two young couples who are backpacking through Ireland who discover that one of Ireland’s most famous legends is a terrifying reality.


Plot: The story is totally cliche and offers nothing new to the series.  Every scene is easily predictable, painfully actually.  Certain characters die and it’s obvious they’re going to die.  There’s nothing really compelling to follow although the premise of the village making these sacrifices to appease him after stealing his gold is a good idea. Of course, it leaves off on some bogus cliffhanger. (2 out of 5)

Characters:  The main protagonists are Sophie (Bennett), Ben (Dunbar), Jeni (Roxburgh), and and David (Fletcher), a group of four American college friends who are vacationing at an Irish countryside.  Needless to say, the characters are lackluster.  They aren’t interesting nor are they memorable.  The “leprechaun” is literally the worse character.  Looking like a midget Reaper from Blade II or a baby orc from Lord of the Rings.  Sean is probably the most deep of any of the characters as he is a resident of the town who has grown weary of the sacrifices, which makes him more humane than Hamish. (2 out of 5)

Cast:  The performances are actually pretty good.  Leagues better than in previous installments.  Brendan Fletcher (David) is probably the most well known of the cast.  Stephanie Bennett (Sophie), Andrew Dunbar (Ben), Melissa Roxburgh (Jeni), and Flecther are good and have decent enough chemistry on screen.  Other cast members include Adam Boys (Francois), Bruce Blain (Ian), Emilie Ullerup (Catherine), Garry Chalk (Hamish), and Teach Grant (Sean).  Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl plays the leprechaun but for all of the “acting” that was done, it might as well be a dog or a rabbit. (3 out of 5)

Visuals: The gore is decent and does its job, however, the kills are just pathetic.  The way the kills are shot as well as the “leprechaun” is absolutely atrocious.  The creature is never fully revealed and when it is it is for a split second. Or there are these dumbass closeups.  There is a serious overuse of the shaky came.  Any intense sequence suffers from the cam bouncing around even for the simplest of scenes.  The leprechaun costume-design is shit and looks more like the la chupacaba. Even the predator vision was generic. (2 out of 5)

Score: The score is really generic and although works for the film, it’s still pretty crap.  And do we grade for generic.  Yes, yes we do.  Can’t say I’m impressed with Jeff Tymoschuck’s work on this one.  (2 out of 5)

Writing: Like its predecessors, the writing is complete crap.  The script has so many plot holes that it doesn’t even remotely try to be a good movie.  The dialogue isn’t bad but it really isn’t good either.  The lines do seem to fit the part.  It is an injustice for this film to be labeled Leprechaun: Origins because it does not go into any kind of origin story.  Sure, the story is set in Ireland but come on.  Really?  Nearly every aspect of the of the script is crap, everything from the characters, to the dialogue, to the damn story.  This is one of those reboots that shouldn’t have ever been thought of and sadly the director straight up sucks.  Thanks Zach Lipovsky for ruining an already bad movie franchise.  I didn’t think he could’ve made it worse but hats off to him.  (1 out of 5)


The Verdict: In the end, Leprechaun: Origins is literally one of the worst movies ever conceived and may God have mercy on the unfortunate soul who greenlit this abomination.  There is no redeemable qualities and I wouldn’t recommend this to a dog. Despite decent performances the story is lackluster, the characters aren’t interesting, the dialogue and script sucks, and the “leprechaun” is the worst interpretation of any leprechaun in history.  Leprechaun: Origins gets 2 out of 5.

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