PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Leprechaun 1 - 7

I breezed through the first 7 Leprechaun films over the last two days. I have box set that I picked up a while back but hadn't gotten around to watching yet.The set I have is out of print now but there's a new 8 film set that will be coming out October 8 with a pre-order price on Amazon of only $13.99.

It's a fun series with Warwick Davis in the title role as the gold loving leprechaun. He's short, ugly and he turns into a murderous little prick when you come between him and his gold. He's got a rather dark sense of humor and loves murdering people.

Leprechaun 1993  Written and directed by Mark Jones. Mark started his career in 1977 with an episode of the kids show Ark II. I saw that series a couple of years ago and it wasn't very good. Mark stayed in kids TV for most of his career. It's mostly not stuff I would watch. He did do a few episodes of The A-Team, I have that set to watch someday. most of his other work I haven't seen. He didn't work on the Leprechaun series after the first movie.

A dad and daughter rent a farmhouse in a small North Dakota town. Shay Duffin plays the dad and Jennifer Aniston plays the daughter. The previous owner had stolen a leprechaun's gold while in Ireland. The leprechaun followed him to the farm and killed his wife. The owner had trapped the leprechaun in a box with a four leaf clover, but before he can kill it with fire he has a stroke and collapses.

That's Warwick as the Leprechaun, he's a nasty bit of work, and funny as hell. Mark Holten plays Ozzie, he's a bit on the dim side and he works for a young guy who paints houses. Mark plays Ozzie as a grown man in the recent reboot of the series. The guys get hired to paint the house. Ozzie accidentally unleashes the leprechaun when he knocks the four leaf clover off the crate that's still in the basement. Ozzie finds the leprechaun's gold and that starts the little bastard killing, first it's the pawn shop owner that wound up with a coin, then it's back to the farm for a spot of vengeance and shoe shining. The leprechaun had been a cobbler and he likes clean shoes.

The guys give back the pot of gold but Ozzie has inadvertently swallowed a gold coin. They figure out that the farmer who had trapped the leprechaun last time might be able to tell them how to kill it. He survived the stoke and lives in a nursing home. The leprechaun hears them and gets to the nursing home before they do. Yelling and screaming for a while. With his dying breath the farmer tells the kids how to kill the leprechaun. They find a four leaf clover and put a stop to the little beast.

Mostly an entertaining film, it's pretty average, story wise, but Warwick prancing about puts it up a notch for me. I'd seen it before and I'll probably get back to it again someday.

Leprechaun 2 1994  Written by Turi Meyer and Al Septien with Rodman Flender directing. I hadn't anything else by Rodman except for Idle Hands and I remember liking that when it was new. I hadn't seen it since. Turi had directed an episode of Buffy and 3 of Angel, that's about all of his other work I've seen. Al seems to be Turi's writing and producing partner, they share many of the same credits.

Warwick plays a different leprechaun in this film. The leprechaun celebrates his 1000th birthday about a thousand years ago. He can now pick a bride and he's chosen the daughter of his human slave. The father thwarts the leprechaun and saves his daughter at the cost of his own life. The leprechaun vows to marry the man's descendant when he's allowed to marry again in a thousand years.

The story jumps to modern day LA and we join a stupid boy named Cody who works for a scumbag who gives tours of the dark side of LA. The scumbag is Cody's uncle and his name is Max. Cody's girlfriend is the lucky bride for our leprechaun though she doesn't know what's ahead for her when we meet her. Why such a nice girl hangs out with Cody is beyond me.

There's plenty of the usual running about and screaming. There's some gore and plenty of violence. The leprechaun is as cruel as the other leprechaun, at one point he plucks a homeless guys gold tooth out his mouth and adds it to his pot o' gold. Like the first movie it's got a nice sense of humor. I got a few laughs and I'll watch it again sometime.

Leprechaun 3 1995  Written by David DuBos with Brian Trenchard-Smith directing. I can't find anything on either Brian or David's IMDb listing that I recognize. It's direct to video this time.

My favorite vicious leprechaun is in Las Vegas this time. Warwick is still at it as the leprechaun. A stupid college student, John Gatins, is travelling to college in California. He gambles away all his college money and falls foul of the leprechaun. I was disappointed he survived. He was a stupid ass.

I did enjoy our murderous demon eviscerating some of the locals. The Wikipedia says it was the highest selling direct to video film of 1995. I didn't see it back then. I gave it a 4 for hiring that Gatins guy. I thought he sucked.

Leprechaun 4: In Space 1997  Written by Dennis A Pratt and Scott Alkins with Brian Trenchard-Smith directing.

I saw this back in 2011 and gave it a three on the IMDb. It's not really any better a second time through. It's still fun to see Warwick Davis going at it as the murderous leprechaun but the space element is just stupid at times. I found myself speeding up the picture during some of the more dull bits. I'll be hard pressed to not do that if I get a chance to go through the series again.

Leprechaun 5: In The Hood 2000  Written by Doug Hall, John Huffman, Alan Reynolds, Rob Spera and William Wells with Rod Spera directing. I liked seeing Ice-T but the three guys who steel from him are just straight up stupid. There's plenty of running about and yelling. There's plenty of slaughtering. Just not really anyone on the human side to care about. Warwick as the leprechaun was fun enough. The leprechaun had a good time in the hood, getting high and killing people who steal his bling. I gave it a 4, the novelty of being in the hood wears off and it's less entertaining than some of the other films.

Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood 2003  Written and directed by Steve Ayromlooi. The leprechaun is still killing people in the hood. He goes after some pals who shared out the pot o' gold. There's not much to like about the group and I didn't mind their getting slaughtered. I gave this on a 4, it has a slow start but Warwick is totally wicked.

Leprechaun: Origins 2014  Written by Harris Wilkinson and directed by Zach Lipovski. It's a poorly received reboot of the series. There's no Warwick and it's all pretty standard stuff. There's no real humor or any reason to watch it again. I did like the poster, it's one of the best of the Leprechaun posters. It was nice that they returned to the right leprechaun in the 2018 film.

Half-Caste 2004

Half-Caste is a 2004 South African horror picture that's part of a 2 disc 3 film DVD set. It's well below average. I was fast forwarding pretty much after it started. Sebastian Apodaca, wrote, directed and stars. It's about half human half leopard people, they kill to survive, chomping up the locals. Something like a werewolf. Sebastian plays a documentary maker who goes looking for the legend of the Half-caste and finds out, yadda, yadda, yadda. Sadly the movie didn't pull me into the story and I can't think of anything good to say about it. Someone on the IMDb said "Avoid at all costs." Good advice.

Hell's Gate 2004

Hell's Gate is a 2004 Canadian film that's also known as 11:11. Michael Barfaro is the director, he wrote the story with Pat Bermel and Evan Taylor, then wrote the screenplay with Pat Bermel.

It stars Laura Mennell, she turns up in a lot of SF and Horror TV shows and a few movies. The most recent thing I've seen her in was the 2014 season of Haven. In this movie she's the grown up daughter of a woman who was murdered, 11:11 is written in blood beside her mother's body.

There's a supernatural thing going on but the talking and poor acting get in the way of the story. I found my mind wandering more than normal. I started fast forwarding through the long moody scenes where nothing happens. Below average, debatable how much. Another movie that was in a 2 DVD set with 3 horror films.

The Demon Within 2000

The Demon Within is a 2000 film that's also known as The Sculptress. Either way it's dull and below average stuff written and directed by Ian Merrick. Katie Wright is the sculptress and Jeff Fahey is a creepy guy. Katie left the biz after about 10 years and some small number of parts. Neither are awful in their role, they just didn't have that great a script. I didn't care much about either. I got the film as a three film set and it's not off to a good start. Lucky it was cheap.

Shallow Ground 2004

Shallow Ground came out in 2004 and it was written and directed by Sheldon Wilson. It's a pretty average weird murderer story. A naked bloody teenage boy comes walking out of the forest and he brings death to a town. The get him to the police station to try to figure out his identity. Trouble is, he's got fingerprints of 6 missing or dead people. At the same time someone is killing people in the woods. The tortured bodies of the dead are piling up and the sheriff is stumped.

It turned out to be fairly entertaining, I liked more of the characters than I usually do and there was a decent monster. I got it as part of a 3 film set. I might watch it again someday.

Swarm Of The Snakehead 2006

Swarm Of The Snakehead is a 2006 movie I found on Amazon Prime. It's a Jaws like horror comedy about genetically altered fish that come on land and eat people. Gunner Hansen has a small part. It's not got the greatest script or cast but it gets you to the end. There is a huge body count, that's something. Oh, and a kid pees his pants. Not likely I'll see it again.

Return Of The Living Dead - Rave To The Grave 2005

Return Of The Living Dead - Rave To The Grave is the last of the films in the series. It's from 2005, William Butler and Aaron Strongoni are the writers, Ellory Elkayem is the director. Peter Coyote has some Trioxin and the Russians are after it. They want to destroy the stuff but they fail and some zombies are created. Peter is killed and the story moves to the survivors of the last movie. They're in college. They hear of Peter's death and find a couple of barrels of Trioxin in his house. That creates more zombies. Again, the film doesn't come up to the level of the first three films. Oh, well, that shit happens, huh.

The Return Of The Living Dead - Necropolis 2005

The Return Of The Living Dead - Necropolis is the 4th film in the series. It took until 2005 to return to the series, William Butler and Aaron Strongoni are the writers and Ellory Elkayem is the director. Peter Coyote is a mad scientist who's gone to Chernobyl to find the last of the Trioxin 5. It doesn't go so well but he gets his Trioxin 5. One of his nephews is hurt in a motorcycle accident and pronounced DOA. His friends find out that it's not true and try to rescue him. Peter catches them and takes them to the nephew. The zombies get out and the nephew gets bit anyway. After a lot of carnage Peter gets away with a couple of barrels of Trioxin 5. He'll return in the next movie. It's not quite good enough to be average but I got through it. Now to go watch the last one.

Big Bad Wolf 2006

Big Bad Wolf is a 2006 werewolf film that's written and directed by Lance W Dreesen. Some young guy's mom marries a rapey werewolf and people die. Ain't that the lesson to be learned. Fuck a supernatural being, bad shit will follow. The young guy pals up with his friend and they fight to stay alive.

It's about average. The werewolf costume looks OK but not great. There's lots of werewolf slaughter and limbs tossed about. The main characters are more likeable than you often find in a horror movie. The script was straight forward and it moved along well. David Naughton plays the sheriff. Clint Howard plays a local who warns the young guy and his pals not to go to the cabin. It was part of a three pack of horror films I got from Hamilton Books for 4 bucks. I'd watch it again someday but it's going to be a while.

Eye Of The Beast 2007

Eye Of The Beast is 7th of the Maneater Series. It's a Canadian film that came out in 2007. It's directed by Gary Yates and Mark Mullin wrote the screenplay. James Van Der Beek is a scientist who comes to a fishing town that is having a problem with fish. Not enough of them. What's the cause? I suspect it's the beast in the title. Perhaps an octopus. There's plenty of rough seas ahead as James enlists the local fishermen to work together to kill the beast. Many will sacrifice their lives to the great sea god this night. Well, it was actually yesterday when I saw it but you get the idea. Hardly anyone isn't taking a salt nap. I gave it a 3, it's too talky, there's not anywhere near enough beast.