Back in 1993, a schlocky horror movie came out that wasn’t great but wasn’t so bad that it was bound to be forgotten. In all honesty, the continued fame that Leprechaun has enjoyed over the years, as a cult classic obviously, has been a little confusing, but feels as though it’s due more to the strange but real love that people have for low-grade horror movies. It’s very easy to give props to Warwick Davis for his role in the movies since the man is a great actor that doesn’t always get the necessary credit he deserves. But as far as the Leprechaun movies go, there does feel as though the story idea is great enough, but the execution is, more or less, meant to remain low-key and a lot sillier than many horror movies are apt to get. The fact that there have been so many of them indicates that people have found a soft spot for the diminutive movie monster, but it’s also fair to say that the movie’s popularity did manage to dip after a while as by now, the number of people that follow the creature’s story has been greatly diminished.
That doesn’t mean that interest in the story has waned entirely, especially since people still recall the pint-sized terror and in some instances want to see more. Darren Bousman, the director of Spiral, apparently wants to take a crack at bringing another Leprechaun movie to the masses, and given the nature of Spiral, it would appear that Bousman might be capable of putting an extra edge on a new Leprechaun movie that would, hopefully, allow the franchise to hit the newsfeeds in a substantial way once again. It’s very likely that if this does get made, which it might, it will experience a brief flare-up and then die down once again. But the point is that if it does get made it could be one of the more impressive movies in the series.
Let’s put it this way, the Leprechaun is creepy, he’s disturbing, and he’s psychotic in every way since he tends to giggle when he kills people, kind of like many other killers. But at the same time, he’s notoriously hard to keep down, even though it is possible to kill him. But as many other movies have shown, there are ways for him to come back since despite being portrayed by the same actor each time, the Leprechaun in each movie is not the same, especially since if one notices, they have different powers and weaknesses that can be used and exploited. Added to that is the fact that while he did start the franchise out and kept with it for a while, Warwick Davis did step away from the role after a while, as his stance on horror movies changed a bit. Unless he could be convinced to come back, it does stand to reason that another actor would be required to take on this role once again, since despite what was seen in American Gods, it’s fair to assume that a Leprechaun the size of Mad Sweeney wouldn’t be accepted quite as easily as the tiny character that made the movies worth watching.
It does make a person wonder what might happen if this movie was given the green light since the Leprechaun movies have been seen as outright goofy for a while now, and it’s fair to say that unless something changes, this might not change. There’s nothing wrong with a good horror-comedy, but it’s been typical to see that these movies focus more on the horror aspect and inject the dark comedy as they go along. Over the years these movies have been accepted as they are, and have either been enjoyed or ignored. But a ninth movie could easily be another straight to video matter, or it could be something that might take the story seriously enough that it might allow the legend of the Leprechaun to get just serious enough to be worth the regard of the fans. It would still be necessary to keep it light enough to be enjoyable, but maintaining the horror aspect as the primary element of the story would help to keep this story recognizable to many fans that can remember the original.
If this movie does get made, and it might, there’s a big hope that it would be a new chapter in the Leprechaun saga that would elevate it to a level that would allow it to stand with the horror icons that have been insanely popular throughout the years despite their missteps. While it’s never been regarded as the type of movie franchise that is on the same level as several others, Leprechaun is still an interesting story that could possibly be taken to a new level by the right director.
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