John’s Horror Corner: Leprechaun 3 (1995), just few Leprechaunthropic bites away from a Leprechaunado of Zombichauns…pure lunacy!

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MY CALL: This sequel is just plain silly…like, even sillier than part 2…which was even more ludicrous than part 1. It’s stupid and funny and it knows exactly what it is. As long as you understand what you’re about to watch, you’ll probably enjoy this. MORE MOVIES LIKE Leprechaun 3: Leprechaun (1993), Leprechaun 2 (1994) and the loads of sequels taking Warwick Davis from “da hood” to outer space. But whatever you do, don’t watch Leprechaun: Origins (2014)–terrible even for a direct-to-DVD B-movie. The Wishmaster 1-4 (1997-2002) franchise follows a similar pattern of gore and humor, however a dash more dire for the most part.

The writing quality is bottom shelf as always, as we find a double amputee in a Las Vegas pawn shop selling a life size Leprechaun statue so he can “buy gas and get out of town.” Such refined exposition, isn’t it? Our desperate statue pawner warns to leave the ostentatious medallion on the statue, which of course the shop owner removes almost immediately. The punishment for which is apparently that the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) animates, rambles in rhyming limerick, and bites off his ear and toe before scrambling off with his gold. And naturally, a single coin is left behind.

As laughable as this sounds, take note that in three years the world has witnessed as many Leprechaun movies! So if the we the people disapprove, we’re not exactly voting that opinion with our theater-going dollar. But I, and much of the horror community, continue to delight in this movie series.

With sequels, the stakes tend to get bigger with each subsequent story. Whereas part one had nothing of the sort, Leprechaun 2 (1994) boasted three wishes granted to a Leprechaun’s captor. But now in part 3, one wish per gold shilling is granted–which could mean 100 wishes!!! We now have every reason to hope the Leprechaun wins because I’m simply not comfortable with someone wielding that kind of world-dominating power. Moreover, these wishes are truly granted and not distorted as in Leprechaun 2 (1994), Wishmaster 1-4 (1997-2002) or The Monkey’s Paw (2013).

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith (Night of the Demons 2, Leprechaun 4: In Space) has taken all of the already-shaky-at-best rules of evil Leprechauns and wishes and thrown them out the window. Not only will a gold shilling grant you a wish, but when the coin changes hands each subsequent owner also gets a wish. The only constant seems to be that Leprechauns are nearly immortal.

As our protagonists, Scott (John Gatins; Witchboard 2, Pumpkinhead II) and Tammy are pretty worthless characters. But they offer up some campy comic relief.

After being bitten and exposed to the Leprechaun’s magically toxic blood, Scott seems to be afflicted with Leprechaunthropy–which consists of an insatiable appetite for potatoes and impersonating Tom Cruise from Far and Away (1992) doing his impression of the Leprechaun. Scott’s transformation into a were-Leprechaun is slow and silly, he has a magical duel, and all the while Tammy is dressed in a slutty magician’s assistant costume.

The real highlight for campy horror fans comes when Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Halloween II) wishes for beauty, then gets monkey pawed with grossly inflated boobs and butt by the Leprechaun–but it’s nothing compared to what happened in Faust (2000).

Again, nothing compared to what happened in Faust (2000). LOL

There’s that, and of course the scene that somehow combined Frankenhooker (1990) and Deadly Friend (1986).

The director of one of these fine films once suggested that each Leprechaun movie was about a different Leprechaun, which is the only sensible notion in the entire series considering that we have seen three Leprechauns meet horrible deaths in three states (South Dakota, California and Nevada) in as many years. But now with the inception of the communicable zombiechaun infection spread through bite, I’m shocked we have not yet seen a Leprechaunado or a Leprechaun Apocalypse.

All in all, this was extremely stupid but (with the right expectations) quite entertaining. Warwick Davis has been unchained and permitted to go as over-the-top as he wishes, and it’s pretty loony.