Review of Leprechaun 3

LEPRECHAUN 3 is a B-movie sequel that goes straight-to-video - unlike the first two instalments of this franchise - but it also happens to be the best so far. It's still below par compared to most mainstream films, of course, but in the hands of veteran cult director Brian Trenchard-Smith (whose 'classics' include THE MAN FROM HONG KONG and TURKEY SHOOT) it has more energy and vibrancy going for it. Warwick Davis returns as the wisecracking antagonist, one more speaking in rhymes and hunting for a missing gold coin. A bunch of non-entity characters find themselves up against them, the most amusing including a sleazy magician and poor Lee Armstrong, a halfway decent actress saddled in an extremely revealing costume for the entire running time; it's no surprise that this was her last film. Elsewhere, there's the usual gratuitous nudity from a shoehorned-in starlet, some schlocky gore and violence, lots of scheming and a few creative death sequences. It also has that glossy, mid '90s look and feel that reminded me of HELLRAISER 3: HELL ON EARTH, just before SE7EN came out and everything went grim and grungy instead.