Eleven years since the last Leprechaun film, Lionsgate and WWE Studios bring us a useless re-imaging of the cult classic Leprechaun horror villain from the early nineteen nineties. The original franchise lasted for ten years and had six films, one even involving the Leprechaun in Space. This re-imaging has nothing on the original film. The original film was different for its genre at the time, while this film simply tries to be the same as the other genre films. This is my review of Leprechaun: Origins.
Harris Wilkinson wrote this below average(even for the genre) script. Wilkinson is an unknown with no credits before this sad attempt. The horror genre, and especially the slasher genre like the Leprechaun films, aren't known for great scripts but, do generally lay out some interesting ideas. This film brings us nothing but a quick money grab from from Lionsgate and WWE Studios. The classic character we are use to is gone from this film, and instead we are left with a garbage attempt at changing the story around. Changing characters for the better is one thing but, what they did in this film was simply useless and unneeded. There is even a fairly massive plot hole towards the end of the movie. If you can pay attention towards of the beginning of the film, then you should remember it when it pops up towards the end. It really makes you question how someone like Harris Wilkinson even got this job. Overall, Harris Wilkinson wrote a pretty bad story for this film, even by horror genre standards his story was bad. Big fat thumps down.
The film was directed by Zach Lipovsky and he is mostly known for some very small television films and even visual effects supervisor on some smaller films as well. Lipovsky was handed a bad card of the bad script, and he ran with it sadly. Having clearly not changed anything for the better, Lipovsky deserves as much blame for this awful story as Wilkinson. His directing isn't actually that bad. Some of the shots are nice, and I really enjoyed how he didn't go for the CG kills with fake CG blood and whatnot. None of the deaths are over the top with useless amounts of added blood, which I do enjoy. There was even no nudity in this film, which is different for this type of film. So, Lipovsky doesn't get completely canned by me. The acting is about what you would expect, and it even features two alumni of the genre Garry Chalk(Hamish, appeared in Freddy vs Jason) and Brendan Fletcher(David, also appeared in Freddy vs Jason). If you are expecting much in the way of a good acting performance, then you will be disappointed rather easily. For fans of this genre, you will know that this is just another generic acting performance all around. Lipovsky gets some high regard from me in a few areas but, his overlooking of this awful story can not be looked over. He gets a middle of the road grade from me overall.
Jeff Tymoschuk is the composer for this film and in the past he has scored some video games and some smaller films. I actually enjoyed what Tymoschuck does in this film with the score. The horror genre is known for many classic pieces of music over the decades, and while you shouldn't expect that here in this film, expect a nice effort from start to finish that adds some nice depth to an otherwise lacking film.
In closing, this film is simply meant to get the franchise rolling again and make a lot of quick cash. Hardcore fans of the franchise like myself will finish watching this movie and really dislike what Lionsgate and WWE Studios has done, and even consider it the worst of all the films(yes, even worst than Leprechaun in Space). Those on the fence or just new to the franchise well, please do not let this be the first Leprechaun film you watch. The original horror film brought so much more to the table, while this brings mostly nothing worth of value.
3/10
