Warwick Davis's leprechaun performance is legendary. Leprechaun believes a family stole his gold in the film. He hunts them with cunning and power. The family searches for riches to appease the leprechaun and protect him from hurting them. Davis's terrifying performance makes Leprechaun a classic horror flick.
The Leprechaun film was intended to be more of a straight horror film, but Davis injected comedy into his performance.
Leprechaun movie plot:
After visiting his homeland Ireland in 1983, Dan O'Grady returns to North Dakota. O'Grady learns after burying the riches that the leprechaun murdered his wife. O'Grady uses a four-leaf clover to trap the leprechaun. He's dead before he can burn him.
After ten years have passed, J. D. Redding decides to spend the summer at the O'Grady farmhouse with his daughter Tory, who is now a teenager. The farmhouse is now being repainted with the aid of contract workers Nathan Murphy, his 10-year-old brother Alex, and their friend Ozzie Jones, who is considered to be somewhat dimwitted. While Ozzie is scouring the basement, he overhears the leprechaun calling for help and mistakes him for a little child. He frees the leprechaun from the carton by removing the worn out four-leaf clover that was inside of it. Ozzie learns from the leprechaun that he is really an Irish shoemaker who emigrated to the United States in the hope of making his fortune. Ozzie notices a rainbow after his attempts to convince the others that he had seen a leprechaun were unsuccessful. He decides to follow the rainbow in the hopes of finding upon a treasure chest along the way. Alex follows him because he is worried that Ozzie would hurt himself in some way. A bag holding one hundred gold coins mysteriously materializes in front of Ozzie. After Ozzie examines the gold and mistakenly consumes a coin while doing so, they conceal it in an old well in the belief that this would restore Ozzie's mental capacity.
J. D. gets tricked by a leprechaun on the farm into walking into a trap by the leprechaun posing as a cat and biting his hand, causing him pain. After Tory and the others have brought the leprechaun to the hospital, he rides away on a three-wheeled bicycle. When Alex and Ozzie proceed to a pawn shop to determine the authenticity of the gold, the leprechaun kills the store's proprietor, Joe, for stealing his gold, and then polishes Joe's shoes before fleeing the scene. When the leprechaun was on his way back to the farm, he decided to build himself a go-kart but was pulled over by the police officer because he was going too fast. The officer is chased by the leprechaun into the woods, where the leprechaun eventually takes his life at the hands of the officer. The leprechaun returns to the farm and begins searching for his treasure while also polishing the shoes of everyone he encounters. After accompanying J. D. to the medical facility, the group makes their way back to the farmhouse. When Nathan goes outside to investigate after discovering that it has been plundered, he is hurt by a bear trap that was placed by a leprechaun. Outside, the mob launches an assault on the leprechaun and begins to beat him with rocks and clubs.
Leprechaun is shot multiple times after a gun is found in the house. After it fails, they attempt to depart, but the leprechaun has wrecked the truck's engine. Leprechaun terrorizes the group until Ozzie reveals he and Alex found the pot of gold. The bag is rescued from the well by Tory, who gives it to the leprechaun. They head to the hospital sure the worst is over. Leprechaun assesses his fortune and finds he's missing the coin Ozzie ate. He confronts them, thinking they fooled him, until Ozzie tells them O'Grady had a stroke and was hospitalized. By throwing dirty shoes at the leprechaun, the gang diverts his attention, and he's obliged to shine them while Tory drives off in her jeep. To kill the leprechaun, Tory visits the residence.
Leprechaun impersonates O'Grady at nursing home. Leprechaun chases Tory (blog) to an elevator and throws O'Grady's body down as Tory flees. Before dying, O'Grady tells her the only way to kill a leprechaun is with a four-leaf clover, which grows outside the property. Tory returns to the farmhouse to get a clover, but the leprechaun attacks. Nathan and Ozzie rescue her. Leprechaun is badly injured while trying to get the final gold coin, which Ozzie ate. Alex ties Tory's four-leaf clover to gum and launches it into the leprechaun's mouth, melting him before he can kill Ozzie. The leprechaun's skeleton says, "I want my gold" despite tumbling into a well. After Nathan pushes the leprechaun into the well, he lights both with gasoline. When police arrive, Tory is reunited with her father, marries Nathan, and has a kid. Leprechaun vows to recover every piece of his money as cops explore the well's ruins.On January 8, 1993, Leprechaun was released in 620 cinemas and grossed $2,493,020 in its first week, totaling $8,556,940. It was published on VHS by Vidmark in April 1993 and sold over 100,000 copies.
Leprechaun was released in 620 theaters on January 8, 1993, and earned $8,556,940 in the U.S. In April 1993, Vidmark released it on VHS and sold 100,000 copies.
The Leprechaun Controversy
Was Leprechaun reinvented?
Did Leprechaun have any cinematic sequels?
The Leprechaun travels to Los Angeles in pursuit of more riches in the sequel, Leprechaun 2, which was released the following year. Leprechaun 3 is set in Sin City, and it's here that the Leprechaun finally gets his hands on the wish-granting coin. Leprechaun 4: In Space is a break from the other films in the series since it is set on a spacecraft and the Leprechaun fights aliens. In the fifth and final installment of the franchise, titled Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, the titular character goes back to his urban Los Angeles neighborhood. Despite the franchise's generally unfavorable reviews, Leprechaun has proved to be a hit with audiences and has become a cult favorite.
Leprechaun movie trivia
Several sequences had to be re-shot as the producers requested that the picture be made gorier to appeal to older viewers.
George Lucas cast Warwick Davis in Willow. Less-known is why. Davis was under contract to Lucas, thus he needed authorization to appear in the film. As a consequence, he received a "special thanks" credit. This fact makes the movie more interesting for horror aficionados. It's another illustration of Lucas's cultural effect.
The leprechaun was supposed to run away to Ireland at first. But there was one problem: Warwick Davis, an Irish actor who played the leprechaun, did not have a work visa. In order to film the last scene, Davis had to get a visa in just three days, which is usually impossible. The office of Vice President Dan Quayle was able to speed up the process, which allowed Davis to finish filming on time. At the end of the movie, Quayle was given a "special thanks" credit for his work.
Jennifer Aniston made her film debut in Leprechaun.
Jennifer Aniston debuted in Leprechaun.
If you're a lover of horror flicks, Leprechaun is absolutely worth seeing. It's one of those rare horror films that's genuinely humorous as well as disturbing, and it boasts some terrific performances from Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston. The narrative may not be the most creative, but the movie is nonetheless pleasant to see. So if you're in the mood for a nice fright, check out Leprechaun. You won't be disappointed.