Leprechaun: Origins (2014) Review

It's about a group of friends who go exploring rural Ireland only to find themselves the target of some kind of wild creature.

Leprechaun: Origins was directed by Zach Lipovsky (who also directed Freaks and Dead Rising: Watchtower) and stars Stephanie Bennett (from Grave Encounters 2), Brendan Fletcher (from Open 24 Hours, BloodRayne: The Third Reich, Ogre and The Damned Thing) and Andrew Dunbar (from She Who Must Burn).

A horror icon is reborn (...but not really)

Leprechaun Origins is not about a leprechaun and it is not an origin story. It's just a generic creature feature that some asshole slapped the Leprechaun franchise name onto. It's similar to how the new Wrong Turn or the new Child's Play have no real connection to their franchises. They're both just random movies that used franchise names to sell tickets. Now, if Leprechaun Origins did that but kept a few familiarities laying around it would be one thing, but this is an entirely different concept that has nothing to do with anything. 

The "leprechaun" is just some cross between one of those cave creatures from The Descent and a mini Pumpkinhead who also happens to see in Predator vision. And the camerawork and editing are so bad it gives you ADHD just watching this movie. Not only is everything constantly out of focus or over exposed but it's zoomed in so close all the time that you can't really ever see the creature anyway. The movie tried to create buzz around a WWE wrestler that took over for Warick Davis as the "leprechaun" but you can't even see the guy, like ever. The creature could have easily been a puppet.

And then there's the whole gold thing. This creature has little interest in it, it just wants to kill and eat people. Kill, eat, kill, snag a gold earring, eat, kill, roll credits. 

So, what's the movie actually about? It honestly doesn't matter because it's one of the most generic teen creature horrors in existence. Basically, a group of friends traveling through Ireland come across a cabin in the woods, grab the attention of a creature who obnoxiously roars like a lion (constantly) and then continue on to act out every single tired horror trope known to mankind. The End.

Worth Watching? 

No. No way. If you value anything in this fleeting life you'll slowly step away from this abomination. 

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