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Film: Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood
Year: 2003
Director: Steven Ayromlooi
Writer: Steven Ayromlooi
Starring: Warwick Davis, Tangi Miller and Laz Alonso
Review:
This was a movie that I’ll be honest, I avoided when I saw it hit the movie channels. I didn’t see the one before this for the same reason. It wasn’t until getting into horror movie podcasts that I decided to work through the series. Since I’m celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on the Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. This is the next one up.
Synopsis: when Emily Woodrow (Tangi Miller) and her friends happen on a treasure chest full of gold coins, they do not heed the warnings of a wise old psychic, who foretold that they would meet trouble with a nasty and protective Leprechaun (Warwick Davis).
We start this out learning the lore of the leprechauns. There was a king who enlisted their aid to protect his gold. All of them returned to where they came from except for one. That would be the Leprechaun we get here. It then shifts to the present day. We have Father Jacob (Willie C. Carpenter) who battles the mythical creature on the site of what is going to be a youth center. He seems to defeat it as the monster is pulled into the ground.
The movie then shifts a year into the future. Father Jacob died during that battle and the construction of the youth center with him. Hanging outside out of the construction site are Emily with her friend Lisa (Sherrie Jackson). With them is Jamie (Page Kennedy). It is during this that we see Rory (Laz Alonso) who used to see Emily. They broke up when he took money from Emily to start dealing drugs. He is now seeing Chanel (Keesha Sharp). Jamie is also attacked by another group of drug dealers. Their boss is Watson (Shiek Mahmud-Bey) and he rolls up with Cedric (Sticky Fingaz). Jamie owes them money and he’s short. Rory comes to his aid and this causes Watson to tell him he had better watch himself.
Emily and Lisa throw a cookout at the construction site. Jamie invited Rory, which upsets Emily. These two go off to talk and she falls through the floor. It is while she waits for Rory to get a ladder or rope that she finds a chest full of gold coins. She decides to split it with the group. She doesn’t want Rory or Jamie to use it on drugs, which they do. By them spending this, the Leprechaun wakes up and he searches for his gold. He kills anyone who gets in his way to get it back.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. What I like here is that we get more continuity than other sequels in this series. They don’t reference the movie before this, but it also doesn’t do anything to violate that one either. Another thing that I’ll give this one credit, it is written by a Black man. The references to the culture feel real and less awkward than the previous installment so that helped as well.
A big thing that I also want to credit is that I love the back-story that we have. This idea that a king enlisted the aid of the leprechauns is great. I love that the rest of them left after they were no longer needed. It is just this one that stayed to protect the gold. It feels like this one is rogue which is good. I do still think there is missed opportunities. Something that the synopsis brought up that I didn’t know was the idea that Emily sees a psychic with Lisa. The psychic keeps getting names wrong, but she warns Emily about a fortune that will come her way and how she needs to avoid it. She doesn’t, of course, so that sets the events in motion. I love that the Leprechaun almost seems to fear the psychic and calls her a witch. He won’t even mess with her until she interferes. The idea here though is that the only people who are killed either try to stop him or are showing greed of his gold.
I’ve already touched on this, but I do love having the Leprechaun attacking this neighborhood. I can’t fault the characters that when they find the gold they spend it. This is the same argument that I made when it came to college athletes who were busted for accepting benefits. You normally saw it from teens that came from nothing. They don’t know good spending habits so it tracks. The idea that a greedy Leprechaun would have run ins with people who don’t have anything so they spend newfound money selfishly makes sense and works. I wanted to credit that.
Let me then shift to acting. I’ll be honest, it isn’t great. This also isn’t working with the biggest budget either. Davis though is once again on point with not only looking menacing but hitting the one-liners. I appreciate him for doing this when he was already taking on Star Wars movies as well as ones in Harry Potter. Miller and Jackson are fine as best friends. Kennedy adds comedy which worked for me. Alonso was fine as this drug dealer who used to be a part of this group. What is confusing there is that he still loves Emily, but he is also dating Chanel. Donzaleigh Abernathy is good as Esmerlda the psychic. This is a limited role. Mahmud-Bey, Fingaz and his crew were good. I’d say the supporting cast are almost caricatures, but that’s fine for a supernatural slasher like this.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’d say that the cinematography is fine. We are capturing that this is a low-income area. Seeing this group buy things that they don’t need makes sense. It also fits why the monster is after them. The effects were fine. This leans more into the CGI than the practical ones. I do wish we got more of the latter. This doesn’t ruin the movie either though. I’d also say that the soundtrack is fine. It does have rap style music that once again would fit.
In conclusion, I had more enjoyment here than other of the latter sequels. This is a franchise that is middling even with the best ones. The bright spot is Davis’s performance as the Leprechaun and the make-up is on point. His comedy also lands. The rest of the cast is fine. I do like the extra back-story we have here. This is made well enough. The practical effects are good, but we get a bit too much CGI in general. Again, this is one of the better sequels which is impressive for being this far into the series. I’d only recommend it if you enjoy these movies and want to see a supernatural slasher being done by a mythical creature.
My Rating: 5.5 out of 10