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Film: Leprechaun: Origins
Year: 2014
Director: Zach Lipovsky
Writer: Harris Wilkinson
Starring: Dylan Postl, Stephanie Bennett and Andrew Dunbar
Review:
This was a film that I remember when it came out. I thought that I was still working at Family Video, but seeing the year it was released, that would be after my time. My guess is that I was living in Parma, going to the local branch and saw it on the new release wall. This is one that I picked up on DVD soon after. I didn’t hear good things so I’ve been putting it off. I’m finally getting to it in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day on Journey with a Cinephile.
Synopsis: two young couples backpacking through Ireland discover that one of the most famous legends is a terrifying reality.
We start this off with a cold open. There is a couple that is running through tall grass and the start of a wooden area. Something is chasing them. It sounds like a beast, but we don’t get a look at what it is. What we do see is that it picks them off.
It is from there that we shift over to meeting our couples from the synopsis. There is Sophie (Stephanie Bennett) and Ben (Andrew Dunbar) as well as Jeni (Melissa Roxburgh) and David (Brendan Fletcher). To give more about this group, Sophie is going to school for anthropology or something along these lines. This trip was planned around this as they’re looking for an old village. Ben isn’t overly supportive of her and she’s changing her plans for him. I get the vibes that their relationship is nearing its end. Jeni and David are more fun loving, along for the ride. She’s also into horror things.
They come to a village and head to the local pub. It is there they get to talk to locals. Hamish (Garry Chalk) tells them about these large stones that are nearby with Gaelic symbols on them. He offers a house that they have if they want to crash there as well. The group agrees, getting a ride out that way. Something of note is that the group notices Hamish wearing a Rolex, which he claimed was a gift from people passing through. This watch is left on a stick by the front door to the house the group is using.
This group then settles in for the night. Jeni hears something so she looks out the window. She thinks she sees movement and calls out to David. He laughs it off, thinking her imagination is getting to her. He does offer to go outside to check. That’s when they find the front door is locked and there are bars on the windows. Something then rips Jeni’s earring out. Whatever did it came from the chimney. This trip then turns into a nightmare as things they weren’t told aren’t necessarily the truth, there are secrets to undercover and a deadly creature stalking them.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is with the gripes for this movie. This one isn’t related to the Leprechaun series. A misstep and I think rightly so to hold it against it, is that they used the subtitle Origins. It makes people believe that this is telling the history of Leprechaun and how he became the character that he is. This isn’t that. What they’re trying to do is tell a story about this mythical creature, by going to the origins of the lore. It feels like they’re trying to cheat with the title and it did come back to bite them unfortunately.
Now that I’ve set that up, this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I like the set-up as a place to start. It made me think of An American Werewolf in London, only for the fact that we have backpackers in Europe. Mind you, this takes place in Ireland and we have two couples instead of just a duo. I take it that they’re all just coming out of college or around about that age. They’re still carefree and that shifts into that fear of being an outsider when tension mounts. We also get local legends that we don’t believe in. That is a good recipe.
Another aspect that I do enjoy is having Sophie being an expert in history. If memory serves, she has the chance to study at Stanford for grad school. She is willing to put her life on hold for Ben. He’s a jerk. He isn’t supportive of her. That was something I could connect with, having been with a partner like that and being in a relationship that is doomed. Both parties are just going through the motions. It also makes me cringe that she’s putting off her dreams. To come full circle, Sophie can decipher information to piece together, which alleviates that ‘information dump’ feeling that we normally get in movies like this.
I think then I’ll go more in-depth with the issues I see with this movie. I’ve already said that the title is a misstep. People come in expecting the wisecracking version that Warwick Davis played masterfully. Instead, we get Dylan 'Hornswoggle’ Postl from WWE playing the titular monster. Now by the time this character came around, I wasn’t watching anymore. I have seen clips where he was a gimmick as a Leprechaun. This does feel like the producers and WWE being cheeky. I did watch a couple of featurettes that were on my DVD to help understand this. From what I gather, Hornswoggle didn’t talk. He is covered in prosthetics here. We never truly get a good look at him. That gimmick does fall short. There are others claiming the lore used here doesn’t fit the Leprechaun, outside of being drawn to gold. Going with a beast that doesn’t have personality without truly fleshing out the origins of it is definitely a mistake. I will judge this as a standalone film as a caveat.
That should be enough for the story, let’s then go over to filmmaking. Something that I’ll credit here is that they did go practical with as many of the effects as they could. I saw a featurette for that as well which made me happy to see. The look of the Leprechaun was good. Postl’s size helps there. The blood and gore that we got were good. Also, credit to the cinematography, framing and editing. Cutting away to help hide the seams is a good touch. The soundtrack also fits what was needed to help with the atmosphere. If I do have a gripe, give me just a bit more Irish sounding music to get the viewer in the mood.
I want to finish out with the acting then. Bennett is good as our lead. Dunbar was a character I disliked from the beginning. The best thing there is that he comes off as a jerk and then we see as tension rises, that he gets worse. That is good foreshadowing from the introduction. Roxburgh is attractive and I like how she plays off Fletcher. He’s an actor I’ve seen in a handful of movies. He always seems to give it his all. I like Chalk, Teach Grant and the rest of the locals. It is hard to judge Postl’s performance since he’s hidden for most of it. I’ll still credit him though. Overall, the acting fits what was needed.
In conclusion, this isn’t as bad as the ratings that I’m seeing. Does it fit in with the Leprechaun series, no. The title is playing on that to get people to watch it so that it does affect perception. Avoiding the use of origins as a subtitle would help there. I do think that the acting we get is fine for what was needed. The lore that we played with was good. This was made well enough, with the practical effects, cinematography and framing leading the way. I don’t think this is a great movie, but it is fine. It is better than installments in the ‘canon’ in my opinion for a franchise that is mediocre at best.
My Rating: 6 out of 10