Leprechaun: Origins (2014) User Reviews

New generic Leprechaun movie dismisses the fun and original series.

[joeman32 · 3/10 · 28 August 2014]

I gave this movie 3 out of 10 stars and that was being generous. It was entertaining enough to get through the whole thing and some cute chicks, but that's not saying much. It was sooooo generic. The typical cabin in the woods style film with nothing special added to it.

I thought the film sounded bad from the very beginning and after I watched this, it just proved my point. Why did they have to change the formula from the Warwick Davis series? They had a fan following and this movie just has fans dumping on it while not gaining any new fans.

There was nothing fun about the monster. He didn't talk, didn't look like a tradition Leprechaun. More like one of those creatures from the movie "The Descent". I don't understand how Hollywood needs to remake everything and give everything more of a "realistic" approach. All these original horror series such as Leprechaun, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween used to be a lot more fun then what they are now.

All I have to say is booooooo. Two thumbs down. BRING BACK WARWICK DAVIS!!! Make that long talked about Leprechaun:In the Old West. I love all those movies for as cheesy as they are. They were fun.

Try as they will , try as they might, who cheats me with a fake Leprechaun won't live thru the nite.

[Fella_shibby · 3/10 · 15 March 2019]

You cant take a poor version of Descent-like creature n call it a Leprechaun. Wher is the hat, clothes, shining boots n above all the rhyming jokes? N what's the obsession with the irritating roars/growls? The film starts with the same ol stuff, a couple running away from something which makes irritating noise. The camera work is tedious n we dont get to c anything. Cut the scene n we get to c highly educated tourists who r lured into the deeper woods by a local, claiming to show em some historical stuff. Ther is some tension n gory stuff but the shaky cam stuff combined with the nite scenes n unnecessary loud noises as if some lame lion roaring, makes it an awful experience. This film ain't worthy of being called the origins of Leprechaun. One scene is a bit reminiscent of Anthropophagus aka Grim Reaper n Cottage. We have one axe n another decapitation scene but still a lousy film.

The original Leprechaun's cinematography was top notch. It was set in the dry sunlight settings n even the nite scenes were well shot but in this case the scenes r short in the dark n the pov of the creature n its noise is very very irritating. In fact the scene before the end credit with the growl sound is unendurable. O boy, the end credit lasts for twelve mins with the cam jus lingering on farm tools n then zap, once again the horrible growl. The first three parts of Leprechaun were awesome cos of the humor.

Ther was an ol fugazi leprechaun, whose balls were made of fine brass. So in stormy weather they'd clang together n sparks wud fly out of his ass.

Try as they will , try as they might, who cheats me with a fugazi Leprechaun won't live thru the nite.

Diddley diddley dee I'm a fake leprechaun me.

A crappy and highly unnecessary humor-free "reboot"

[Seth_Rogue_One · 3/10 · 29 September 2014]

Going in to watch this movie the ratings were indeed alarming, at 3.3 one could hardly expect a masterpiece I knew that.

I did think that possibly the low ratings could be due to die hard fans of the leprechaun series being angry with the lack of Warwick Davis and the movie not staying true the story.

And while that is all true, the movie is just completely different in all aspects of the original franchise

Now, I'm not gonna say that the Leprechaun series is a classic, or even good for that matter, they kinda aren't, but one thing that they always manage to do is entertain... This one does not

And while the Leprechaun series playfully played with the silliness of the plot and at many times would be better viewed as a comedy than a horror, the whole comedy aspect is totally disregarded in this "reboot" it takes itself and it's characters way too seriously and that definitely stands in it's way from making this enjoyable

The leprechaun as a character is also completely changed, while Warwick Davis was a witty green faced leprechaun in the original movies, the new Leprechaun can't even speak and he looks more like an alien than the Leprechaun we know and love

He's also a lot taller than the original, the bio says he's 4.4 but he looks average-sized tbh in the movie

The first 45 minutes is bearable but the last 35 minutes is almost exclusive to the cast running back and forward in the woods

On top of that while it's supposed to take place in Ireland, it's filmed in Canada with American and Canadian actors with bad Irish accents

There's really not much good to say about this movie, if anything, even if you look beyond the fact that it's a reboot and watch it as a standalone movie it's still a crappy movie

Pumpkinhead: Origins.

[Krackoon · 1/10 · 27 August 2014]

Let me start off by saying that 'Leprechaun: Origins' has absolutely nothing to do with the cult classic starring Warwick Davis.

My best guess is that WWE Films decided to go with the current title, hoping to snag a few people who hope to catch a glimpse of the original star.. Instead what we get, is some of the worst camera work imaginable, especially during close up shots of a creature so badly made, that it looks like a cross between 'Pumpkinhead' and one of the creatures from 'The Descent.' The creature also seemed to grow and shrink at will, during different situations, such as being shot at close range in an attic the size of a closet, by a hillbilly wielding a sawed off shot gun, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

Random Ramblings of a Madman: The acting is the usual.. the characters, however enter an entirely new level of stupidity, such as entering a cabin with barred windows, and a lock on the out side of the door, big enough to keep Andre The Giant from getting out. Long story short, 'Leprechaun: Origins' is something that should be on the syfy network. If you enjoy that sort of thing, go for it.

A movie that can cause cancer.

[lsherman0316 · 1/10 · 27 August 2014]

This is hands down the worst Leprechaun movie, and it's also one of the worst remakes. That's a twofer, right there. As much as we all loved the Leprechaun series and horror remakes, that's saying something. Do yourself a service and watch something else—watch the 1998 Psycho remake. At least that one borrowed from the source material.

It doesn't feel at all like a Leprechaun movie. I don't know anything about wrestling, but when I heard that someone else was going to don the role of the title character, a role that Warwick Davis made infamous, I figured they were just going to redesign the character and feed him all of Davis's lines. Maybe they'd even throw in a few rhymes here and there.

Well, there was absolutely no reason why they needed a wrestling star to play this character, because the Leprechaun in this movie isn't a character. He's a monster. Yeah, he's a guy in a rubber suit, hopping around like Gollum from Lord of the Rings and growling like some disturbed beast. He has no dialogue, and he doesn't even resemble what a leprechaun is supposed to look like. He looks like kind of a decrepit Pumpkinhead.

They must have known early on that it was a terrible choice, because whenever you see the creature, he's all blurry. What, did they just smear Vaseline over the camera lens? And they don't do this just for certain scenes—it's every time they show us the monster. He has a fair amount of screen time, but they rob us of every potential scary moment because you can never see the damn thing. It also doesn't help that most of the time, they do these weird POV shots, and apparently the Leprechaun possesses infrared sight, like the Predator.

That brings me to my second point: the editing and all the shaky cam. I honestly had no idea what was going on during the whole movie. The monster just pops out of nowhere, tries to eat the main characters, and then—I don't know, it's all over the place. Rinse and repeat. The characters run back and forth into this one cabin in the woods, never accomplishing anything. Every time they go back, someone else dies. It's a terrible paint-by-the-numbers set-up, and again, because they feel the need to make the picture blurry whenever the monster shows up, we can never tell what's going on.

It doesn't matter anyway, because I just didn't give two farts about the characters. That's very common in modern slasher movies. Since when did they make this rule that characters don't need personality in horror movies? Is it really that hard to give characters some personality traits? I know you spend a little more money on ink, but come on? Slashers used to be fun. But here, I cared even less about the protagonists. They just didn't have anything interesting to say. I couldn't even hate any of the characters. Lately, it seems to be a fad with horror movies—there has to be at least one blatant dickhead for the audience to hate. But here, everyone's just kind of there, enjoying the scenery until the Leprechaun arrives. There's no reason to cheer for anyone, there's no reason to hate anyone. It's the most severe case of bland I can think of, and I sat through eleven Puppet Master movies—I know what I'm talking about.

The only connection this movie has at all with any of the earlier films is that the surviving character at the end actually says, "Fuck you, Lucky Charms." I was actually surprised to hear it, because after watching this lifeless piece of crap, I was beginning to wonder if the filmmakers just didn't bother with watching any of the prior movies. Not that they would have a lot to look forward to, but that's beside the point.

I think it's obvious, I hated this movie. And to add insult to injury, they gave us twelve minutes of credits. Twelve. Frickin'. Minutes. The actual move is only an hour 18 minutes. Pay no attention to the 90 minute runtime. The last twelve minutes are purely credits. And no, there weren't a lot of people who worked on it…they just felt the need to give us boring glimpses of movie stills in between showing us the names of people who would go on to become raging alcoholics after making this movie.

This was a total waste of time, an abomination of movie-making proportions, and it needs to be outlawed in at least thirty countries, including this one. I think I found a contender for worst movie sequel of all time. Leprechaun: Origins has the potential to give me cancer. Steer clear, because there's no cure. The only remedy is to just forget it ever happened.

Someone in charge, please read!

[PatrickP · 29 August 2014]

I thought long and hard about adding this review... After all, I'd be adding nothing that others had not already said: no mythology, no fun, no seeing the creature, poor script, etc. I mean, it says "A horror icon is reborn", and even the title is misleading, "Leprechaun: Origins". With a name like that, you'd think it was a prequel...but nope, all you really get it a movie that feels like it began as a spec script and was slightly tweaked to try and fit the Leprechaun series...which it doesn't. What baffles me is that this is as far from a Leprechaun movie as you can get. No one really expected these movies to be scary, and a large part of their charm was the goofy nature of the films. That's what we wanted to see: a wisecracking midget that would just as soon kill you, and make fun while he did it.

So why am I writing this? My hope, dim as it may be, is that those in charge would read these reviews and think twice before "tweaking" something that didn't need it. There's obviously a desire from people to see these types of films, and there's nothing wrong with that. By changing the nature of the character from wisecracking villain to grunting animal you kill what made it fun in the first place. I honestly haven't been as confused or let down by a movie in a long time.

So there it is, my plea, sent to the Interwebs to anyone that can help.

Did He Just Call Me a Nancy Boy?

[CowherPowerForever · 3/10 · 26 August 2014]

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

Very awful and makes you nervous

[majed-khaznadar · 1/10 · 26 August 2014]

One of the worst movies I've ever watched If you want to waste 90 minutes of your valuable time, just watch this movie, very bad directing, very bad story, no one could ever kill a monster that even a child can kill

I don't want others to suffer like I did, do not watch this movie.

I wonder how it's rated 6 stars !

I also wonder how Lionsgate could produce such an awful movie, it's only one monster and no one could've ever killed, the story is very weak, the directing is weak, the whole movie is weak. If I was in the film scene I would've killed the director, no honestly, just watch it and let me know, only if you want to waste a valuable 90 minutes of your life

Happy watching!

Terrible Movie with Awful Story

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 18 February 2015]

The college students and friend Sophie (Stephanie Bennett), Ben (Andrew Dunbar), Jeni (Melissa Roxburgh ) and David (Brendan Fletcher) are spending vacation traveling through Ireland. They stop in a bar in a small village in the countryside and are convinced to visit a remote area by the local Hamish (Garry Chalk) and his son Sean (Teach Grant) drives the group to the spot. The two couples spend the night in an old cabin and soon they discover that Hamish has locked them inside. Further, a Leprechaun (Dylan 'Hornswoggle' Postl) is hunting them down to feed.

"Leprechaun: Origins" is a terrible movie with an awful story. It follows the old formulaic plot of slash movies with a group of youngsters reaching a remote area and taking stupid decisions and attacked by a creature that kills one by one. The worst is that the invincible monster is easily defeated by a clumsy young woman. The writer Harris Wilkinson challenges the viewers' intelligence with this story. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Duende: As Origens" ("The Leprechaun: The Origins")

I tried to like it. "LEPRECHAUN:ORIGINS"

[MyjavaGurl · 3/10 · 23 August 2014]

VERY disappointing. I'm a very HUGE Leprechaun fan. I love the Warwick movies. I was excited for it to be scary again. It wasn't, in fact the older ones are scarier.

The Leprechaun doesn't speak, just makes animal sounds and growls. You NEVER see a full shot of the Leprechaun. Its not even shown a lot. I don't see why they even needed an actor for the Leprechaun? If you told me it was CGI and a fake puppet.. I would believe it. Hornswoggle had really no acting opportunity here. Who ever was in charge of creating a leprechaun did a LAZY BORING UNCREATIVE job. Its like the Descent meets vampire. I'd rather have a talking, rhyming Leprechaun then one who just growls.

I expected more. It seems like SYFY put this together. Just make Leprechaun 7 with Warwick! This should have been a stand alone killer Leprechaun film by WWE. It should have never been in the remake category.

Only one kill was really fun and shocking, I jumped. I give it a 4 on IMDb - C level grade wise.

This is NOT Leprechaun!

[Patient444 · 4/10 · 26 August 2014]

They took the name "Leprechaun" only so they can sell this, cause believe me, it has almost nothing to do with it. Maybe the mythological beast, but, except the gold thing, which also was very, very bad treated, this movie was down right bad!

So lets see: the acting was OK, I approve to the characters, the Leprechaun had a terrible design, way too look alike "Creep" or "Underground", the habits of the creature were NOT explored properly, and the plot is extremely poor. I will not recommend this one as a "Leprechaun" movie, but as a stand alone, it will go hand in hand with "Animal" (2014) per example, something to pass 90 minutes. Again tho, I am seriously disappointed, I will grade it 4, cause it doesn't even deserve a 5, an above good horror. "Leprechaun: Origins" is not what it seems, what you'd expect or desire, has almost to nothing to do with what you once saw. Look at "Evil Dead", well the remake still had some connections to the first, went the darker path, to which I approve, but maintained some bounds. This one on the other hands, goes solo from start to finish and fails miserably.

"Leprechaun: Origins" or how to waste money and a serious potential. You have been warned, probably quite sure you will still desire to see it, just as I did, but after doing so, please warn people. It almost ruins the first series to be honest. Amazing how bad it is.

Cheers!

Watch it yourself before you judge

[telloladeamor · 9/10 · 24 December 2014]

Thats right I give it a 9 out of 10. This by far for me anyway the best wwe movie besides see no evil. I thought the marine was bleh, 12 rounds was aight , but the rest of the wwe movies are absolute boring rubbish. I thought this film was gripping, had a great story, and I liked the change in character from the original lep movies. You have to enjoy slasher and or monster movies to like this film. It reminded me a lot of Texas chainsaw, see no evil, etc. Those types of films. If you like those kinds of movies you will want to check it out. I liked how it was a true horror movie without that comedy like the lep series back in the day. I am not a fan of comedy in horror. I think it is pointless and ruins the movie. This was all horror all the way through. I give it a 9 since it is the best wwe movie imo.

A new take on a old legend.

[ryguymovieguy-887-268397 · 7/10 · 26 August 2014]

Leprechaun : origins tells the story of four American college students who get stuck in the woods of Ireland with a nasty Leprechaun who isn't trying to sell you lucky charms. Being a huge WWE and horror movie fan i was immediately intrigued by this film however i was never a big fan of the original leprechaun films. You could also say that i haven't been a big fan of any of wwe studios films other than the first marine and see no evil but i can say if your looking for a decent horror flick to watch late at night this is the movie for you it's fast paced and for the most part enjoyable with a clever plot twist which if your an average film goer you may not notice at first. The acting performances are not great but good enough for a direct to DVD film like this and i can say that WWE superstar Hornswoggle is completely unrecognizable in the role of the leprechaun. If your a fan of the original leprechaun films though you may be disappointed that this isn't the comedic leprechaun but rather a dark monster who terrorizes villages and brutally eats people. Some gripes i have though are the scenes in which the college students battle the leprechaun as the shaky cam is at points a consistent thing that you notice and there is never a clear look at the leprechaun its either shown from a blurry vision or a predator style like point of view shot which is clever for this film but does come off as a bit of a rip off though. Another problem is the runtime its only 75 minutes and the end credits take up 15 minutes of the film. i must say though that leprechaun : origins is a enjoyable horror rental which is one of the better horror films of 2014 and one of the best wwe studios productions to date . Overall i'm giving this film a 7 out of 10 HOPE YOU ENJOY THE FILM!!!

No luck, here. This movie is not a pot of gold. It's a pot of shite.

[ironhorse_iv · 2/10 · 18 March 2015]

F*** you, lucky charms! Honestly, all the Leprechaun films are pretty bad. These movies are so embarrassingly awful, that I really wonder how something like this gets rebooted. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and produced by World Wrestling Entertainment AKA WWE films, Leprechaun: Origins tells, the story of a group of unsuspecting Americans backpacking, through Ireland. They soon, came across a sinister town, hiding a dark secret and a mysterious creature trying to hunt them down. Without spoiling too much, the movie has potential, but sadly, getting rid of the comedy elements was a really bad idea. This film goes for serious scary tone, instead of going for campy-horror schlock. In my opinion, this is not a film franchise to try do a 'legitimate' serious horror film. After all, it's about a Leprechaun for goodness sakes. I really miss, Warwick Davis as the Leprechaun. Davis had some really funny one-liners in the previous films. By not having him in this movie, made the film, a little more boring. It's OK that the movie focus more on the lore, but the leprechaun in this film doesn't even look like that, as well. They're supposed to look like fairies in Irish folklore. Most, usually depicted the leprechaun as a little old man, wearing a coat and hat, who partakes in mischief, but this movie depicted them as naked Orc like creatures who speaks in animal-like groans. It was a bit disappointing because actor/wrestler Dylan Postl better known under his ring name Hornswoggle is known for playing a Leprechaun on TV. He does have some acting chops. If you're a Hornswoggle fan, well, you're out of luck. He doesn't have one line nor do you ever see his face. He so generic in this role, he looks stupid in it. Hornswoggle is in a full prosthetic suit far too large for him. The fore-arms and legs are too long and you can see where it bends. The film is jarring in the way, he was shot. They try to hide the poverty of a rubber suit by using only quick, blurry shots of the monster. Not only, is it embarrassing, it gave me a headache. Whenever the monster shows up, we can never tell what's going on, due to how blurry, it is. This is a major huge red flag. The movie is full of shaking cam, obfuscated shots, pitch dark scenes, and awkward quick cuts. It's also funny to see that the killer cam shot has thermal vision and infrared vision as if similar to the one in 1987's Predator. Does that mean that the Leprechaun came from the same planet as the Predator? Anyways, all the crappy shots make the movie really unwatchable for the most part. The only good shots of the film is the overview shots of the lush Irish countryside. The actors playing the Irish town folks were alright, even if they playing the Irish stereotypes, way too well. Garry chalk as Hamish is by far, the best thing, about this film. The actors playing the American backpackers were alright in their acting, but they come across as very dull. The writers, didn't the actors really given anything to stand out. Most of their dialogue is pretty dumb. A good example of this, was the line 'You got a pretty mouth', a 1972's Deliverance film reference line that somehow got into an Irish movie. I know, it's supposed to represent how the backpackers felt about the local town folks, but it comes across, as ignorant, seeing how they're in Ireland, not the Deep South. For a WWE movie, I was really shock that both well-known Irish wrestlers Dave 'Fit" Finlay & Stephen Farrelly AKA Sheamus wasn't in it. They would make this film, a little more interesting. Despite being Rated R, there is lack of harsh-language, little to no gore, and no nudity. The special effects were mediocre, at best. It's quite cheap looking. The movie ends with a chances of sequel. It could happen, I hope not though. This had an extremely limited theatrical run, before going onto DVD. Overall: A film you might regret watching. Completely unengaging, and not bad enough to be funny. This franchise has gone to the deep end of the rainbow. Dirt-poor, and I watch a lot of WWE films. Avoid. This movie is far from magically delicious.

Leprechaun, yeah right

[snakes3992 · 1/10 · 27 August 2014]

Leprechaun, huh? More like "Suck-my-dick-upon." This movie was God awful. Basically the plot goes like this, some teenagers go to a cabin in the woods, and they realize they were bait for the "Leprechaun," and they're trying to survive, and trying to figure out how to kill this thing. The characters are really dull, there is nothing interesting about them, they're just about as interesting as a piece of paper. The acting from these teenagers is awful. The dialogue is awful, every line is stupid in this movie. I'm going have to spoil the ending line, one of the dull teenagers says, "F**k you lucky charms." Yep they copied off a line from Leprechaun, wow, does it sound cool in this movie, no it doesn't, it's poorly used, just because you steal a line from another horror movie doesn't make it automatically awesome, because this teenager has no character build up. There is no Leprechaun in this movie, the creature in this movie is a rip off of the monsters from The Descent, and the movie wants us to believe it's a leprechaun, oh yeah sure it's a leprechaun, It looks nothing like a leprechaun at all, just because he likes gold, doesn't mean he is one. The movie is so boring, because the characters are so lifeless and dull, we only get to see the creature in about 23mins, and does the creature look scary, no it doesn't, it's making the original Leprechaun from Leprechaun scarier than that thing. The only good thing about this movie, is when the creature kills one of the dull teenagers, in a very graphic way, like pulling his spine out. Overall this movie is a complete joke, f**k this movie, don't see it, it's a waste of time.

Very Generous 3 of 10 stars Monster creature in woods flick.

[jftherd · 3/10 · 20 July 2017]

I saw this movie because it came in a 7 movie Leprechaun Set from WalMart for about $10. I saw a youtube video where all the films were ranked and this ranked as the worst one. I AGREE. What I liked about the other Leprechauns is the fun vibe and Warwick Davis giving the Leprechaun personality. In this film the "Leprechaun" is a growling creature. A monster creature, nothing leprechaun about it. WWE Studios keeps assuring me that their films are garbage.

Does NOT belong in the series. It was terrible. Why do they try to my the wrestler "Hornswoggle" come across as the star , when they treat the creature as something that you only see in the shadows and with a shaky cam. Or the view see his predator like night vision. Even has a "Predator" rip off spine pull out kill. The creators were confused and this sucked!

Non Canon Crap Fest

[minionking777 · 1/10 · 25 March 2017]

I felt so compelled to express my supreme disappointment and hatred of this horrible movie that I am writing my first review on IMDb. Not only does this movie have nothing to do with the franchise, it's not even a good stand alone horror. I love wonky horror movies, but this one is a truly boring, god awful piece of garbage that deserves to be tried for treason and sentenced to a long, torturous death. May ISIS behead the people responsible for producing this film and mispackaging it with the Leprechaun collection.

There is no leprechaun. There is no origin. The title should have an asterisk, gigantic quotation marks around it, or an "lol" at the end.

ZERO stars.

A generic monster movie. Nothing more.

[adamscastlevania2 · 2/10 · 4 January 2015]

(20%) Besides Leprechaun in the hood part 2, I've seen all of these movies and the only aspect that kept the wheels going round for all those editions was Warwick Davis. He was always good fun to watch, and despite the quality dipping very low towards the later films, he always gave the impression that he at least cared and was trying to create an enjoyable final product. This though features a mute killer goblin likened monster with predator vision that has barely anything in common with the comical character we've grown to expect. So what you're left with is a typical generic Hollywood horror B-picture with a broken view of Ireland (the pub scenes appear to be set within the 19th century), that's void of any thrills, and would be considered quite tame even by 1950's horror standards. It isn't terrible, but everyone has seen this type of fluff many times before.

What???

[tkmbandfour · 3/10 · 24 March 2019]

Only Vince McMahon could screw up a leprechaun. Why in god's name is it not even a leprechaun. It's a freaking demon for god's sake. This has nothing to do at all with leprechauns. Wheres the beard and the funny hat. Screw you Vince and your dumb studio.

Cat growl, laughable horror.

[EDMPingu · 1/10 · 27 August 2014]

Oh my god, i have never seen such rubbish. I actually took the time, to write to Zach Lipovsky and explain what the problem was with the movie ( did i call it a movie? , i mean, extended trailer to another B movie ).Oh IMDb labels it as a horror.. Really? Lost boys came out years ago, was a 15, and had way more horror attraction than this movie. Do yourself a favour, and don't pay to watch it, wait until it comes out in the bargain bin. That was the worst 90 minutes of my life, wasted. I'm not sure what anyone else thinks of this film, but Blair witch was better. Sorry, it's my first review, and i will apologize for the lack of substance. Feel free to watch it yourselves, and um ... have something else to do while you're watching it.

Not Necessary.

[Maniac_In_Black · 3/10 · 17 March 2022]

Its advertised as a leprechaun movie but the "leprechaun" looks more like Nosferatu or a creature from The Descent. It also advertises Hornswoggle, but who cares when it could have been anybody in that costume?

So tired of seeing so much whining....

[angelwench70 · 8/10 · 24 June 2015]

Most of the reviews here do nothing but whine about it not being like the original. Well, I am glad it wasn't. I don't think a horror movie should be more of a comedy than horror.

No the acting wasn't spectacular, but they did OK and it was fun to watch. I do think they could have done a little better on the leprechaun monster, as it did look like it had been burnt or something. But the leprechauns of Celtic lore made them out to be horrific monsters anyway.

And in all, I think this was a good little horror flick, so thank you to the director and screenwriter for taking it a totally new and HORROR direction!

This is NOT the "Leprechaun" you are used to...

[racecar-4 · 6/10 · 26 August 2014]

...and if you go into this film expecting Warwick Davis and his wise- cracking Leprechaun antics, you're going to be disappointed. The filmmakers responsible for this film have stated NUMEROUS times that they wanted a complete reimagining of the Leprechaun character and backstory (despite the "Origins" subtitle). This film was always meant to abandon the slapstick approach of the original series in favor of something a little more dark and primitive, which in my opinion, they were successful with, and if you leave your brain and quibbles about Warwick's interpretation of the character at the door, "Leprechaun: Origins" is a hell of a fun ride. Sure the story is a little silly and far-fetched, but suspension of disbelief is necessary to begin with...if you're trying to make a movie about a killer leprechaun. "Origins" is everything that a film like this should be! Its fast-paced with jump scares and suspense spaced throughout the run time. And even though the "gore" in the movie is next to non-existent, the death sequences and setups more than make up for it. Its evident that the film is low budget, but the production values are able to rise above that. Similarly, the cast is better than they should be for a film like this. Genre veteran Brendan Fletcher (Freddy vs. Jason) turns in an excellent performance as the lovable "blockhead" of the group. I actually found myself rooting for him to survive! And none of the other cast members were distractingly bad (as is normally the case with DTV horror films). Dylan "Hornswoggle" Postl does just fine as the new Leprechaun. With the new approach for the character, there actually isn't much acting required from the WWE veteran. Unlike other reviewers, I will not criticize director Zach Lipovsky's decision to keep the creature mostly in the shadows. A lot of better, smarter creature features have utilized this approach and no one gives them any flack for it. In my opinion, we see the creature just enough to leave us wanting more! (And isn't that what a film of this nature is supposed to do?! I mean SEQUELS right?!)

Like knock-off Lucky Charms without any marshmallows

[brandoncarlk · 2/10 · 18 June 2015]

If you watched this movie without knowing the title, you'd have no idea that this is supposed to be a reboot of the Warwick Davis Leprechaun movies. It seems as though labeling a movie as a "reboot" means nothing more than taking an original movie, strip it of anything unique to it or the franchise, and fill it with modern/generic horror tropes, clichés, and effects.

The Leprechaun looks and sounds nothing like a short man who wears a lot of green. Instead, it's merely a generic underground-dwelling monster like the ones in the Descent. So there's no funny rhymes or quips; it just growls and snarls. There's no leprechaun lore represented with any magic or spells. It's just a naked monster with leathery skin that can see in the dark and is kind of fast.

This takes place in Ireland and the locals are super-scared of this thing and they don't want to make it upset. Really? You're Ireland! You're supposed to be tough guys. Call the IRA to take care of this chump and your problems are solved. I have no idea why the locals let this thing boss them around. The monster causes such a problem that they resort to drastic measures to appease it. The monster isn't invincible and it's killed easily. The movie ends with the image of more of the monsters, but who cares? They don't seem all that intimidating against the tough Irish folk.

The main cast is filled with stock characters that have nothing to them, whatsoever. They're boring, and annoying. Plus, the two male leads have hot girlfriends, and the guys actually turn down an opportunity to sleep with them. The movie couldn't even give us that kind of cheap thrill.

Stay away from this movie. Even the worst of the Warwick Davis films have more entertainment value than this sleeping pill. Either watch those or the Descent.

Proves that if you suck everything that made previous installments of a horror franchise amusing out for another followup, you will get an abysmal, charmless feature film

[StevePulaski · 2/10 · 1 October 2014]

When I first heard an origin story of the infamous Leprechaun franchise was being made, I couldn't help but laugh and voice my opinions aloud to nobody other than myself. The one franchise that I'm almost certain nobody wanted an origin story to had gotten an origin story, and now it makes the sixth follow-up/sequel to the 1993 cult classic horror film Leprechaun. Who would've thought a film about a witty, serial- killing leprechaun would've spawned six follow-ups, one of which taking place in space, two taking place in "the hood," and, finally, a proclaimed "reboot" twenty-one years after its release? And you thought Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees wouldn't stay dead.

Leprechaun: Origins is a thoroughly odious and disrespectful film to the franchise that, yes, in some ways, does deserve respect. The original Leprechaun film kickstarted the career of Friends actress Jennifer Aniston and provided another pint-sized serial-killer to go alongside the likes of Chucky and Tiffany from the Child's Play franchise. This origin story, which doesn't at all feel like an origin story, much less connected to the franchise the film is named after, does a miserable job at not only being loyal to its franchise but simply trying to maintain enough composure to act as a presentable horror film. It's the messiest and most abysmal horror film of 2014 thus far.

The film concerns a group of Irish backpackers, faceless and lacking in personality, like we'd expect, hiking through scenic Ireland. They are offered an old cabin in the outskirts of the Irish woods by a group of offputting locals as a place to sleep for the night. However, they soon realize upon entering the ominous cabin they are locked in and have no immediate way of escaping. That's when they find a vicious leprechaun lurking in the fireplace, and realize they are the leprechauns sacrifices, doomed to die by vicious mutilation.

For the first time in the franchise's six film streak, Warwick Davis does not play the leprechaun. Instead, we have Dylan "Hornswaggle" Postl of WWE fame (as this film is brought to us by WWE Studios) filling in his duty, but it's not like that fact even matters. The original Leprechaun films, while often subpar in quality, found a delicate balance of witty humor coming from what Davis's leprechaun would do and say and brutal violence. He was smug, sarcastic, and would taunt his victims before often savagely murdering them. Postl is given no real dialog in the film, making the titular character not even good enough for a shred of personality or flair in his own film. In a franchise known for its idiocy and black comedy, why this element was excluded from the alleged origin story of the character is beyond me.

However, if that was Leprechaun: Origins biggest problem, my rating would be a tad higher. The coffin-sealing nail here is the way editor Shawn Montgomery, writer Harris Wilkinson, and director Zach Lipovsky all handle the material. For starters, Montgomery edits the film in such a sloppy and disjointed manner that, when the leprechaun finally attacks, we can hardly decipher what is going on due to the fact that the pacing of the film unnaturally speeds up and the editing becomes a jumbled array of quick-cutting. We hardly even see what the leprechaun looks like, and when we briefly do, he is so interchangeable and so different in his appearance he might as well be a troll, a goblin, or anything other than what he is said to be. The editing cripples an already handcuffed picture that doesn't feel like giving its titular character any personality, much less screen-time, its human characters any identity, or its screenplay any remote wit and soul. In addition, Lipovsky doesn't seem to want to show any murders or gruesomeness on screen, which makes me question why even make a reboot or origin story to a genre that is predicated off such violence and brutality.

In addition, for an alleged origin story, Leprechaun: Origins feels distinctly modern in look, speech, equipment, and environment. If this film really focused on the origins of the leprechaun killer, wouldn't we be seeing a film set decades in the past, focusing on the first human interactions with such a deranged creature? It only adds to the mystery of an already baffling film that proves that if you suck everything that made previous installments of a horror franchise watchable and amusing out for another followup or reboot, you will get an abysmal, charmless feature film as a result.

Starring: Dylan "Hornswaggle" Postl, Stephanie Bennett, Teach Grant, Bruce Blain, and Adam Boys. Directed by: Zach Lipovsky.