It took me a while to get round to watching 'Leprechaun' and its numerous sequels, with so much going on and having a long watch and review list. Why were they seen in the first place? Mainly for curiosity to see whether they were as bad as reputed or whether they would fall into the guilty pleasure category. Also appreciate horror, and ones with splashes of comedy, and had gotten into watching a few horror franchises that had interested me for a long time.

Watching 'Leprechaun', while understanding why people would find it a guilty pleasure it didn't do it for me. Being someone who wanted to go against the consensus on this front, as it did have a good concept and that it had talented Warwick Davis involved going for it, it does genuinely regret me to say that. Didn't think it was that terrible and have seen far worse films, but found myself agreeing with the criticisms it had, and still has, directed at it and thinking it a bad film.

Davis is the best thing about the film. He is both amusing and creepy and does do the best he can, successfully, with a goofy look, terrible lines and less than tasteful horror which must have been hard to do and shows how conscientious and talented he is. Pre-'Friends' Jennifer Aniston is likeable enough as pretty much the only tolerable character in the film, and that is saying a lot.

There are sporadically mildly amusing moments that don't come anywhere near enough. It starts off relatively unsettlingly, again not enough to be a redeeming quality.

On the other hand, the rest of the cast is risible. On one side of the acting spectrum there is a completely lifeless and uncomfortable-looking male lead performance from John Sanderford. On the other there is Robert Hy Gorman in for me one of the most obnoxious child performances ever. Mark Holton's attempts at humour also grated, so much so it was very difficult to sympathise with him considering the character was disabled. The characters display very little personality when they aren't being insufferably annoying with their dumb antics and illogical decision making.

'Leprechaun' is severely lacking in the script and story departments. The dialogue is so childish and repetitive as well as heavy in the cheese, nothing is funny and any attempts at humour or playfulness are forced. Having gratuitous gruesome gore was not enough to cover up for the complete lack of scares and suspense, nothing bit my nails, nothing made my heart pound or skip, nothing made my palms or forehead sweat, nothing made me jump. It's not just because it is so intelligence insultingly dumb, excessively predictable and unintentionally comical, it's also because the second half especially drags so much, is so uneventful and so repetitive and anything trying to be scary on top of being un-suspenseful and gratuitously gory suffers from tastelessness (the silver shoe buckle laceration especially).

In conclusion, bad in almost every way. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Whoever thought up the ludicrous premise of this dire movie deserves to be exiled from the film industry for good. A telling example of what's wrong with the modern horror film, LEPRECHAUN forsakes chills and thrills in favour of some moronic humour which fails, time and time again, to be the least bit funny. I don't want to sound like an old misery, but this is such a total failure that I can only marvel at what on earth the people who made this were thinking of.

There are so many faults that I don't know where to begin. For a start, the music is uninspired. The acting is basic and amateurish, especially in the case of the muscular male lead who is devoid of both charisma and talent. This plank's idea of acting is to limp exaggeratedly through much of the film with a tiny bite on his leg which Bruce Willis would have forgotten about five seconds after it was inflicted. There's an annoying, foul-mouthed and snot-nosed kid who thinks he's the bee's knees, who has a dim-witted friend who tries to be funny but fails every time. Just wait until you see the 'heartfelt' scenes between these two as the kid promises to "fix" his friend's slow brain... sickening, indeed! The cast is packed with unfamiliar faces, apart from a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston, who has of course gone on to bigger (and more lucrative) things with the hit sitcom FRIENDS.

Under a rubber mask (I hate to think of how much he was sweating here) is Warwick Davis, the hero of WILLOW, as the leprechaun of the title. He's an extremely irritating creature who runs around singing rhymes and going on about his gold, which gets boring after about two minutes. Davis goes completely over the top and is literally grating on the nerves, an obnoxious, stupid monster who enjoys making those Freddy Krueger-type puns so fond of modern scriptwriters (I hate 'em). I saw him once at a movie convention, didn't seem too happy and if he's in junk like this then I know why. It's fun to sit back and name all the films that this one rips off. I spotted CRITTERS (the setting),THE SHINING (leprechaun on tricycle),and most of all THE EVIL DEAD, with P.O.V. shots of the leprechaun chasing Aniston, severed hands running about, etc.

The gore in this film sits uncomfortably with the humour which occupies most of it. It feels like a family film, except for the odd occasionally violent moment like when the leprechaun rips a corpse's eyeball out to substitute for his own, or breaks a man's neck with a loud twig-snap noise. These effects are okay, but stick around and you'll witness some tacky green glowing computer effects which show the leprechaun's "magic". The film reaches its low point with the leprechaun riding a skateboard, or wheeling himself along in a wheelchair with the film sped up. I know exactly the kind of person who would find this stuff funny, and it's totally atrocious. Astonishingly, numerous sequels have been made to date, probably even worse than this one. I have seen worse films, at least this one is full of action to keep the viewer's mind off things. Just try watching something like SHRIEK, a new low. Don't think of this as a recommendation though, avoid LEPRECHAUN like the plague.

Dan O'Grady returns home after stealing the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis)'s pot of gold. The Leprechaun stowaway in his suitcase. Armed with a pistol and a four leaf clover, Dan is able to stuff him in a crate. He suffers a stroke before he can set it on fire. Ten years later, J. D. Redding rents the rustic O'Grady farmhouse and his materialistic daughter Tory (Jennifer Aniston) wants to leave immediately. After meeting hot handyman Nathan Murphy, Tory changes her mind about the house. Tory, Nathan, his little brother Alex and idiot friend Ozzie have to battle the violent dwarf who is searching for his gold.

This is extremely cheesy. The Leprechaun costume looks ridiculously campy. Being scared of a four leaf clover makes him look really silly. The whole thing is one big joke. Jennifer Aniston does look good but that's the only redeeming quality. It's a horror that is more likely to make you laugh at its silliness. Although, actual attempts at humor are too stupid to be funny.