So I watched some of the old Leprechaun movies, had some fun with their cheesyness. Heard that the franchise was returning with a new actor (even though Warwick Davis wants to come back), but then I saw Leprechaun Origins.
I'm gonna start out by saying that this movie actually does justice to the Origins part of the movie. It has a great setting in Ireland (although it's shot in Canada), and the locals are pretty good characters in and of themselves. I loved seeing the illustrations and story behind the creature. It's literally the best part of the movie, although it does sport a couple of solid kills. One where a girl gets a accidental axe to the face from her friends (best kill in the movie) and the actual Leprechaun's death, while tame, is pretty gruesome and fun to watch. I also like how they show off the sets during the credits. Made me stay through it.
Worst part? The Leprechaun. He's a mute Gollum who has predator vision that only sees gold (or shiny stuff). I don't think I ever saw the creature open it's mouth either, which is odd because the big gimmick is that this Leprechaun eats people like crazy. Another odd thing is that you never see the Leprechaun do much of anything besides stumbling around, dragging people off camera, and just plain standing. It's implied that this is a quick, strong, and vicious monster, but if you took away the first person shots (Black Christmas style) and kept all the shots with the actual Leprechaun, you're stuck with a cheap suit. They got a actual pro wrestler named Hornswoggle to play the Leprechaun, and it's a complete waste. You see him do far more athletic things in the six previous films, but he does nothing besides walking and scratching. Hornswoggle has done so many spots in his career, like falling off ladders, suicide diving out of the ring, and could have done some cool stunt work for the movie. Yet you never see it. It was so weird because WWE played him up as the Leprechaun in a semi-big way, but they literally could have gotten anyone to put on the costume. There's nothing of him that I recognize in the movie, which is a shame, because the biggest hallmark of this series is Warwick Davis really having a ball in this role. He puts himself into it, and that made it fun.
Kills were bland for the most part. Mostly off-screen or cheap looking, but the two kills I mentioned earlier were good. I genuinely believe that axe kill was worthy of being in any Leprechaun movie. It's just brutal, and it shows off the monster as the smart trickster that he's supposed to be.
Movie is just a bore. It never really acts as a "so bad it's good" type of film, which is kind of the saving grace of this whole series. It's funny and fun to watch, and this reboot is just a plain drag.