174) Leprechaun Returns (2018)

Halloween 2023's Somehow Leprechauns are Scary... Extravaganza!  (The Final Leprechaun... For Now) 

"Twenty-five years! I've got a lot of killing to make up for." 

*Spoilers ahead*

Director
Steven Kostanski

Cast
Taylor Spreitler - Lila Jenkins
Pepi Sonuga - Katie
Sai Bennett - Rose
Linden Porco - The Leprechaun
Mark Holton - Ozzie Jones
Emily Reid - Meredith
Ben McGregor - Andy
Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins - Matthew

Nowadays in the horror genre, there are a fair number of horror sequels being released which negate previous sequels regardless of how many there are, and what sort of plot points they establish in a franchise. Who cares about all that? 

If there are any horror sequels that deserve negating, it's the Leprechaun sequels starting with part two all the way to part six, "Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood." Hey, let's toss the seventh film "Leprechaun: Origins" into the negate pile, too. Why not? 

"Leprechaun Returns" is a direct sequel to the first movie with no regards to all the previous installments in between. What luck! 

This time it's bloodier, gorier, and horrific-er. 

In this last Leprechaun movie, college student Lila Jenkins (Taylor Spreitler) is heading to the same old house in North Dakota as seen in part one. She, and other college students, are going to work on the house as a project to make it green, environmentally speaking. Get it? Going green! You know... cause "leprechauns." Yuck, yuck. 

The house is now owned by their school, Laramore University. 

While waiting at the bus station for her ride which doesn't come, Lila runs into Ozzie Jones - the same Ozzie from part one, played again by Mark Holton. He seems to recognize her but can't place where he has seen her before. Ozzie also offers her a ride to the house.

At first, she's apprehensive and declines to go as he's a little odd, and she doesn't know him. However, as her sorority mates aren't showing up, she agrees. 

In his truck, Ozzie finally realizes that Lila is Tory Redding's daughter. That is, Tory from the first movie played by Jennifer Aniston.

Unfortunately, Tory died from cancer before the story begins. 

When they get to the house, Ozzie is understandably weary about being there especially after the events from part one. Still, knowing that the leprechaun is dead and hasn't shown up in 25 years gives him a little peace of mind. 

While helping unload Lila's luggage, he accidentally drops his phone nearby the well where they dropped the leprechaun's remains years ago. 

When he goes to retrieve it, water from the well explodes up all over Ozzie. 
As he scrambles to his car and is driving away, Lubdan the Leprechaun (Linden Porco) begins forming inside him. 

Ozzie pulls over and runs into the woods where the Leprechaun tears his way through to spring back to life.  

Linden Porco takes over the role of the Leprechaun in "Leprechaun Returns."

Back at the house, Lila meets her sorority sisters- Katie (Pepi Sonuga), Rose (Sai Bennett), and Meredith (Emily Reid).

Meredith, who happens to be a partying stoner, brings some guys along with her - Matt (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins) and Andy (Ben McGregor) who has the hots for Katie. 

Obviously, they're all fodder for Lubdan, stuck in and around the house as he tries to pick them off one by one. He still wants his gold back. He hasn't forgotten about it. But one of the girls found it earlier in the rusted truck it was left in yeas ago. She used it to finance the house project through a bank back in Bismark.  

Lila keeps seeing Ozzie's ghost who helps her take down the leprechaun.  

Lubdan makes his presence known to everyone in the house. 

And when the girls think they have the upper hand over the leprechaun, Lubdan pops back into action. Evidently, the only way to kill him off is to destroy every last part of him. Otherwise, he'll spawn from whatever pieces of him are left. 

Lubdan is much more menacing and brutal towards his victims than before. This makes up for his being generally non-frightening. He's more of an annoying nuisance, albeit deadly when he wants to be, than terrifying. 

In a few scenes, he even pauses to allow some of the sorority girls take selfies with him.

The oddball leprechaun in "Leprechaun: Origins" takes that award for coming close to being terrifying. 

Considering the source material, and what the movie is given from part one, this is not a bad follow up. As a horror comedy, it's alright. 

Mark Holton is entertaining as he plays an older version of Ozzie. In the first movie, Ozzie is dimwitted and a bit slow. He comes back now seemingly wiser and much more cautious. At first the idea of his character being a ghost throughout the story came across as stupid. But it keeps him in the story, and gets some laughs, so I appreciate that. 

In the scene where Lila rides back to the house in Ozzie's truck, he has images of four-leaf clovers plastered all over in the inside of his truck. Clovers are Lubdan's weakness.

"Are you Irish?" she asks.

"No!" he says without any hesitation.

"Fond of the culture?"

"Not at all!"

Linden Porco is just as quirky as Warwick Davis's Lubdan, though Porco maintains a more sinister and angrier demeanor for the titular character. He's more determined, darker, angrier, and hellbent on getting his gold back while inflicting his deadly revenge.     

He speaks in limericks just as before, most of which are lewd.  

Lubdan kills a lot more for its own sake, and for the thrill, as well as for the sake of inflicting revenge for his gold. 

One point of continuity is Lubdan's obsession with shoes. It's another detail from part one that doesn't really come about in the following films.  

In one scene, he throws a pair of krocs in the trash saying "probably doing fashion a favor by killing that one." 

Taylor Spreitler as Lila Jenkins.

Taylor Spreitler performs her lead character truly well. She's likeable and easy for the audience to get invested it. Lila isn't naive and weak. She's energetic. Her character doesn't let fear cloud her judgement. 

Spreitler, and the rest of the cast, put in energy and effort into their characters. Like the first movie, the cast is clearly having fun within the premise and make the most with what they're given.

Even though Lubdan doesn't die at the end of this, and the film ends on the idea of his return, it's still a good film to end the series on though I doubt that this will be the last audiences see of Lubdan. 

In a Feb. 20, 2023 article posted on the Den of Geek website, "Leprechaun" director and creator Mark Jones is quoted as saying, “I hear rumblings that they want to do another Leprechaun. Warwick and I have talked on and off about it. He likes the idea of a Leprechaun in the Wild West. I think they should do a TV series where the Leprechaun travels the country looking for his gold.”

Maybe they should do a cross-over like, "Leprechaun vs. Chucky" or "Leprechaun vs. Krampus vs. Sam (from Trick 'r Treat) All Holiday Monsters Attack!" or some such thing. Maybe the Leprechaun can save Christmas, or be left home alone while the family takes a vacation. Maybe we'll get "Leprechaun: Reloaded," or "Leprechaun Resurrections," or "Dawn of Leprechaun, Back 2 tha Hood 3: Rise of Evil - In Space." 

As far as "Leprechaun Returns" goes, director Steven Kostanski said in one of the DVD special features that he wanted to make a goofy movie with heavier gore, yet a return to the original. 

He definitely accomplished what he set out to do. It's a monster movie with plenty of horror and comedy. 

All the typical horror tropes are there. It has the old farmhouse setting. It has young sorority girls out of their element. And mixed in is a pissed off deadly monster back from the dead. 

Kostanski keeps the spirit of the original film while maintaining a feeling and atmosphere all his own. This movie is full of effects which work for the most part.  

"Leprechaun Returns" manages to be a fun horror romp that ends the series well (for now, anyways). 

So, after watching all these "Leprechaun" movies, do I think leprechauns are scary? No, they're not. Well, they did try making them scary. But, again, they're not. Leprechaun creator Mark Jones probably knew that and went the logical route with his idea. He made it a horror comedy. Somehow, the franchise has made itself a small little niche in the genre along side some big legends. Well done, Jones.

Otherwise, that's it for Halloween 2023's "Somehow Leprechauns are Scary Extravaganza!" Somehow, I managed to get through all eight movies just before Halloween despite starting this late and deciding what movies to review at the last minute. 

I can't wait to check out another horror series next year. It can't come soon enough. Until then, Happy Halloween!