Warwick Davis' depiction of an enraged leprechaun has become legendary. In the film, the leprechaun believes that his pot of gold has been taken by a family. He sets out to find them, using all of his wits and muscle. Meanwhile, the family is urgently looking for the gold to appease the leprechaun and prevent him from injuring them. Davis' performance is both terrifying and iconic, elevating Leprechaun to the ranks of the finest horror flicks of all time.
The Leprechaun movie was supposed to be more of a straight horror movie, but Davis added some humor to his role.
Leprechaun movie summary:
Dan O'Grady goes back to North Dakota in 1983 after visiting his homeland of Ireland, where he kidnaps a leprechaun and steals his pot of gold. After hiding the gold, O'Grady learns that the evil leprechaun followed him home and murdered his wife. With the help of a four-leaf clover, O'Grady restrains the leprechaun's powers and locks him up in a box. When he went to burn him, a stroke stopped him in his tracks.
The O'Grady farmhouse is rented by J. D. Redding and his daughter Tory, now a teenager, ten years later. Nathan Murphy, his 10-year-old brother Alex, and their dopey friend Ozzie Jones are working as contract workers to renovate the farmhouse. While exploring the cellar, Ozzie overhears the leprechaun calling for help and mistakes him for a little child. As soon as the old four-leaf clover is freed from the carton, the leprechaun is free to go. The leprechaun tells Ozzie that he's a shoemaker from Ireland who came to America in quest of better opportunities. Ozzie fails to convince the others that he saw a leprechaun, but he does spot a rainbow, which he follows in the hopes of finding a pot of gold at its end. Worried that Ozzie would hurt himself, Alex decides to pursue him. With a wave of his wand, a bag holding one hundred gold coins appears before Ozzie. After Ozzie examines the gold and accidentally swallows a coin, thinking that doing so would cure his brain damage, they bury the loot in a deep, ancient well.
The farm leprechaun fools J. D. by pretending to be a cat and biting his hand. Tory and the others transport the leprechaun to the hospital. Alex and Ozzie visit a pawn shop to inspect the gold's purity. The leprechaun kills the owner, Joe, for stealing his gold and polishes his shoes before departing. On his way home, the leprechaun constructs a go-kart and gets caught for speeding. Leprechaun chases policeman into woods and murders him. The leprechaun returns to the farmhouse and shines every shoe he sees. After dumping off J. D., the group returns to the farm. Nathan is injured by a leprechaun-set bear trap after discovering the house ransacked. The gang beats the leprechaun with rocks and clubs outside.
At the nursing home, a leprechaun impersonates O'Grady. As Tory runs, the Leprechaun pursues him to an elevator and dumps O'Grady's corpse down. O'Grady informs her before he dies that the only way to kill a leprechaun is with a four-leaf clover, which grows outside the property. Tory returns to the farmhouse in search of a clover, but is attacked by the leprechaun. Nathan and Ozzie come to her aid. Leprechaun is severely hurt while attempting to get the last gold coin, which Ozzie consumes. Alex binds Tory's four-leaf clover to gum and throws it into the leprechaun's mouth, melting him before he kills Ozzie. Despite falling into a well, the leprechaun's skeleton exclaims, "I want my gold." Nathan fires both with gasoline after pushing the leprechaun down the well. Tory is reconciled with her father, marries Nathan, and has a child when the cops come. As police investigate the well's wreckage, the Leprechaun promises to reclaim all of his money.
At the nursing home, the leprechaun is acting under the guise of O'Grady. Tory is pursued by the leprechaun until they reach an elevator. The leprechaun then throws O'Grady's mutilated body down the elevator shaft as Tory flees. Before he passes away, O'Grady gives her the warning that the only way to kill the leprechaun is with a four-leaf clover, which just so happens to grow in a vast area outside the farm. O'Grady's death puts an end to the conversation. Tory returns to the farmhouse in an attempt to locate a clover, but the leprechaun ambushes her there, and Nathan and Ozzie are required to rescue her. During his pursuit of the last gold coin, the leprechaun suffers serious injuries while trying to retrieve it from Ozzie, who later admits that he swallowed it. Before the leprechaun can kill Ozzie, Alex takes a four-leaf clover that Tory found, fastens it to a wad of gum, and shoots it into the leprechaun's mouth. This causes the leprechaun to disintegrate and disappear. In spite of the fact that it had fallen into the well, the skeleton of the leprechaun managed to come out and proclaim, "I want my gold." After Nathan has successfully coaxed the leprechaun back into the well, he then lights both of the things on fire using gasoline. When the police arrive, Tory is able to get back together with her father, get married to Nathan, and have a kid with him. While the authorities look through the remains of the well, the leprechaun makes an oath that he won't give up until he recovers every last piece of his fortune.How well did Leprechaun (1993) fare in theaters?
The film Leprechaun was released on January 8, 1993, in 620 theaters throughout the United States, and it had an opening week gross of $2,493,020. Its total domestic gross in the United States was $8,556,940. In April of 1993, Vidmark made it available on VHS, and since then, more than 100,000 copies have been sold.
Leprechaun debate clarified
Prior to the film's debut, Trimark teamed together (click blog post) with the NBA, the NYSE, Domino's Pizza, and Subway to spread word of mouth about the film. Franchisees of both Domino's and Subway believed they were being taken advantage of by the companies when they joined together. Nonetheless, the advertising drive was successful, and Leprechaun is still regarded by many as a classic in its own right.
Did Leprechaun have any cinematic sequels?
The sequel, titled Leprechaun 2, was published the year after the first one, and in it, the Leprechaun travels to Los Angeles in the hopes of finding a fresh pot of gold. The third installment of the Leprechaun franchise, titled "Leprechaun 3," is set in Las Vegas and follows the Leprechaun as he attempts to get his hands on a mystical coin that would give him three wishes. The fourth movie in the series, titled Leprechaun 4: In Space, is a bit of a change from the other films in the series due to the fact that it takes place on a spacecraft and involves the Leprechaun fighting aliens. In the fifth and final installment of the series, titled "Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood," the Leprechaun makes his way back to the neighborhood where he was raised in the city of Los Angeles. In spite of the mostly unfavorable reviews from critics, the Leprechaun series has proved to be highly successful, and the first film is still considered a cult classic to this day.Because the filmmakers intended to appeal to older audiences, some scenes had to be reshot.
The producers wanted to make the movie scarier so that older people would want to see it. This meant that several scenes had to be reshot.
It is well knowledge that George Lucas was involved in the selection of Warwick Davis for the role of Willow. The explanation behind this, however, is not as well recognized. It would seem that Davis was bound by a contract with Lucas, and Lucas was required to grant his OK before Davis could feature in the film. As a consequence of this, he was recognized at the very end of the movie with a "special thanks" credit. Fans of horror films will find that the movie is (blog) much more intriguing when they learn this little-known truth. It's simply another illustration of how much of an impact George Lucas has had on popular culture.
At first, the leprechaun was meant to get away and go back to Ireland. But there was one problem: Warwick Davis, an Irish actor who played the leprechaun, didn't have a work visa. Davis had to get a visa in just three days so that the last scene could be filmed, which is normally impossible. The office of Vice President Dan Quayle was able to speed up the process, which let Davis finish filming on time. At the end of the movie, there was a "special thanks" credit for Quayle.
Warwick Davis regretted creating the picture, but Anniston's TV popularity led to more rentals and a lengthy series of sequels. Warwick reportedly liked it.
In Leprechaun, Jennifer Aniston makes her feature picture debut.
Leprechaun is a must-see for every aficionado of the horror genre. Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston provide outstanding performances in what is perhaps one of the few horror flicks that manages to be both hilarious and spooky at the same time. In spite of its derivative narrative, the film is entertaining. Look into Leprechaun if you need a good fright. In other words, you won't be let down.