All That Glitters In This Film Is Fool’s Gold
1994
You
might remember 3 years ago, I did an induction on the original Leprechaun film.
My opinion on that was it was loads of awesomely bad fun, thanks in large part
to Warwick Davis having fun with the role. However, I should mention that just
because Warwick Davis is having fun doesn’t mean you are going to get an
enjoyable movie unless you have good people for him to play off of and of
course, that leads me to the downgrade that is Leprechaun 2.
In
the first film, we got Jennifer Aniston (who would go on that same year to be
in Friends and pretty much will not talk about being in Leprechaun), Mark
Holton (who was Francis Buxton in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure), and Robert Hy
Gorman (who out of many kid actors to plague the 90s, was one of the ones that
sucked the least). In this film, we have none of those people returning and
instead we get in our main characters basically no one who can act and small
roles from such actors as Michael McDonald (long before he got his break on
MadTV), and early appearances from Monster Crap alums Clint Howard and Tony
Cox.
Clint
Howard Was The Sailor In The Yellow Jacket In House of the Dead
Tony
Cox Was The Midget In The First GINO Award Winner, Epic Movie
Oh
and those last two have little to NO INTERACTION with The Leprechaun. Oh, I
guess I could mention that there is one more noteworthy person in Sandy
Baron…….or I can outsource it to someone who knows more about this guy than I
do. Game Show Garbage’s Robert Q. Seidelman, if you please?
Sandy
Baron was comedian who had some success as an actor on TV and films before,
mainly narrating Broadway Danny Rose and even played Grandpa in the TV Movie:
The Munster's Scary Little Christmas. In the 60s he hosted a pilot for
Hollywood Squares, but was passed up for Peter Marshall. He would appear on the
show in the 60s and early 70s and other celebrity games during that time
period.
Thank
you very much, Robert. So join me as I try to remember what happens in this
movie that I almost always seem to forget because it is so forgettable.
Ahhh………The
Trimark Logo
We
start in Ireland.
Thanks
Movie
So
Is This Your Way Of Saying “A Long Long Time Ago”?
We
begin this film with a guy with a metal collar around his neck running from the
Leprechaun and that is intercut with the opening credits. Of course he is
stopped when the Leprechaun remembers that the collar has magical powers that
he can use to act like a shock collar.
I
Should Add That For Some Reason, The Leprechaun Is Wearing That Hat. What Is
The Leprechaun, Old School Hip Hop?
Oh
Yeah…………….Maybe He Is.
Anyway,
the guy with the metal collar’s name is William O’Day and because Will tried to
steal the Leprechaun’s gold, he became his slave. But good news for William is
that it is St. Patrick’s Day and the Leprechaun’s 1,000th birthday
and at that age, the leprechaun can now claim his bride. What does that mean
for William? Well, it means once the Leprechaun has his bride, William will be
free to go. And of course, we learn how the Leprechaun gets his bride. Three
sneezes without a “God Bless You”, and she is his bride.
And
what a beauty he has chosen.
Of
course, William does have a problem with his choice because that is his
daughter.
So the Leprechaun tries to do his three sneezes trick and it almost works, but on the third sneeze, William says “God Bless You". Of course this pisses off the Leprechaun who after a very short chase, strangles him to death. As William dies, the Leprechaun places a curse upon his bloodline and says that in the next 1,000th birthday, he will claim his female descendant as his next bride. William dies and the Leprechaun leaves as his daughter greaves after finding her dead father. And we get the opening title.
As the credits go, we go down the line of women he could have had on that bloodline, but it wasn’t his 1,000th birthday.
I
Feel For You, Lep. All Those Good Looking Women And Because Of Some Stupid Rule
That Even I Don’t Know About, You Weren’t Able To Attempt To Marry One Of Them.
Anyway,
we then see the final one on the bloodline that is now.
Oh,
Don’t Bother Asking Me Why There Are Only One Daughter For Each Generation
Because My Answer Is……………….I Don’t Know.
Oh,
And We Find Out It Is 1,000 Years Later…..As If We Needed To Be Told In Big
Letters
Anyway,
we meet Bridget and her boyfriend, Cody.
Cody is helper to his uncle’s Darkside Tours scam. It’s basically a car ride where they show you “spooky parts” of the city. There are plenty of those in some of the bigger cities and I never fall for them. Now that is not to say that they are not legit, just for this film………..this one is pretty much a scam.
Cody
is able to con two couples into being on this Darkside Tour.
Two
Of Them Being Clint Howard And Kimmy Robertson (Who You Might Know As The
Feather Duster In Disney’s Beauty & The Beast, and as the Sheriff’s ditsy
secretary named Lucy in Twin Peaks)
Now
there is another couple, but I don’t know their names. Now apparently, Cody and
Bridget have a planned date at the go-karts, but first he has to get his uncle
Morty, so he can drive the “suckers” around town with this scam. Unfortunately,
Morty is at the bar getting drunk.
So since Morty is unable to do the tour, Cody has to fill in so the two drive the Tour hearse and of course, there is arguing between the two and of course because of Cody’s lack of experience, this does prove to be a complete rip-off to the four customers that Cody suckered into this venture (like being at the last house that Bella Legosi lived in before he died and having a black woman come out to chase them off. When asked who that was, Cody says that it was her stepdaughter Stella Legosi).
After they leave the last stop, Harry Houdini’s former mansion (which they were scared by a hobo), the hobo goes to find a place to sleep and he finds a tree.
You
Can Kind Of Guess Where This Is Going.
The
Leprechaun appears out of the tree and takes a swig of the hobo’s liquor.
Oh and because the hobo has a gold tooth, the Leprechaun takes it out of him.
He then puts the tooth into his pot of gold. Oh by the way, Bridget leaves at the go-kart place to let Cody finish his tour rather angrily. At the go-kart place, we meet Ian, who obviously has a thing for Bridget and abuses his privileges as manager to have someone else cover for him as he goes with Bridget.
What
An Asshole
Oh
and while going back to drop them off, Cody runs a red light and gets pulled
over by the cops.
Busted…..
Cody
has to get bailed out by Morty because his uncle just so happens to be his
legal guardian. While there, they see the hobo who keeps saying a Leprechaun
took his tooth and they don’t believe him. Meanwhile, the Leprechaun uses his
staff to tell him where the descendant of William is and the staff points him
to that direction. A talent agent tries to give him his card and tell him to
call him, but the Leprechaun rips off his finger because that finger just so
happens to have a gold ring on it.
Oh,
And The Leprechaun Says It’s “Finger Licking Good”
Cody
is in his room looking over pictures of him and Bridget as well as thinking he
is seeing Bridget kissing Ian. He runs into Morty, who is screwing the pizza
delivery man by making sure the pizza is late so he gets it free. After Morty
tries to have Cody forget about her, Cody leaves saying he is going after her.
Meanwhile,
Ian drives Bridget home and tries to be her new boyfriend, but Bridget says no.
Ian shows his true colors by trying to use all the good things he did for her
as a way of saying she owes him. Bridget doesn’t fall for that and Ian calls
her a tease. Bridget responds by punching him in the stomach before leaving and
Ian sells this as if he was one of those friendly punches people get. Of course
the garage door opens and he sees Bridget who undresses for him, showing her
breasts.
But of course it really is the Leprechaun playing tricks by making Ian think he sees Bridget.
Let
see what really is there.
Well,
let’s just say that Ian loses his face.
Bridget
hears a knock on the door and thinks that it is Ian, but it is really Cody with
flowers. Cody apologizes and Bridget forgives him. Meanwhile, the Leprechaun has
made his way into the house and attempts the three sneezes. After the first
sneeze, Cody jokes around that she is allergic to them which Bridget denies.
The second time she sneezes, Cody says “Gesundheit”, which I’m sure most people
think is just like “God Bless You”, but since I was born in Germany (West
Germany to be exact), I know that it just means “Good Health” so the Leprechaun
is in the clear to attempt a third sneeze. Bridget sneezes a third time and
Cody tries to say “God Bless You, but the Leprechaun stops him before he does
by having the phone line wrap around him. Cody uses a knife to cut it and the
Leprechaun attacks. After a brief struggle (during which the Leprechaun loses a
gold coin (which just so happens to be in the possession of Cody) and we learn
the Leprechaun this time has a weakness to rot iron), the Leprechaun is able to
put a gold magical collar around her neck and disappears with her.
The Leprechaun takes her to his realm in the Harry Houdini tree and after a failed attempt to escape by Bridget, the Leprechaun realizes that he is missing a piece of his gold. If you had not remembered by the first film, this Leprechaun is very well known for being pissed if even one piece of his gold is missing. But with the rot iron being a weakness, you will know that in each of the sequels, there will be a whole new weakness for the Leprechaun and the rules in each film will change as well.
Anyway,
Bridget is tied up to the bed so the Leprechaun can look for his coin, but
before he leaves, he gives her a dress to change into and he says this line.
Leprechaun: Kiss me, I’m
Irish.
And
then he kisses her.
Well
Okay, He Tongues Her Cheek Instead.
Meanwhile, back at the house where the Leprechaun is looking for his gold coin, the police are there and they think that Cody is the one who kidnapped Bridget as the flowers are their evidence against him and her parents always thought he was bad news. While all this is going on, Bridget tries to escape, but there seems to be really no escape in the Leprechaun’s lair.
Meanwhile
in the city, the police are looking for Cody and even tell Morty that they are
looking for him. After a few questions, Morty goes into his office where Cody
surprises him and of course, the con uncle asks him what he did since the cops
are looking for him. Cody says that he didn’t do it and that a leprechaun did
it. Yeah…..as you expect, Morty doesn’t believe him. He then uses his proof
with the gold coin that he dropped. They look it up and see that it is a very
old gold coin that comes from Ireland, but Morty still doesn’t believe the
Leprechaun story. We then get some backstory about Leprechauns are devious and
live by trickery. They can also use telepathic powers and turn invisible at
will. Also, they are masters of illusion. We learn that leprechauns can only be
harmed by rot iron. Finally, when a leprechaun lays claim to a lass, you have
until daybreak to free her or she will never be heard from again. Morty tries
to get it through Cody’s head that leprechauns do not exist, except that goes
out the window when the actual Leprechaun appears.
The Leprechaun wants the coin, but Cody will only give it to her if he gives him back Bridget. The Leprechaun smiles and promises that he will do just that as long as he gives him the coin.
I
Don’t Know About You, But I Think This Leprechaun Is Lying
Of
course Cody almost gives it to him, but Morty stops him telling him that he
can’t trust a leprechaun. The two escape through a fire escape and we see more
of the Leprechaun’s weakness to rot iron. The two decide to go to the bar that
Morty frequents and since it’s St. Patrick’s Day, a lot of people have dressed
for the occasion. Heck while Morty hides Cody in the bathroom and goes to get
himself a drink, Cody is visited by a midget dressed as a leprechaun.
Hi
Tony Cox
This
midget offers Cody a gold coin and mentions that it is just a chocolate coin.
All the while giving what may be the perfect future avatar for St. Patrick’s
Day here at Monster Crap.
Cody accidentally bumps into another midget, who tells him to “Watch it, nosebleed” and he goes to meet Morty. Morty tells him that the Leprechaun is here and points him out to Cody.
Yeah,
The Leprechaun Looks Like The Guy Who Is About To Buy You A Drink Or Is Just
Waiting For Everyone To Leave So He Can Beat The Shit Out Of You.
The
Leprechaun comes up to them mentioning that he wants his gold and Morty comes
up with an idea. He tells the bartender that his friend here (the Leprechaun)
just got married and goads the Leprechaun to drink a shot in front of everyone.
It gets even better when Morty challenges him to a drink off and we learn that
while the Leprechaun is drinking real whisky, Morty’s drink is actually water.
The Leprechaun actually gets drunk and has trouble controlling his magic.
Yeah,
I’m Gonna Need This Screen Shot When I Get To Leprechaun 4
The
only way the Leprechaun gets out of this situation is to use the jukebox
playing as a distraction so he can hit Morty in the head with the alcohol
bottle. Meanwhile, Bridget tries to use rocks like rocks as breadcrumbs for her
way around the domain, but the rocks keep disappearing so that doesn’t work,
but she does find a box which contains bottles, pipes, and a sharp object that
could be used to stab someone.
The
Leprechaun decides to get over his drunkenness by being at an Espresso Café.
There we meet Michael McDonald (before he got famous on MadTV).
He plays a waiter who is annoyed that the Leprechaun is keeping him from closing the store and even gets on him about paying for all the coffee he has drank. The Leprechaun kills him by nailing his arms to the bar and burning his face off with the steaming part of the espresso machine.
At the go-kart place, Cody feeds the guard dog that was shown earlier so they can get into the place and use the safe since it is made of rot iron. When Morty comes out, a security guard grabs him saying that he broke a silent alarm. After a few minutes, the security guard gets knocked out and they are able to lure the Leprechaun into the safe trapping him. But greed gets to Morty as he locks Cody in the closet. Morty then says he wants his three wishes, which the Leprechaun has to give him. His first wish is he wants the Leprechaun’s gold and he gets it….
In
His Stomach
Now
Morty wants it out of him, but first he has to wish the Leprechaun out of the
safe and despite Cody’s protests, Morty makes the second wish to let the
Leprechaun out of the safe, but of course he still has to open the door. Then
Morty makes his wish to have the gold out of him, which the Leprechaun accepts.
So
He Cuts It Out Of His Stomach
The
Leprechaun is about to leave, but Morty asks him to save him. The Leprechaun
said he would love to, but Morty used up his wishes. Actually, no he didn’t.
Any lawyer could tell you that since he had to open the safe, then the second
wish is invalid. Sorry Leprechaun, but you would still have to save him.
Hmmm, should have gone to Paul Lynde for the win.
Yeah,
but unfortunately it was instead Sandy Baron as Morty so yeah, one of the most
known actors in this film is dead. Anyway, Cody is able to free himself out of
the closet before the Leprechaun is able to get to him. The Leprechaun
disappears in disgust as Cody comes back into the office and is with Morty when
he finally dies.
Cody
wants to go after the Leprechaun, but the security guard who was knocked out
earlier comes back in and tries to arrest him. The Leprechaun then shows in a
go-cart.
My,
Does The Leprechaun Love Go-Karts.
The
Leprechaun of course runs over the security guard.
The Leprechaun tries to run over Cody, but because Cody has the coin, the go-kart goes straight through Cody without any incident.
Cody then realizes that the Leprechaun can’t hurt him as long as he has the coin, but the Leprechaun still makes threat and wants the coin. And then, the Leprechaun disappears. Cody says he is going to get the Leprechaun, grabs an iron rod, and asks this question.
Cody: Have you had
your iron today?
The
Leprechaun goes to his home and Bridget comes out in the red dress that the
Leprechaun asked her to wear.
She fakes seducing the Leprechaun, with the ultimate goal of giving the Leprechaun a shiv.
It
Doesn’t Work
Cody
enters the Leprechaun’s lair and looks for Bridget. The Leprechaun greets Cody
and Cody tries to chase him. The Leprechaun uses the skeleton of William
attacks Cody, but Cody is able to defeat it pretty easily. Meanwhile, Bridget
uses the broken shiv to break the lock on her collar. The Leprechaun tries to
use a briar patch to get his coin back from Cody, but of course Cody is able to
handle that easier than the skeleton. Bridget finally escapes and now the
Leprechaun has to get both his coin back and find Bridget again (and put a new
collar on her since that golden one is pretty much unusable anymore).
While
being in a chase scene straight out of a Scooby Doo episode, The Leprechaun
attempts get the coin by pretending to be Bridget. Cody does give her a gold
coin and The Leprechaun thinks he has won and it seems that the Leprechaun has
killed him. He is about to celebrate with Bridget, but Cody shows up and stabs
the Leprechaun.
The Leprechaun wonders how this could happen and Cody reveals that the coin he gave him was the chocolate coin Tony Cox’s leprechaun gave him earlier. However, unlike the first movie where we got a great leprechaun melting scene, the leprechaun just blows up this time.
Although
It Is Still A Practical Effects Explosion
Cody
and Bridget are able to escape and Bridget asks how Cody knew it wasn’t her.
Cody responds that he kisses differently than her. They then kiss.
Bridget asks who kisses better and Cody says he will have to think about it, which elicits a laugh. When asked about the gold coin, Cody throws it away, saying it’s not worth it. And that’s the end of the movie.
Now
what happened to the people who were in this film? Well, Tony Cox & Clint
Howard as we know would be in future would be in more Monster Crap films. You
also know that Michael McDonald went on to be in MadTV and stuff like that.
Warwick Davis is still doing movies and was the Leprechaun until Lionsgate made
a deal with WWE to redo the series and have the Leprechaun be WWE’s Hornswoggle
in Leprechaun: Origins.
While I can’t say much about my feelings about Leprechaun: Origins because quite honestly, the desire for a new Leprechaun film was not there. But I do feel really bad for Warwick Davis because I have heard Warwick Davis loved playing the Leprechaun. I have read so many books where actors have a role that they will do as long as they are alive, and then they get replaced and it is really terrible for the actor to find that out. And as we have seen with Norman Bates, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, just to name a few……the replacement is normally worse than the one who you replaced. So just for that reason (besides so many others), Leprechaun: Origins will most likely have a spot in the GINO Awards whenever it comes out.
Not
much else happened except for sad passings. Sandy Baron (who played Morty)
passed away in 2001 of emphysema at the age of 63. Billy Beck (who played the
hobo) died in 2011 of congestive heart failure at the age of 91.
This
movie is rather forgettable and I blame that on the supporting cast. Like I
said earlier, when your best actors have very little interaction with the
Leprechaun (and in the case of Clint Howard, no interaction), it just becomes a
damn shame. I mean, before I re-watched this movie again, the only things I
could remember was the changes to the Leprechaun character, the whole
Leprechaun wanting a wife, and that line of “Kiss Me, I’m Irish”. This would be
the worst, but as you will see with Leprechaun 4: In Space and Leprechaun: Back
2 Tha Hood, the film could be worse, Oh lord, could it be worse. But
thankfully, the next Leprechaun film is better. But that will have to wait.
So
what’s my next film, NegaSeth?
NegaSeth: Glad You Asked. The Fans Voted And Your Next
Induction Will Be….
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