Just what I expected

hyped garbage

Captivating movie !

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of movies where little things terrorize big things. I love everything from "Attack of the Puppet People" to "Child's Play" to the massive catalogue of Charle Band Full Moon Features exploiting this horror sub genre (i.e. "Puppet Master," "Demonic Toys," "Dollman," "Gingerdead Man," etc.). What all these films have in common is that they embrace the absurdity of little things menacing big things, particularly how ridiculous it looks visually, and that is where this film fails. "Leprechaun: Origins" attempts to make a darker more serious version of the Leprechaun story and fails miserably. Trying to sell a serious and scary story about a 3-foot tall magical (and evil) creature who just wants their gold comes off as just dumb. It works when the filmmakers don't take themselves seriously or at lease include a wink at the audience here and there, but this film's attempt to be "The Hills Have Eyes" set in Ireland is just dumb. It's not to say that this horror sub-genre can't be scary. The original "Child's Play" film was incredibly suspenseful and at times scary, but the filmmakers in that case understood the inherit silliness of a possessed killer doll and made knowing winks to acknowledge that fact. I think the filmmakers on "Leprechaun: Origins" wanted to make something along the lines of "The Descent," changing the quaint folk creature of the prior series into more of a cave monster with night-vision. I will admit to chuckling when one of the heroins, right before shooting the leprechaun, says "F- you, Lucky Charms," although that's a line stolen right out of the original 1993 Jennifer Aniston "Leprechaun" film. But overall, there's really no reason for this film to exist unless you happen to believe that WWE professional wrestler Hornswoggle was deserving of a film career.

It's the Leprechaun movie without Warwick Davis,if you've read any other reviews such a thing as that is folly. 1) All Leprechaun movies are garbage, if Warwick was able to escape this franchise we as his fans should salute him. 2) So if the only bright spot of any of the Leprechaun movies is Warwick Davis and this is the Leprechaun movie he was able to not have to appear in, the sum of that equation is this must be the worst of the Leprechaun movie so far. Math. 3) Everyday people seemingly make choices and those choices seemingly have consequences, despite many people knowing better not only was another Leprechaun movie made but it was made without Warwick Davis, money was put forward for an idea that was upon formation foolish yet also preordained. Isn't "Determinism" just another word for Fate?

Is this film racist? The story involves a remote Irish village full of portly, suspicious middle-aged old-world types which is visited by a group of American friends who are young, casually confident and beautiful. It reminds me of old Universal films where Wales would be represented by a studio backlot and frequented with Americans, Scottish and comedy cockneys. The earlier films can be forgiven because of their naivety, made at a time where the world wasn't quite the open book it is now with the advent of economy travel and the internet. 'Leprechaun: Origins' initially appears to be an exercise in contrasting a 'civilised, acceptable' world where everyone is young and perfect (good) and a 'lesser, foreign' world where everyone is backward, stupid and no-one is younger than 50 (bad). To use a frequently (and inaccurately) used word, I find this vaguely offensive.'Leprechaun: Origins' is part of a series of films and is the only one not to star Warwick Davies in the titular role (the Davis films are a lot better than this, going by reviews). It is entirely formulaic with cries of 'awesome' (when giggling at the backward locals) being replaced by 'Holy f***' (when the Leprechaun starts killing the squealing youngsters).It's directed very nicely and lit in a way to make the pretty people even prettier (there's clearly been a decent budget here), even when in underwhelming dire straits. The leads offer nothing beyond some distressed pouts and some impressive screaming. One of the most ingenious aspects of the film is how the Director manages to find ways of avoiding showing the creature – a blurry image here, glimpse of a claw or profile there; there's one amusing moment when two of the hapless leads attempt to axe the Leprechaun but succeed only in killing one of their companions instead.Remember, kids, don't go to Ireland if you want to stay pretty!

I've yet to catch several of Warwick Davies' Leprechaun movies, but I imagine that they're not all that dissimilar to the ones that I have seen: light-hearted horrors with the diminutive star spouting cheesy one-liners as he offs his victims in creative ways.Leprechaun: Origins, a reboot of the series without Davies in the lead role, does things differently, eschewing the tongue-in-cheek style in favour of straight-forward horror, with a more animalistic creature (played by wrestler Dylan Postl) that utters nothing but guttural growls as it tears apart its victims. With this vastly different approach, director Zach Lipovsky has managed to strip away all of the charm that made the earlier movies such fun, delivering a bland, unmemorable, mess of clichés and uninspired movie-making techniques guaranteed to bore longtime fans of the series and newcomers alike. Nice one, Zach!Origins' predictable plot sees a group of dumb American backpackers visiting a remote Irish village where they run into trouble with the locals, who try to sacrifice them to the vicious leprechaun that has been terrorising the area. The majority of the script has the backpackers menaced by both the creature and the devious villagers, until only one remains (the prettiest girl, if you hadn't already guessed). The direction is as unimaginative as the writing, Lipovsky employing annoying wobbly camera-work, irritating rapid editing, and gimmicky Predator-style thermal vision, while dark cinematography and deliberately out-of-focus shots help to disguise the shoddy nature of the film's generic monster.The disappointing gore includes a split-second axe to the face and a poorly lit spine-ripping, while gratuitous T&A is limited to hot final girl Sophie (Stephanie Bennett) briefly stripping to her undies—none of which adequately compensates for the sheer tedium of the storytelling and total lack of fresh ideas.