With St. Patrick’s Day upon us next week, it is time to delve into horror that isn’t about falling face-first into a pool of your own green-beer enticed vomit. Instead, we will be breaking down horror movies based on the Irish. Our sequel breakdown takes on the stereotypical “in space” horror movie trope for monster icons with Leprechaun 4: In Space.
Movie: Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)
Plot: A leprechaun attempts to marry an alien princess in order to be the king of a planet, but is thwarted by space marines and psychotic scientists that have flown in via star cruiser for the hell of it.
Killer: A lack of CGI. And an evil leprechaun.
Critique: If there was any semblance of seriousness for the Leprechaun franchise after he visited Las Vegas in 3, it was crushed by a meteor with Leprechaun 4: In Space. The title alone should tell you that Trimark was putting the bare minimum of their budget into storytelling. It was all big and obnoxious with the special effects carrying the film. And it worked like clockwork.
Right away, we have the leprechaun wooing a space princess while space marines with laser tag rifles land and a Star Wars nod that couldn’t have possibly snuck through if Disney were in charge of Lucasfilm at the time. Then there’s a long homage to both Alien and The Thing with a nod to Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman for good measure.
The problem with Leprechaun 4 isn’t the story, because you should have known what you were getting into. The problem with the film was the CGI budget. There was almost nothing put aside for that part of the film and, in a science fiction movie, the less budget you have for CGI, the more like Doctor Who your film will look like. And not in that nerdy, meta way, either.
Scene of Awesomeness: Tina shows which way she swings when she goes surprise soldier after Delores is killed. Can you blame her? Everyone was hot for Delores.
Scene of Ridiculousness: The whole film is full of ridiculousness: the leprechaun popping out of a guy’s penis; a doctor leering a little too long over the shoulder of a doctor leering over a half-naked space princess; the leprechaun wearing a hazmat suit like he has to worry about radiation; a cross-dressing android; a dismembered leprechaun hand floating in space and giving the camera the finger. But one scene stands apart from it all. The leprechaun is zapped with a growth ray, turning him into a 30 foot giant that makes short jokes. Yeah, this really happened in the movie.
Body Count: 8
1 slicing by light-cane
1 leprechaun ejaculation
1 contaminated melting
1 crushed by a space crate
1 fall off a space balcony
1 head pancaked (Awesomely Overkill Award)
1 injection of spider-scorpion DNA, leading to being frozen by liquid nitrogen and blown apart
1 cross-dressing cyborg death by electrocution
1 pair of breasts
Actors/Actresses of Note: Prerequisite horror movie stand-in Miquel A. Nunez makes a supporting character appearance. You may remember Miguel from Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning and The Return of the Living Dead. We also have the Tool Time Girl from Tim Allen’s Home Improvement sitcom that isn’t named Pamela Anderson: Debbe Dunning. She was SO CLOSE to being nude in this movie.
Quote: “Don’t get too excited, boys. On the planet Dominia, when a woman of royal blood shows you her breasts, it’s a death sentence.” – Tina
Grade: C-