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 goes to the hood to really stray to the slapstick comedy side of horror with the 5th film, Leprechaun in the Hood.
Movie: Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)
Plot: A couple of ’70s pimps (lead by ICE-T as Mack Daddy) find the tomb of the leprechaun and his gold, with the prized possession being a magic flute that controls minds and also seems to imbue its holder with luck. The leprechaun is released from his stone prison, but is quickly sent back. Fast-forward to present day, and Mack Daddy is high on the food chain in the ‘hood, but a group of rappers with a positive message have other plans, and unwittingly unleash the leprechaun. You know what happens from here…
Killer: The Irish OG, the leprechaun. And ICE-T, if he had the chance.
Critique: Where do you go after you send a horror icon into space? For the Leprechaun franchise, the answer is, “to the ‘hood.” It may seem a little backwards, considering Jason took Manhattan before going to space, but you have to realize that the Leprechaun series gave up on making any sort of sense after the 3rd film. Leprechaun in the Hood continued the 4th films tradition of taking a movie stereotype and slamming as much comedy into it with a few gory moments to remind us that it is a horror movie.
As far as positives, we get a new, evil weapon with the magic flute, which is a nice break from the leprechaun wrecking havoc just for a pot of gold. We also get the first time i remember a well-known horror movie monster smoking weed. I mean, a lot, to the point that weed becomes a weapon to try and take out the leprechaun. But we have to forget that the weaponized weed probably wouldn’t have gotten 10 feet close to the leprechaun without him knowing in the past films. We also get the leprechaun-controlled fly girls for eye candy.
Other than that, the film seems to float along without making us care much about what happens, and when we do care, the plot makes a turn into the nonsensical. The ending is the most glaring issue, but it’s a slow build-up of ridiculousness that gets us there.
Scene of Awesomeness: Postmaster P’s grandmother pokes the leprechaun’s eye out while trying to feed him. It’s a dream sequence, but it is probably the funniest scene in the whole film.
Scene of Ridiculousness: Mack Daddy (ICE-T) pulls a mini baseball bat out of his afro to fight the leprechaun after already pulling a switchblade out of it. If nothing else, Leprechaun in the Hood wears its intentions on its sleeve.
Body Count: 10
1 stabbing to the neck with an afro hair pick ( Awesomely Overkill Award because of the nod to classic culture)
1 green electrocution
1 vague death by a woman created by the leprechaun
1 strangling followed by ultra-dismemberment
1 “I don’t wanna know what the hell happened”
2 magic holes blown through the chest
1 leprechaun hand through the stomach
2 shot
Breasts, but not what you’d expect
Actors/Actresses of Note: Warwick Davis is still here, slapping on the prosthetics and face paint to turn himself into the leprechaun. We also get ICE-T right before his big break on Law & Order: SVU.
Quote: “A friend with weed is a friend indeed, but a friend with gold is the best I’m told.” – The leprechaun
Grade: D