Warwick Davis's portrayal of a vengeful leprechaun has become the stuff of legend. In the film, the leprechaun is convinced that a family has stolen his pot of gold. He sets out to hunt them down, using all of his cunning and strength. Meanwhile, the family is desperately searching for the gold, in an attempt to placate the leprechaun and keep him from harming them. Davis's performance is chilling and unforgettable, making Leprechaun one of the best horror films of all time.
The Leprechaun movie was supposed to be a pure horror picture, but Davis added humour into his role.
Movie plot:
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.
J. D. Redding leases the O'Grady farmhouse for the summer with his teenage daughter Tory ten years later. The farmhouse is being repainted by contract workers Nathan Murphy, his 10-year-old brother Alex, and their dimwitted friend Ozzie Jones. While scouring the basement, Ozzie hears the leprechaun's cry for help and misidentifies him as a little child. By removing the old four-leaf clover from the box, he frees the leprechaun. Ozzie learns from the leprechaun that he is an Irish shoemaker who came to America in quest of his riches. Ozzie spots a rainbow and follows it in the hopes of finding a pot of gold after failing to convince the others that he had seen a leprechaun. Alex follows him because he is afraid Ozzie may hurt himself. A bag holding 100 gold coins appears before Ozzie by magic. They bury the riches in an ancient well after Ozzie investigates it and mistakenly swallows a coin in the hopes of healing Ozzie's brain.
J. D. gets tricked by the leprechaun on the farm into walking into a trap by the leprechaun's disguise as a cat, which causes him pain when he bites his hand. After Tory and the others take the leprechaun to the hospital, the leprechaun leaves on a tricycle. While Alex and Ozzie are checking the gold's purity in a pawn shop, the leprechaun kills the shopkeeper, Joe, for stealing his gold and then escapes after polishing Joe's shoes. A police officer pulls over the leprechaun on his way back to the farm because he is speeding in the go-kart he built for himself. The officer is pursued by the leprechaun into the woods, where the officer is shot and killed. After returning to the farm, the leprechaun begins searching for the pot of gold by polishing the shoes of each he encounters. Following their visit to the hospital, the group returns to the farmhouse. Nathan goes outdoors to check the looting and is injured by a bear trap placed by the leprechauns. In the open air, the mob swarms the leprechaun and beats him senseless with clubs and rocks.
The leprechaun is shot many times when they discover a firearm in the home. When it doesn't work, they try to leave the property, but the leprechaun has destroyed the truck's engine. The leprechaun terrorizes the gang after smashing the vehicle with the go-kart until Ozzie admits that he and Alex discovered the pot of gold. The bag is retrieved from the well by Tory, who then offers it to the leprechaun. They go to the hospital, certain that the worst is past. The leprechaun realizes that he is missing the last coin that Ozzie ate as he counts his wealth. He threatens them, believing they have duped him, until Ozzie informs them that O'Grady had a stroke and was sent to a nursing facility. By hurling filthy shoes at the leprechaun, the gang diverts his attention, and the leprechaun is forced to go shine the shoes as Tory gets in her jeep and drives off. To find out how to slay the leprechaun, Tory goes to the house.
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 drives the leprechaun back into the well, he uses gasoline to light both things. 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 explained:
Trimark teamed with the NBA, NYSE, Domino's Pizza, and Subway to promote the video. Domino's and Subway's cooperation was contentious because franchisees felt exploited. Leprechaun remains a cult favourite thanks to a great marketing strategy.
Were there any sequels to Leprechaun?
Leprechaun 2 was published the following year, and it shows the Leprechaun heading to Los Angeles in pursuit of a fresh pot of riches. 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 picture, Leprechaun 4: In Space, is a bit of a departure from the other films since it takes place onboard a spacecraft and involves the Leprechaun fighting aliens. The fifth and final film in the series, Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood, has the Leprechaun returning to his origins in inner-city Los Angeles. Despite the generally unfavorable critical reviews, the Leprechaun series has proved to be highly successful, and it remains a cult favourite to this day.
Because the filmmakers intended to appeal to older audiences, some scenes had to be reshot.
As a result of the producers' insistence that the movie should be made bloodier to appeal to older viewers, some sequences had to be reshot.
It is well knowledge that George Lucas had a hand in choosing Warwick Davis for the role of Willow. The reasoning for this, however, is not well recognized. According to reports, Davis was under contract with Lucas and couldn't feature in the film without the director's permission. To show our appreciation, we included a "special thanks" credit for him at (blog post) the conclusion of the movie. Fans of the horror genre will find this nugget of information to be interesting. A another illustration of Lucas's impact on mainstream culture.
At first, it was anticipated that the leprechaun would make his way back to Ireland. However, there was one issue: Warwick Davis, an Irish actor who played the role of the leprechaun, did not have a work visa. Davis was required to secure a visa in a just three days in order to shoot the final sequence, which is an extremely difficult undertaking under normal conditions. Davis was able to wrap up shooting on time because to the fact that the office of Vice President Dan Quayle was able to move the process forward more quickly than expected. Quayle was recognized at the conclusion of the film with a "special thanks" credit in recognition of his contributions.
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.
Leprechaun was Jennifer Aniston's first full-length movie.
If you're a lover of horror flicks, Leprechaun is absolutely worth seeing. It's one of those rare horror films that's genuinely humorous as well as disturbing, and it boasts some terrific performances from Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston. The narrative may not be the most creative, but the movie is nonetheless pleasant to see. So if you're in the mood for a nice fright, check out Leprechaun. You won't be disappointed.