Leprechaun Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When it comes to making movies, few things are more subjective than horror. There's nothing that scares everyone, and even if your movie is about something that most people find frightening, that's no guarantee you'll depict it in a way that earns goosebumps. Meanwhile, plenty of good filmmakers have produced terror with things that audiences wouldn't have thought would scare them. (Before Psycho, was anyone ever afraid of showers?) So it's a crapshoot, basically.

Still, some horror films have had villains that they must have known -- or should have known -- wouldn't be scary, no matter how skilled the execution. (And the lousy execution of some of these didn't help.) The Child's Play films got intentionally goofy later in the series, but in the beginning Chucky the murderous doll was actually supposed to be scary, despite being 18 inches tall and weighing only a few pounds. Then there was the title character of Leprechaun, also diminutive and silly, AND he didn't even speak with an Irish accent! If I'm going to watch a movie about a leprechaun, that leprechaun had damn well better sound Irish. I'm just sayin'.

Or remember Darkness Falls, where the supernatural villain was the tooth fairy? Or the evil genie in the Wishmaster films, putting ironic, malevolent twists on people's wishes? Or Julian Sands' time-traveling he-witch in Warlock? The killer snowman in Jack Frost? What's your vote for the silliest horror villain? One of these, or someone else? Let us know in the comments.

Mega-sloppy cult mini-classic Pieces hits DVD this week, but my copy hasn't arrived yet, so check out BD's fine review by slasher-lover David Harley.

If you like Leprechaun, Warlock, and comic book adaptations, Shock has some good news for you. And Twitchfilm has a great little interview with the director of Tokyo Gore Police. And MTV talks Medusas and Krakens. Oooh, and Lionsgate is planning a My Bloody Valentine special edition DVD to tie in with their remake.

Anyone remember me (and the other horror nerds) raving about a Canadian horror flick called End of the Line? If so you'll be pleased to note that the DVD is now available in R1 -- but only from Canadian distributors. More info here.

UGO has an exclusive peek at the brand-new trailer for The Grudge 3 right here.

A few weeks back, director Clint Hutchison asked me if I could take a look at his horror flick Conjurer before the DVD went to press. Unfortunately I got busy with other stuff, so I'm a bit late with my comments: This is a rather fine little gothic thriller, in no way related to slasher flicks or "torture" stuff. It's actually a rather cool '70s-style slow-burn horror tale about a young couple, a new house, and a really creepy little cabin. Definitely not a "slam-bang" horror flick, but I thought it was well-shot, well-acted, and pretty engrossing for a fairly familiar story. (The DVD comes out on November 25.)

My pal Irv over at Movies Unlimited has a few recommendations from the new Hammer "Icons" Collection.

Lastly, Nacho Vigalondo's very nifty Timecrimes has a brand-new theatrical trailer that does a fine job of introducing the movie without spoiling any of the surprises. Here it is:

Things have changed a lot since Jennifer Aniston starred in Leprechaun in 1993 -- Friends, tumultuous romances, and a whole non-horror career. But what if she went back to the fold?

During a discussion with MTV, Darren Lynn Bousman, the man behind Repo!, wishes he could follow the rainbow. "I would do Leprechaun in a second. If Lionsgate is listening, give me Leprechaun." But he wouldn't get too serious with the material if given the chance to reboot it: "It's just one of those fun popcorn movies. I would love to bring back the fun popcorn movie -- extreme violence, extreme absurdity -- but make it fun." His idea of fun -- the little bugger in the old west with gold and gun fights.

Personally, I think this could be great if they get Aniston back in on it, and just go wacky. How about you?

Today is St. Patrick's Day -- the day where you wear green, drink lots of green beer and, unfortunately, still have to go to work. It always irritated me when everyone would wear green at the office: "Sharon, aren't you 100% Italian?" "Yes, but I wanted to get in the spirit of the holiday!" "What spirit? The spirit of being Irish when you're Italian?" "F*ck off Davis -- go write about movies or something ... loser!"

The problem with St. Patrick's Day, from a movie blog perspective, is that there aren't really any great St. Patrick's Day-themed movies. You have the cult-ish Leprechaun series (which reminds me that the Alamo in Austin is screening Leprechaun tonight, and serving Lucky Charms and green beer). Did you know that they made SIX Leprechaun films -- the last of which was called Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood? Could you imagine being a person who worked on the film, then having to admit it to your entire family over holiday dinner. "Yeah, Jim's a big movie guy -- what was the last one you worked on?" "Oh, um, Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood." Poor guy.

Other St. Patrick's Day movies include St. Patrick's Day (1997), St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (with Sean Connery!) ... and there's a few others with strong Irish themes (The Quiet Man, etc); some of which include those creepy Leprechauns.

How are you spending St. Patrick's Day? And do you have a particular movie you like to watch today ... preferably while wearing green and drinking green beer?

Everywhere you look this summer, there's a poster for another movie sequel: a third Ocean's installment, a second Fantastic Four, a fifth go-around with the hapless Hogwarts crew of Harry Potter ... So in honor of 95% of the season's flicks being part twos, threes or fives, Moviefone decided to rank the 25 worst movie sequels of all time. Why be so negative, you may ask? Why focus on the steaming piles of cinematic horse manure when we could focus on all the gleaming gold? Well, for one, Moviefone has already ranked the 25 best movie sequels of all time. And for another, there's a whole lot of crap out there -- and it's damn fun to write about it.

In fact, there's so much excrement in the vast universe of sequels that we had to be a bit discerning when coming up with our "top" 25 worst. As much as it broke our hearts to omit Teen Wolf, Too and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood (yes, that is a real movie), we had to limit our picks to sequels that we actually thought -- even for a brief moment -- might be good. And although we admire Jennifer Aniston's stellar work in the original Leprechaun, our hopes weren't exactly high for any of the follow-ups. On the other hand, we were super stoked for Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace before George Lucas crushed our spirits by introducing us to the most galactically annoying character in movie history (damn you, Jar Jar!).

What do you think are the worst sequels of all time? Did we miss any on our list? And, most importantly, when can we expect another Leprechaun movie?