Movie Review: Leprechaun - Back 2 tha Hood

Here we are, the final entry in the inexplicable Leprechaun series. Seriously, how did this make it to six movies? Beyond that, how did it rate a remake/reboot/whatever you want to call it? I guess it doesn't matter. I guess they all managed to make some money and warrant another trip into the well. Granted, it did take three years after Leprechaun on the Hood for this to appear. On the flip side, I guess this one did not land as well as the others, as this was the last one to be released prior to the WWE produced reboot.



Rob Spera, who directed Leprechaun in the Hood, was on board for the sequel, initially. This would have made him only the second director to direct more than one Leprechaun film (Brian Trenchard-Smith being the other). He dropped out when his story proposals were turned down. They included a Venice Beach and an island spring break set Leprechaun attack. The studio had other ideas. Since the Hood tale was so well received, they chose to go back to there and Spera did not want to repeat himself. Leprechaun Back 2 tha Hood was born.

Writer/director Steve Ayrmlooi was brought in to bring the sixth Leprechaun adventure to life. Now, the funny thing is that while this is a Leprechaun movie, there were many times it did not feel like one. I was reminded of the latter Hellraiser sequels, the ones built from screenplays that were not originally Hellraiser movies, but had those elements stuck in to change the original into a sequel that they could conceivably market.

The movie is as simple as the rest. A group of inner city stereotypes (including Sticky Fingaz, taking the resident rapper role that Ice T had in the prior film), find the Leprechaun's gold and promptly begin spending it. Before long, the Leprechaun shows up and goes about his bloody revenge in order to get it back.

This is not a good movie. Considering how much I legitimately enjoyed its predecessor, this one goes in completely the opposite direction. It is boring, dull, and I felt like turning it off. I have to tell you, that is saying something considering how bad some of these movies are. There really isn't anything to like, well, aside from Warwick Davis, he is always into the role, even if the movie isn't into him.

Honestly, there really isn't much to write about with this movie. It is really not worth spending time with, unless you are the die hard completist. The movie does try to bring a little something to the table with an animated storybook style open attempting to give the history of the Leprechaun and how they were fierce warriors, defending the nation's gold and when they were sent away, one particularly nasty little fellow stayed behind. It is a nice bit, but does not do enough to win me over.

One thing my mind wandered to while watching is that we may have been watching most of these movies the wrong way. The vast majority of the movies involve the stealing of the Leprechaun's gold. Now, for the most part. All he is doing is try to regain his possessions. If he had all of his gold, he has no reason to kill and just goes away. The human characters are the villains. If they just left their greed at the door, they would still be alive today. So what if there is mistaken identity and transference, if the initial thief did not thieve, all would be fine. Stupid humans.

The Leprechaun series is not a good one and probably should not be mentioned in the same breath as the big guns of horror. With Leprechaun Back 2 tha Hood, the series went out with a whimper ten years after it began with modest success. Yeah, there are worse out there, but these, for some reason, seem to stick around. Oh well, at least now I can say I have seen them all.

Not Recommended.