FearStyle Friday: The Leprechaun

Hello Lass's and Lad's, welcome to a so lucky it's scary FearStyle Friday. This week, in honor of everyone's favorite Irish holiday, we will be talking about the 90's classic horror film, The Leprechaun. You can't celebrate this holiday, as a horror fan, without even thinking about this classic. It has it all, it's funny, it stars a young, pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston, and is honestly kind of weird. So, let's do this.

The Leprechaun begins in 1983, when a man named Dan O'Grady returns home to North Dakota from a trip to Ireland, where he had stolen a pot'o'gold from the titular Leprechaun. After burying the pot'o'gold, Dan finds that not only did the Leprechaun follow him home, but has killed his wife. In an effort to suppress the Leprechaun, Dan traps him in a crate with a four-leaf clover. The Leprechaun gets the last laugh, however, when Dan suffers a stroke before he has a chance to destroy him.

Fast-forward ten years later, where we meet J.D Redding and his teenage daughter Tory (Aniston) who have rented out the old O'Grady home for the summer. It is here that we also meet some local contractors Nathan Murphy, his younger brother Alex, and sweet simpleton Ozzie. They are here to re-paint the home (and join in on the Irish horrors to come). It is while exploring the basement that our Ozzie is tricked into releasing the Leprechaun from his crate, thinking that it was a child trapped in the crate. By knocking over the dusty, old clover that had been keeping him trapped, the Leprechaun was free at last and looking to cause some trouble. Ozzie sees it all and tries to convince his friends of what he saw. They don't believe him, naturally. They believe him even less when he spots a rainbow and decides to follow it to find the pot of gold at the end. Alex accompanies him and the two end up finding 100 pieces of gold, one of which is swallowed by Ozzie. The pair decide to hide the rest in an old well and plan to use it to fix Ozzie's brain.

Meanwhile, the Leprechaun begins his game, disguising his voice to mimic a cat's meow, all in an effort to trick and trap J.D. He hurts his hand and Tory and the others take him to the hospital. Following behind, the Leprechaun on a tricycle. While in town, Alex and Ozzie go to a pawn shop to see if the gold was real. It is here that the Leprechaun strikes to owner of the pawn shop, killing him for stealing his gold. After this, the Leprechaun returns to the old home to search for his gold and to shine all the shoes he can find...naturally. Eventually, Tory and the others return to the house, leaving J.D at the hospital, finding it destroyed. Nathan checks outside for any clues and finds himself caught in a bear trap, set by the Leprechaun. One thing leads to another and a shot gun is found and the Leprechaun is shot several times, to no avail. They decide to just give him the gold and it is retrieved from the well and the group leaves, thinking that the worst is over. While counting his gold, the Leprechaun finds that one is missing and, thinking that he had been tricked he drags out the location of O'Grady. Ozzie tells him that he was sent to live in a nursing home after his stroke.


At the nursing home, O'Grady had been replaced by the Leprechaun who chases Tory into an elevator. It is here that he dumps O'Grady's bloody body down the shaft as she flees. But all is not lost, as O'Grady breathes his final words, he tells Tory how to kill the Leprechaun for good; with a four-leaf clover. And so the race begins. They all return to the house for the final blow-out. While searching for a four-leaf clover, Tory is attacked, Ozzie is cut open for the gold that he swallowed, and the Leprechaun is stopped by a clover stuck in a piece of gum and shot into his mouth. He is then pushed into the well that is then set on fire. The police are called, Tory is reunited with he father and all seems right with the world. That is until the Leprechaun vows he will not rest until he finds his last piece of gold, leaving room for more movies.



The Leprechaun is a special kind of movie. I don't know much about the making of this one, but I assume that they took this film seriously. I like to believe that they thought it was a genuinely scary concept and I have heard people say that they were afraid of the Leprechaun. To be honest I have always been confused by that. I guess the Leprechaun itself is scary, but the story really isn't. Now, by the second and third movie the makers fully embraced the hilariousness that is Warwick Davis and the Leprechaun he brought to life. That character is truly an icon and a staple of the horror genre. Despite it not being scary, it is a fun watch.

I could talk all day about how silly this movie is, but I think that we need to talk about the movies biggest star, Jennifer Aniston. I love her, you love her, everyone loves her. She is best known for Friends, being married to Brad Pitt at one time (another actor to start off in horror movies), and just generally being perfect. However, the best piece of trivia about her is that 1993's The Leprechaun is her debut movie. That's right, before she was Rachel Green she was Tory Redding. She went from starring in a low budget horror movie to being one of the stars of arguably one of the best TV shows of all time. It just goes to show that you have to start somewhere.

The final thing I want to talk about is how complete this movie feels in comparison to its sequel counter parts. I know I was kind of ragging on this earlier, but compared to the ones preceding, this is a fine film. It has all the elements of a folk lore/monster movie, complete with a coherent back story and an interesting villain. How many times before in the genre had we seen anything quite like it? Not often. Plus, the Leprechaun himself has a great Chucky-like appeal as a small-stature'd character with a larger than life persona, spitting out rhyming one-liners left and right. I love it. It's quirky and weird and a great movie to watch at least once a year.

That's all for today, folks. May the luck of the Irish be with you this weekend. Enjoy yourself and be safe. Give this movie a watch, if ya can. It will probably be on TV, but if you can't wait then you can find it online and in stores. I will see you next time. Stay Spooky.