Jennifer Aniston is known as a television star. This being due to her role as Rachel Greene on Friends. She, like most actresses had other acting jobs before becoming successful. Her very first film appearance came with her role as Tory in Leprechaun. She rarely puts it at the top of her movie roles. Although most of those roles are not going to get her in the same conversation with Katherine Hepburn. It seems odd that she wouldn’t talk about Leprechaun. She plays a spoiled teenager, who grows up fast running from the star of the film, Warwick Davis. She isn’t bad in the movie. It is probably because it is considered campy, that she doesn’t acknowledge it. This film is more funny than frightening. That is the mystery, since Aniston’s career has skyrocketed, by playing comedy.
The movie of course concerns a Leprechaun, who had his gold stolen years before in Ireland. This theft was committed by a man named O’Grady. The victim of the crime follows him back to America. O’Grady traps the evil creature in a box, with a four leaf clover on top. He plans to take the gold and burn down the house. O’Grady, before he can commit arson, suffers a fatal heart attack.
The years go by, and the house is bought by J.D. (John Sanderford), Tory’s dad. It needs painting so he hires Ozzie, (Mark Holton) and his junior assistant, Alex, (Robert Hy Gorman). A carpenter is also hired, Nathan, (Ken Olandt). He functions as Tory’s romantic interest. Ozzie, while doing his job, accidentally removes the four leaf clover from the leprechaun’s box. This is where the fun and horror begins.
The leprechaun will stop at nothing to recover his gold. This includes maiming many of the characters. He bites Ozzie’s ear. He wounds Nathan, etc. He even uses skates and a tricycle to accomplish his main objective. As in most films of this type. The protagonists throw everything but the kitchen sink at him. He is overwhelmed by his desire to recover his stolen treasure. Ozzie tells him that he swallowed a coin, and he graphically attempts to retrieve it. The question is does a monster recover the gold, or do the protagonists survive?
This film is not unlike many of it’s type. The antagonistic leprechaun is the star. Warwick Davis does an excellent job getting the most out of the character’s villainy and greed. The actor’s career was stagnant and like many, he received that role. Leprechaun allowed him to do many sequels and later gained him an ongoing role in the Harry Potter movies.
A person could wonder how you could get a working script for a movie like this. It was done by Mark Jones. He not only was the writer, but directed the movie as well. The movie moves along and although some dialogue may seem silly, it works. Jones wrote many sequels to Leprechaun, but never directed them. This film cost one million dollars to make, and made almost ten times that domestically. It was a very successful video release, and continued to profit. This was due mainly after Jennifer Aniston’s success on Friends. It is a mystery why the actress doesn’t acknowledge this movie. There are many stars more famous, who appeared in lesser films, but still accepted their role. Despite the actress disavowing her role, the movie is entertaining. Every film lover should just kick back and watch this short entertaining movie.