Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood

Now we have come to the sequel to the previous movie, “Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood,” released in 2003. I don’t understand how in the world they decided to keep making these films. Also, how did they decide to make a prequel to this franchise? Christopher Beaumont stated in his review, “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.”

The director of the previous movie, Rob Spera, was originally supposed to return as director for this one, which would have made him the second director to direct more than one “Leprechaun” movie (the other being Brain Trenchard-Smith). When his story ideas were rejected, he decided to not return. What was included was a Venice Beach and a spring break island for Leprechaun to be at. The studio had other ideas. Since the last movie was liked (I don’t know how), they decided to return there, despite that Spera did not want to do the same story again. Hence came the movie that we got instead.

Writer/director Steve Ayrmlooi was hired for the sixth installment of this painful franchise. What you might feel when watching this is that it doesn’t feel like a “Leprechaun” movie, even though the name is in the title. Beaumont admitted, “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 just the same rehash again. A gang of ghetto men (including Sticky Fingaz, replacing the role that Ice T had in the last one), find the Leprechaun’s gold and start using it as their currency. Faster than you think, the Leprechaun arrives and, like a spoiled kid, kills everyone just to get back his pot of gold.

As you might have guessed, this is an idiotic entry. Beaumont admitted, “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’s nothing to like in here, besides Warwick Davis. He’s always fun in the role, even if the movie isn’t working for him.

To tell you the truth, there’s nothing else I can say about this film. I shouldn’t even be wasting my time talking about this, unless if you are a huge fan of this franchise. Beaumont describes, “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.”

Beaumont mentioned, “One thing my mind wandered to while watching is that we may have been watching most of these movies the wrong way.” For most of the movies, it tells you how someone stole the Leprechaun’s gold. A huge part of it shows him trying to get it back. If he had every single golden coin in his pot, then he would have no reason to kill these people and would disappear. Beaumont complained, “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” franchise is a terrible series and isn’t even in the same ballpark as the huge series in the horror genre. With “Leprechaun Back 2 tha Hood,” the series had lost every single one of its edges with a miserable 10 years after it started with the ridiculous first entry. I know there are worse franchises, but I don’t know why this one seems to go down in history. I regretfully admit that I have seen it.

Like I said, I don’t recommend this series at all. The last one was so bad enough, it shouldn’t have given everyone the idea of making another.

Luckily, I only have one more “Leprechaun” movie left to review, the prequel. To see how bad that is, stay tuned tomorrow when we thankfully get the “Leprechaun Franchise” done with.