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Leprechaun 4: In Space, 1996
The evil Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) has kidnapped a beautiful alien space princess, Zarina (Rebecca Carlton), in order to fulfill his desire to become a king. Standing in his way is a military outfit under the direction of deranged scientist Mittenhand (Guy Siner). Ultimately, it’s up to shy scientist Tina (Jessica Collins) and beefcake marine Books (Brent Jasmer) to put a stop to the madness on board the marine spacecraft.
Achieving pitch-perfect stupidity, this is a heck of a fun watch.
There are so many obnoxious movies out there that try to go for camp or so-bad-it’s-good status and just end up failing miserably. But this movie right here knows exactly what it’s doing and, further, pretty much nails the mission objective.
Taken on their own, the different elements of this film are so bizarre that even describing them feels like an exercise in madness. Should we talk about the Leprechaun swimming up a urine stream because some dumb-dumb decided to take a pee on the supposedly dead monster? How about Mittenhand communicating with the crew via a television monitor with the camera held at an inexplicably low angle? And what of the idea that you can create a DNA-altering serum merely by chucking a few items in a blender?
What should feel cobbled together instead feels like intentional chaos, and for me it simply worked. I laughed. Yes, sometimes I was laughing at the movie---such as when the crew is very poorly CGI’d onto an outer space background---but mostly I was laughing with it. You can’t tell me that Siner’s performance wasn’t intentionally hilarious. Or that there isn’t something amazing about the way that the main character slowly loses her clothing until she’s reduced to a skimpy shirt and underwear combo. (This movie doesn’t have anything like parity in the nudity department, but Books also manages to lose his shirt before the film is over.)
There’s also some very funny mileage to be had from the characters of the princess and the Leprechaun. While the Leprechaun intends to wed, bed, and kill the princess, she’s no wilting daisy. The cliche would be to have her be a shrieking victim, and while the movie does spend a fair chunk with her in the perverted hands of Mittenhand’s assistant, Harold (Gary Grossman), once she’s back on her feet she’s just as ruthless and scheming as her captor.
And the rest of the cast is just as game. Miguel Nunez Jr is a lot of fun as one of the marines. Tim Coceri gives a strange, all-in performance as Metal Head, the leader of the marines. The characters of the rest of the military group aren’t necessarily all that developed, but they have names like Mooch, Lucky, and Kowalski, and they all dutifully bite the dust in outlandish ways.
The effects are a mixed bag given the camp nature of the film. I like that the movie just embraces the absurd nature of its story. Character deaths are, for the most part, cartoonish and silly. There is a monster introduced in the final act that is a gleeful mash-up of monster design.
Here’s a film that seems to be exactly what it wants to be, and I for one enjoyed the ride immensely.
Leprechaun 4: In Space, 1996
The evil Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) has kidnapped a beautiful alien space princess, Zarina (Rebecca Carlton), in order to fulfill his desire to become a king. Standing in his way is a military outfit under the direction of deranged scientist Mittenhand (Guy Siner). Ultimately, it’s up to shy scientist Tina (Jessica Collins) and beefcake marine Books (Brent Jasmer) to put a stop to the madness on board the marine spacecraft.
Achieving pitch-perfect stupidity, this is a heck of a fun watch.
There are so many obnoxious movies out there that try to go for camp or so-bad-it’s-good status and just end up failing miserably. But this movie right here knows exactly what it’s doing and, further, pretty much nails the mission objective.
Taken on their own, the different elements of this film are so bizarre that even describing them feels like an exercise in madness. Should we talk about the Leprechaun swimming up a urine stream because some dumb-dumb decided to take a pee on the supposedly dead monster? How about Mittenhand communicating with the crew via a television monitor with the camera held at an inexplicably low angle? And what of the idea that you can create a DNA-altering serum merely by chucking a few items in a blender?
What should feel cobbled together instead feels like intentional chaos, and for me it simply worked. I laughed. Yes, sometimes I was laughing at the movie---such as when the crew is very poorly CGI’d onto an outer space background---but mostly I was laughing with it. You can’t tell me that Siner’s performance wasn’t intentionally hilarious. Or that there isn’t something amazing about the way that the main character slowly loses her clothing until she’s reduced to a skimpy shirt and underwear combo. (This movie doesn’t have anything like parity in the nudity department, but Books also manages to lose his shirt before the film is over.)
There’s also some very funny mileage to be had from the characters of the princess and the Leprechaun. While the Leprechaun intends to wed, bed, and kill the princess, she’s no wilting daisy. The cliche would be to have her be a shrieking victim, and while the movie does spend a fair chunk with her in the perverted hands of Mittenhand’s assistant, Harold (Gary Grossman), once she’s back on her feet she’s just as ruthless and scheming as her captor.
And the rest of the cast is just as game. Miguel Nunez Jr is a lot of fun as one of the marines. Tim Coceri gives a strange, all-in performance as Metal Head, the leader of the marines. The characters of the rest of the military group aren’t necessarily all that developed, but they have names like Mooch, Lucky, and Kowalski, and they all dutifully bite the dust in outlandish ways.
The effects are a mixed bag given the camp nature of the film. I like that the movie just embraces the absurd nature of its story. Character deaths are, for the most part, cartoonish and silly. There is a monster introduced in the final act that is a gleeful mash-up of monster design.
Here’s a film that seems to be exactly what it wants to be, and I for one enjoyed the ride immensely.