Leprechaun 3

• Also known as Leprechaun 3: In Vegas
• Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith
• June 27, 1995

A leprechaun begins a killing spree in Las Vegas in search of a missing coin.

You may be surprised they made more than one Leprechaun film let alone three. They made even more than three and that includes reboots of the idea. I was aware of a few sequels but not the number. Anywho…

As a story there’s not much to say about Leprechaun 3. This is a movie that’s about showing you the kills and not showing you an intriguing narrative or even a mediocre one. Think a dumber version of something from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Never Oscar worthy but more complex than these.

Leprechaun 3 begins with our leprechaun trapped in a statue by a magical medallion that a pawn shop owner removes after a very mangled individual tells him not to do so. Hence we get chaos once freed. For a guy obsessed with gold you would think that he (Warwick Davis) would not drop one coin yet that is what happens. Every other coin stayed in place when he’s running out of the room save for that one little shilling.

This sets the action in Vegas with all the dynamic characters and intricate plot details that you’ve come to know and love from the first two films. There is a college student passing through Vegas with a $23,000 check to I guess drop off once he gets to college. It’s a ridiculously large sized check that no one actually carries around. Last time I saw something that big was from a business but this appears to be a personal check. I guess they were trying to drive home it was a lot of money. I’m getting a little outside of the discussion though. 

Our guy from out-of-town Scott (John Gatins) spends all of his money and falls for a showgirl that spends much of her screen time trying to protect him. He then gets the missing shilling and is on a winning streak which puts them both in the path of the leprechaun in about as heavy handed a way as possible.

This plays out the cheese and the general silliness that one can mine from Vegas. A highlight for me was the Elvis (Terry Lee Crisp) appearance. Just dumb enough to be good. In line with the Vegas stupidity, Leprechaun 3 also leans into Irish stereotypes. Our hero for lack of a better word gets some leprechaun blood mixed with his and starts acting stereotypically Irish. From the accent to a distinct love of potatoes, it’s all there. It might offend the Irish if they were the sensitive type. This manages some other blunt humor about doctors and medical insurance.

Warwick Davis absolutely shines as the character as he has done each time before. He is the best thing in this with the prosthetics being a close second. Unfortunately he’s not given someone of equal ability to play against. When Scott turns into a leprechaun Davis outshines Gatins by a country mile. Is it too much to ask to get somebody with a little of acting ability? Gatins was successful elsewhere in Hollywood so his career was not once and done.

Not a lot goes into connecting the whole storyline. Scott is too stupid and gullible to be able to match wits with the leprechaun. I would’ve bought it more if the magicians assistant Tammy (Lee Armstrong) who becomes his love interest had been the focus of the story. She was smart for a character in a dumb horror movie. Tammy could match wits with characters and picked up on important info. That was balanced with her being just dumb enough to not see the answer right away though there were a few moments where she should have maybe connected the dots.

Some of the effects are not too bad with most being good. Despite being filmed over only 14 days, Leprechaun 3 is much better shot than its predecessor. It just looks like they gave it their all. Hats off to cinematographer David Lewis! He helped to make this look like a feature film.

I enjoy trashy horror and this satisfies my trashy horror love. It’s certainly not great but given how everything played out and the absurdity of some of the deaths, I would certainly watch this again. A few of the jokes land well and while heavy handed the healthcare jokes are cute.

For stupidity or gore Leprechaun 3 is good. For intelligence not so much. Entertaining, but only to a select few.