Trimark pictures was thrilled with the money that Leprechaun made. Leprechaun especially became a huge hit on video. It also helped that Wayne's World 2 had a scene in which one of the characters is scaring the other one pretending to be the leprechaun. Leprechaun 2 seemed inevitable in the minds of the studio.
As always we begin with the trailer. The trailer once again is lackluster. It promotes the movie as gross, but not very engaging. The tagline is better though: This time, luck has nothing to do with it! It's really ominous and plays well off of the tagline of the original film.
The movie itself is both the most frustrating and engrossing part 2 of any horror franchise I have ever seen! Let's start with the frustrating: the movie doesn't respect the original film at all. This is an entirely different leprechaun (even though it's still played by Warwick Davis). I guess the leprechaun at the bottom of the well will stay there for eternity. The way you kill the leprechaun has also changed: the first film it was a four leaf clover, this film it's by iron. The basic plot of the leprechaun trying to get a wife every thousand years is also very stupid. It's simply infuriating to watch a film called leprechaun 2 that pays no homage to the original film.
However, the film is the most engrossing sequel I have ever seen because it surpasses the original film in everything it does. It's obvious that the studio intended the film to be an R right off the bat (the biggest problem with the original film) and that helps the quality of the second film skyrocket. This film is vicious and it's super surprising after a quite tame original film. The first time the leprechaun comes out in the present day, he sees a gold tooth on a drunk and pulls it out. It's so painful to watch. He also rips off a guys finger to have a gold ring. The leprechaun is so much meaner and that's a welcome change.
It's very easy to tell that the second one would be more appealing to watch as a teenager than the first one. The film also has the best death scene of the entire franchise. A greedy uncle asks for the leprechaun's gold. The leprechaun gives it to him, but it starts falling down in his stomach. His stomach stretches as it holds the pot of gold inside his body. He begs the leprechaun to take it out. The leprechaun rips the stomach open killing him in order to take the pot of gold out. It's a thrilling and completely surprising viewing experience.
It does everything better. The acting is much more bearable this time round too. As frustrating as it is, considering it surpasses the original in every way, I can forgive the film for having no respect for the original. The original shouldn't be that well respected anyways.
On April 8, 1994, Leprechaun 2 premiered in theaters. The film grossed $2,260,622, which was enough to warrant another sequel from the studio. How would the second sequel go after the first sequel's leprechaun exploded by the end? Considering the rules had changed would they possibly change them once again...well, we'll discuss that next time.
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