For three times previously the Leprechaun franchise had changed the rules and each movie depicted a different leprechaun. Although it's always played by the marvelous Warwick Davis. Leprechaun 4: In Space is no exception. Again it is a new leprechaun and a new set of rules. This movie is by far the weakest entry thus far in the franchise. It has a weird blend of great practical effects and horrendous CGI which makes for an overall extremely campy experience.
As always we begin with the trailer. If by the fourth film you didn't know what a Leprechaun movie felt like this trailer wouldn't convince you to go out and watch one. It's an all right trailer, but they must have done something right because people kept watching and buying these movies. The tagline is all right: One small step for man. One giant leap of terror! The poster is a mock up of the Apollo 13 poster. This is most likely where the idea to send him off into space came from but it has never been confirmed.
As for the movie itself it is the campiest film yet. This film makes the original seem like a great movie, which is no easy feat. The leprechaun is searching for a bride again. This time though, he feels he must marry a princess. If he does, he will become king (after he kills her father, of course) and this will make him ruler of the galaxy! Doesn't make sense? You're right, it doesn't, but Warwick makes a valid point in his autobiography Size Matters Not that this and all the other films are Leprechaun films. Nothing needs to make sense. In fact, the crappier the product, the more horror fans embraced the character according to Davis.
Let's begin with how crappy those space marines are. After they kill the leprechaun in the opening, a guy pees on his remaining parts. Brutality in our human characters is not something the audience wants. We want to root for the human characters, but then again, it is truthful about the depravity of humanity, so I can't complain too much. Then we get the most unique reentrance of a horror icon in a sequel yet (yes, even more unique than the dog pissing fire on Freddy's bones in Nightmare 4), the leprechaun comes out of the man who peed on him's penis. Once the man get's hard, the leprechaun comes out. This instantly kills him. It's just a much more perverted version of the chestburster scene in Alien. It's also not as graphic as you're thinking. The man has pants on the whole time and you just see a large blob come out before the leprechauns head comes through the seam of the pants. It's so unique and just plain trashy that it perfectly embodies the series. They aren't ashamed to do anything in a Leprechaun movie.
The CGI effects are SO awful! I think the SciFi channel has done better effects than this film has. It's like an early 90's video game. Over time my mind just grew numb to it, but the first few shots every time I couldn't help but laugh at it.
On the other hand, the practical effects are AMAZING this time round. Especially with the Dr. Mittenhand character. When he's first revealed the prosthetics of him being only like a third flesh were impressive enough. The rest of him was computer/walker. By the end however, he is injected with tissue that regenerates mixed with a spider and a scorpion. It's quite an amazing site. It's nightmarish and that is so rare for this series. That is the stand out moment of the movie seeing him in that new form.
Before the end of the movie, the leprechaun is enlarged. There is a device that can enlarge and shrink items. I thought for certain the way they were going to kill the leprechaun this time round was to eventually shrink him and step on him, but instead he gets ejected out into space and randomly explodes. Also the princess character who was in cohorts with the leprechaun by the end just kinda passes out and is never seen again in the movie. It's like the movie forgot to finish that plotline. When all is said and done, Leprechaun 4: In Space is a terrible film with some great prosthetics. The original is by far the better movie, but I must admit this one is still more fun to watch.
Leprechaun 4: In Space was released straight to video on February 25, 1997. The film had a budget of $1.6 million. There is no known profit. According to Size Matters Not the film still did really well and warranted another sequel. However, even the fans of Leprechaun seemed to be tired of the films by the fourth movie. The fifth film would have to reinvent the series in some way...but how would the series be reinvented...would it be a different leprechaun with a different set of rules...well, we'll discuss that next time.
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