Oh lord, on this inaugural, Friday’s Guilty Pleasure, I’ve decided to drag out one of my favorite old chestnuts. It’s a doozy. Following in the tradition of several other straight to video classics like Critters 4 and Lust in Space: The Erotic Witch Project IV, and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith in 1997, I give you Leprechaun 4: In Space.
Leprechaun 4: In Space, follows in the long line of Leprechaun films in which Warwick Davis, in full hobgoblin regalia, plays the titular character that decimates his prey through a series of elaborate and increasingly ridiculous means while chasing after his ever-elusive gold. I could have easily substituted any of the Leprechaun movies into this article, but this one in particular hold a special place in my heart as one of the most entertainingly awful films that I have ever seen. It truly is a piece of art. Did I mention that it takes place in space? Well, it does.
Before I get into a semi-detailed plot synopsis, the first thing that I must make absolutely clear is that this movie was clearly conceived by individuals of the male persuasion whose mentality has never matured beyond that of a thirteen year old. I don’t mean this as a bad thing. On the contrary, I think that there are few people who are as creative or would have the audacity to put so many bizarre and gratuitous plot elements in such a quick succession within the 95 minute running time of this movie. My hat goes off to them.
Leprechaun 4 finds everyone’s favorite Leprechaun trying to woo a beautiful space princess in order to gain the greatness and power over the universe that he feels he so richly deserves. Unfortunately, his proposal is interrupted by a platoon of space marines who seemingly destroy the Leprechaun, steal his gold, and rescue the princess within the first ten minutes of the film. This is not before the Leprechaun dispatches one of the marines with a light saber and one of the marines suffers a “burning sensation” while “marking” his Leprechaun kill. Me thinks a certain 3-foot character may be returning.
The marines commiserate on their space ship. Some get drunk, some dance on their space disco dance floor, one of the marines (the one who killed our Leprechaun antagonist, in fact) and the one female marine start to get it on. Unfortunately, that pesky burning sensation comes back and more than just a simple trouser bulge leads to the second coming of the Leprechaun. The rest of the movie is spent watching the Leprechaun dispatch the marines one by one as he searches for his gold with the help of the not so gracious space princess.
Although the plot sounds like a conventional “horror” movie plot (outside of the Leprechaun emerging from a marine’s “swollen member”), Leprechaun 4’s creators have loaded this movie with enough outrageous plot threads to make this an unforgettable viewing experience. For instance, the ship in question where the majority of the action takes place is under the control of the mysterious Dr. Mittenhand, who as it turns out is a head and part of a torso adhered to a mechanical cart. What’s better, is that in a very climatic and harrowing scene (not really) our wee man of the hour injects Dr. Mittenhand with a concoction that contains super alien princess DNA, spider DNA, and scorpion DNA; turning Mittenhand into the aptly names “Mittenspider”. Also, did you know that alien princesses herald the imminent demise of their enemies by walking around topless for their intended victims to see? According to this film they do. Not to be outdone, the marines’ Sergeant gets the chance to queen it up, thanks to having his free will striped from him by the Leprechaun and being forced to dress in drag and perform a sexy song and dance number while attacking his platoon. And this is just a sample of the imaginative scenes that make up this truly unique viewing experience.
I could go on about all of the ways in which this film declares it’s outright originality, however I would like to leave a few surprises for those who decide to watch this masterpiece of crap cinema for themselves. The performances are appropriate for the type of film that this is, Debbe Dunning being the only name outside of Warwick Davis that I recognize amongst the obscure cast. The special effects are decent for a movie made in 1997 for a budget of 1.6 million dollars. There’s little else that I can say about the technical merits of the movie, it’s straight to video and the quality is as you would expect.
At the very least, Leprechaun 4 is an experience like no other. If you appreciate unbridled creativity at it’s most perverse than you really should see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment