Leprechaun 3 (1995)

Movie Info

The Leprechaun takes Las Vegas!

A Las Vegas pawn shop has made a big acquisition: the statue of a Leprechaun with a strange medallion. When the medallion is removed, the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) comes to life and begins searching for his missing piece gold which was taken by a young freshman named Scott McCoy (John Gatins) who is passing through on his way to Los Angeles. Now Scott is getting his wishes while a magician’s assistant named Tammy Larsen (Lee Armstrong) learns that Scott’s new luck could be dangerous…and nothing can separate the Leprechaun from his treasure!

Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, Leprechaun 3 sometimes also goes by the title Leprechaun 3: In Las Vegas. The horror comedy followed Leprechaun 2 from 1994 and was the first entry to be released straight-to-video. It received negative reviews.

Taking Duck-Face to the extreme

Leprechaun was a surprise hit. This probably mostly due to the ridiculousness of the film and the rising star status of Jennifer Aniston. Leprechaun 2 was rather dull and Leprechaun 3 continued the dull theme but at least tried to vary up the plot by sending the character to Vegas.

The movie really doesn’t try very hard. It doesn’t bother trying to tie in to the second Leprechaun and it takes too long to get going with a long opening sequence involving the pawn shop owner Gupta (Marcelo Tubert) tries to hold the Leprechaun…then it decides it is going to be about Scott and Tammy. It limps along with little feeling.

Warwick Davis at least has fun with the movie. His character is loaded with one-liners, but it feels so desperately loaded that it stops being fun. Surrounding Warwick are a ton of uninspiring actors who feel more like bad cardboard cutouts of what a skeevy Vegas person should be. It is rather bland and dull and everyone meets their expected demise (though I do kind of like when John Gatins goes all leprechaun…and it is funny to think that Gatins is a pretty respected Academy Award nominated screenwriter now).

Academy Award nominated John Gatins…(everyone has to start somewhere)

Unfortunately, Leprechaun 3 doesn’t feel like real Vegas but a mock-up of it. While there are some exterior shots, the casino of Leprechaun feels more like a low rent casino on the outskirts of Reno than something in Vegas. I realize with the budget, that wasn’t possible, but it feels like they should have just had it set somewhere else if they weren’t going to really play up the glitz and gaudiness of Vegas where someone dressed up like Warwick would actually blend in quite easily.

Leprechaun was bad but funny, but Leprechaun 2 and Leprechaun 3 just aren’t very memorable. The movie decided to go the other direction in Leprechaun 4: In Space by having a real theme, and the next two sequels Leprechaun in the Hood and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood which blaxploitation mock-ups and had their moments. You should only seek out Leprechaun 3 if you are a completist (or if you really want to win that horror trivia night at the bar). Leprechaun 3 was followed by Leprechaun 4: In Space in 1997.

Related Links:

Leprechaun (1993)

Leprechaun 2 (1994)

Leprechaun 4:  In Space (1997)

Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)

Leprechaun:  Back 2 tha Hood (2003)