Leprechaun in the Hood (2000)

Movie Info

The Leprechaun likes his special blend

Stray Bullet (Rashaan Nall), Butch (Red Grant), and Postmaster P. (Anthony Montgomery) have a dream to provide positive rap about the neighborhood they live in, but positive rap doesn’t sell.  Rap producer Mac Daddy O’Nassas (Ice-T) has been ruling the charts for years due to his imprisonment of the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis).  When Stray Bullet, Butch, and Postmaster P. rob Mac Daddy, they have to deal with Mac Daddy but also the return of the Leprechaun who’s killing to get what is his.

Directed by Rob Spera, Leprechaun in the Hood (also called Leprechaun 5:  In the Hood) is a blaxploition horror comedy.  Following Leprechaun 4:  In Space in 1997, Leprechaun in the Hood  has a small cult following over the years and is often available in multipacks.

While I enjoyed Leprechaun 4:  In Space in its badness, Leprechaun in the Hood is bad in a different way.  Leprechaun 4 seemed to think it was often clever at points, but Leprechaun in the Hood knows it’s bad and really enjoys it.  With a meandering story, you aren’t going to find anything great in Leprechaun in the Hood, but it is a fun ride.

Yep…the next logical step is to dress as women to seduce the Leprechaun, get him high, and steal his magic flute…it worked for Bugs Bunny

The story is an odd blend of the three featured genres comedy, horror and blaxploitation.  The plot often wanders and dies.  The ideas of the movie mostly lies in blaxploitation in that the characters start out wanting to change their community but end up corrupt and dark…they say in the movie positivity is not something that sells music.  The horror doesn’t really work and the jokes work about fifty percent of the time.  I give the series props however for always trying to change their formula rather than handing out the same thing over and over again (for the most part).  Oddly there is no mention of wishes and wishing in this entry, nor is the reaction the same from the Leprechaun when he gets trapped in a safe (again) like he did in Leprechaun 2.

This Leprechaun has “star power” with Ice-T taking the lead as the gangster rap mogul, but he really is almost a supporting character.  Star Trek:  Enterprise actor Anthony Montgomery is really the lead of the group of would be rappers and the movie also features a cameo by Coolio (showing the movie’s age).  Warwick Davis is obviously the reason to tune in to the movie as the title villain and the character just seems to be in a new location with sort of new jokes.  The Leprechaun is the only constant in the series…but of course he has to give a cringe-y rap (“Lep in the Hood Come to Do No Good”).

You know what would really be cool is having the Leprechaun rap…said no one

The film opens in the ’70s in more of a blaxploitation style in a flashback scene showing Ice-T capturing the Leprechaun.  This is ditched for the popular Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society look quickly (which was already probably dated in 2000).  I wish it had remained the ’70s because that could have been a lot of fun.  It was more topical at the time to go for the gangsta rap storyline, but as a whole, the film would have been better as a throwback horror/comedy.

Leprechaun in the Hood is a fun, bad movie.  The film has something to offend almost everyone from little people, whites, blacks, gay, straight, or you name it, but you can tell for the most part it is tongue-in-cheek (a lot of the anti-trans stuff is very early 2000s).  The filmmakers liked the format so Leprechaun in the Hood was followed by Leprechaun:  Back 2 tha Hood in 2003 (with much less favorable results).

Related Links:

Leprechaun (1993)

Leprechaun 2 (1994)

Leprechaun 3 (1995)

Leprechaun 4:  In Space (2000)

Leprechaun:  Back 2 tha Hood (2003)