The Green Guy Meets Blaxploitation

There is no way I would ever argue that movies in the Leprechaun film series (eight movies in total, with the threat of more eventually) could ever be considered good. The films started bad, with the original Leprechaun, and only got worse from there (sometimes substantially worse, as in the case of Leprechaun 3). These were not movies intended to be good, more like parodies of horror films that, somehow, caught on with a certain segment of the viewing public and managed to eke out enough income to continue getting made. When most of your films are direct-to-video, it’s not hard to make back your budget (or, at least, it wasn’t back in the day when video rentals and video sales were good business).

Eventually, with most of the sensible ideas having been used up – hell, the film series even went to space, as all horror franchises apparently eventually do, with Leprechaun 4: In Space – no dumb idea was off the table. And the thing is, Leprechaun in the Hood, the fifth film in the series, is often mocked for the fact that it went, well, to “the hood”. Among people that haven’t watched the film, this is considered the “jump the shark” moment, a film where an already bad series became even worse. “Why would they make such a crass and culturally insensitive film?” some would ask. But here’s what’s actually important: Leprechaun in the Hood is actually kind of good.

Now I say this as someone that actually has a deep and respectful love for Blaxploitation Horror. The genre, which effectively started with Blacula (although the first non-horror Blaxploitation film in general is often accepted as Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song) and saw a number of solid releases throughout the 1970s. It’s a genre that still technically lives on today, even as the film styles of the 1970s gave way to modern techniques and film styles. Director Spike Lee released a remake of 1973’s Blaxploitation vampire film Ganja and Hess as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus in 2014. And, while some might not directly consider Leprechaun in the Hood a true Blaxploitation Horror film, it’s certainly playing around in the same field.

Consider the storyline. Three aspiring rappers – Anthony Montgomery as "Postmaster P." Smith, Rashaan Nall as "Stray Bullet", Red Grant as Butch – desperately want to make it in the industry. They have an audition with a local promoter in an attempt to get into a kind of “Battle of the Bands” contest, but are rebuffed, with the promoter saying that their music isn’t quite there yet. They have to refine, find a stronger message, and try again, but he’ll give them a shot if they can pull it together. They just need the money for some equipment to make it work.

As it turns out, there is one way to get that scratch: "Mack Daddy O'Nassas" (Ice-T), a local record producer who works in the big leagues. He has the funds and would willingly sign the boys, but he hates their music and wants them to change everything about their style. They say no, and he kicks them out, but having seen his place, they decide to rob him and get the money they need. They break that night and steal a bunch of stuff, including the flute and necklace off a weird leprechaun statue he has in his pad. The flute, as it turns out, is a magical object that can entrance and ensorcel anyone that hears its tunes, which really helps the guys get noticed. Unfortunately that pendant was the only thing that kept the leprechaun as a statue, and once removed, it came to life. Now the boys have both the magical fae as well as Mack Daddy on their asses, trying to get back what’s theirs.

Working for and against Leprechaun in the Hood is the fact that this is a black comedy-horror film first and a Leprechaun film second. The film is actually a pretty decent (if low-budget) look at three rappers trying to break into the industry and the lengths they’ll go to in the name of making it big. They want to be good, clean boys rapping a message of positivity, but at the same time they need money and realize the only way to get it is to pick up guns and steal, which goes against their core message. The main story is all about them doing what it takes without losing themselves completely, and it works really well.

It’s also not bad as a black comedy. There are plenty of jokes that land, including an entire introductory section that is one hundred percent set up as a Blaxploitation film. It’s dumb, but very funny. Not all the jokes land, and the film does rely a little too hard on some gay and trans panic jokes that might have been part of the genre back in the early 2000s but certainly feel dated and out of place when viewing the film 25 years later. Still, there’s plenty of humor that does work and it keeps certain sections of the film light and amusing.

And credit where it’s due, the acting is actually pretty great, especially for a Leprechaun film. Anthony Montgomery is great as Postmaster P., working to balance the needs of his character against the drama and horror he’s enmeshed in. The actor gives a really solid performance, exploring all aspects of his character. The actor frankly should have had a larger career after this film, but his most prominent roles were playing an ensign on Star Trek: Enterprise (where at least he was part of the main cast) and then getting a cast role in General Hospital years later.

We also should recognize that while his character was underwritten, Ice-T is actually pretty solid as the villainous heavy, Mack Daddy. The rapper / actor had been in a lot of works before this, from both Breakin’ movies, to appearances in Tank Girl and Johnny Mnemonic, but I legitimately think this is one of his better performances. He’s less cartoony here than in either Tank Girl or Johnny Mnemonic, and while his character doesn’t do a whole lot besides act angry and yell, Ice-T has the gravitas needed to make it work. I can see why he eventually settled into a main cast role on Law & Order: SVU: the dude can actually act.

But then we have to get to the little, green man at the center of it all. This is a Leprechaun film, and that’s what most people come in to see. Frankly, all credit to Warwick Davis for having a role he can just enjoy playing, but the actual Leprechaun parts of the film are the worst aspects of the movie. The leprechaun doesn’t really add anything to the film except a vague threat that can pop up at any time. He feels tacked on, as if the producers had a much more normal film about rappers trying to get their big break, and decided they couldn’t make that film work but they could get funding for it if they made it about the leprechaun. The film is at its strongest when it ignores much of the horror elements entirely, and that includes the main villain.

Yes, the guys do use his flute to ensorcel their audiences, and that does in turn lead them to get their big shot. All of that is fair. But it’s also a case where the film would work just as well without all the magic and mystical aspects and was just about the guys trying to launch their career, whatever it takes. In a way I think the Leprechaun aspects make the film worse, not better, even if it’s also the primary source of the film’s comedy. I was far more invested in the plight of these three rappers than I thought I would be, and any time the leprechaun showed up, I actually got a little bored.

So yes, this is a film that works pretty well… so long as the villain isn’t on screen. That’s a really strange thing to say, I know, but it’s how this whole film series has actually worked. Each film, if we’re being honest, sets up some kind of storyline that could play with or without the villainous leprechaun, and then he shows up to say some rhyming couplets and do a little mischief. But, deep down, any of these films likely could have played out similarly without the leprechaun showing up as well. Leprechaun in the Hood is just the first of them where I actually enjoyed the film enough that I wished it hadn’t had to be a Leprechaun film.

I think if it could have just been a dramedy about these rappers and their career it would have been great. Instead, because it had to be a Leprechaun film, Leprechaun in the Hood is only passably amusing instead. Still, that does make it the best film in the series by a country mile, if only because the bar has been set so low at this point.