I honestly have no idea how this premise managed to spawn six sequels.
For the tenth installment of The Halloween Fifteen for 2026, I’m taking a look at Leprechaun from 1993, the first film in the eight-movie Leprechaun franchise. Written and directed by Mark Jones, the movie stars Warwick Davis as the Leprechaun, Jennifer Aniston as Tori, Ken Olandt as Nathan, and Mark Holton as Ozzie.
Horror and comedy can be a great combination when they’re done right, delivering both laughs and scares. Unfortunately, Leprechaun is an example of what happens when those two elements mix about as well as oil and water.
The film is probably best known today as one of Jennifer Aniston’s early movie appearances, coming a couple of years before Friends made her a superstar. Here, she plays Tori, a spoiled rich girl from California whose father takes her to North Dakota after purchasing an old farmhouse he plans to renovate. Tori isn’t particularly thrilled about the move until three painters arrive to work on the house. One of them, Nathan, catches her eye, and suddenly she’s much more interested in helping with the renovation.
What none of them realize is that a leprechaun has been trapped in the basement of the old O’Grady house. The creature is imprisoned inside a crate with a four-leaf clover on top, which happens to be its one major weakness. Unfortunately, Ozzie, one of the painters, accidentally knocks the clover off the crate and releases the creature.
Nobody believes Ozzie when he tells them what he saw. Then he spots a rainbow and follows it with Alex, the youngest of the three painters. Sure enough, they discover a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. While checking whether the gold is real, Ozzie accidentally swallows one of the coins, making him a target for the Leprechaun, who is determined to recover his treasure. Before long, Tori, her father, and the painters are all caught up in the creature’s murderous rampage.
There’s a potentially fun movie buried somewhere in this premise. I’ll give Mark Jones credit for coming up with an interesting idea, and the film managed to hold my attention for roughly the first 30 minutes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for the novelty to wear off.
Warwick Davis is clearly having a blast playing the Leprechaun. Known for roles in movies like Willow and Return of the Jedi, Davis brings plenty of enthusiasm to the character. He seems to understand exactly what kind of movie he’s in, and he’s easily one of the film’s biggest assets. Unfortunately, his performance alone isn’t enough to save the picture.
The biggest problem is that Leprechaun never really succeeds as either a horror movie or a comedy. The kills are underwhelming, the humor rarely works, and the acting is generally pretty terrible. And I’m not talking about the kind of terrible that makes a movie entertaining in its own right. This is just bad.
Aniston doesn’t fare particularly well here, either. As Tori, she comes across as an annoying, spoiled rich girl, and her performance leaves a lot to be desired. If this had been the only movie I’d ever seen her in, I wouldn’t have predicted that she would eventually become a successful actress. Knowing what she accomplished later in her career, I have to wonder whether the direction she received here contributed to the problem.
Naturally, Tori falls for Nathan, the handsome painter, and their relationship follows all the familiar slasher-movie conventions. They quickly become romantically involved, find themselves in danger, and take turns rescuing one another. There’s very little here that feels fresh or surprising.
The most entertaining human character is Alex, the young painter who seems to know how to do absolutely everything. He’s practically a one-man repair shop and business management team. It’s an amusing character trait, but it isn’t enough to make up for everything else the movie gets wrong.
Beyond that, the story is predictable, the scares are practically nonexistent, and the comedy falls flat. I honestly have no idea how this premise managed to spawn six sequels. Maybe the character developed a stronger identity as the franchise continued, but based on this first installment, I’m not particularly motivated to find out.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed Leprechaun more if I’d watched it back in the 1990s, when I was younger and had a different sense of humor. Maybe it would have worked better if I’d been in a completely different state of mind. As it stands, though, this little creature’s first cinematic outing simply didn’t do much for me.
Despite Warwick Davis’s enthusiasm and an initially promising premise, Leprechaun just isn’t a lucky charm.
1.5 out of 5.0 stars
