Brandon’s Blu-ray Wishlist – St. Patty’s Day Edition

So, St. Patrick’s Day was on Monday and its come and gone.  But my wishlist posts on Thursday, so in belated St. Patty’s day fashion, my choice coincides with the holiday.  Plus, my pick this week always goes down so much better with a pint by your side as you watch.

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Leprechaun Franchise

Leprechaun (1993),  Leprechaun 2 (1994)

Leprechaun 3 (1995), Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)

Leprechaun In The Hood (2000)

Leprechaun Back 2 The Hood (2003)

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Right out the gate, I’ll admit I’m not the world’s biggest fan of this franchise, but I’m really surprised it’s not made the Blu-ray jump yet.  It has its fans.  Plus the first film features that trivia friendly “first movie” for Jennifer Aniston (and one of the last sightings of her original nose).  The studio didn’t pump out six films just at their own amusement.

Leprechaun came around in 1993, just as the slasher film was going into the darkest of pits and dying a slow death.  He was the last notable (call him “iconic” if you must) villain to hit theaters.  And it was at that point that it seemed like it was the straw that broke the camel’s back with “okay, enough” with the knock offs until Scream hit.  I never saw a trailer or TV spot, but I remember hearing tons of radio ads for it and thinking “Oh shit, this is gonna scary” (gimme a break I was 11).  When I finally saw it on VHS, wow, was I disappointed.  It wasn’t scary, it was just pretty much crap to me.  And it was a huge let down that only nostalgic eyes would have me looking back fonder on it.  Leprechaun was a little bit of a hit though, spawning a second theatrical adventure and making its way into the pop culture lexicon with references in such big movies as Wayne’s World.  He also spawned a slew of some of the worst slasher ideas ever.  Remember going to the video store and seeing the likes of Jack Frost (not the much more frightening Michael Keaton one) and Uncle Sam Wants You-DEAD!?  That was all thanks to the little green guy searching for love and a pot of gold.

While he was the last of the outlandish slasher villains, Leprechaun was the first of them to take the straight-to-video route for most of his sequels.  One thing that I think is fun that the series kept with is every entry sent Leprechaun to a new locale.  Part 2 was Hollywood, Part 3 was Las Vegas, Part 4 shot him off into space and of course everyone knows he went to the hood.  Usually doing something like this is a last ditch effort when you’re already well down the avenue of sequels, but this series knew right away it was running on fumes after the first one.  In my opinion, the desperate route actually helped the series in retrospect.

Make no mistake, all the Leprechaun movies are pretty much trash.  If you hate them, there’s no argument from me.  I can totally see why.  It all comes down to whether they are your type of trash or not.  And for me, that’s a yes and no.  I’ve still not seen Back 2 The Hood (why is it included? Well, it wouldn’t be a complete set without it), but I’m sure it’s in exactly the same category of the others.  If I’m in the right silly mood, the sequels can be a pretty fun time to watch with the right group of friends and maybe a beverage or two.  The first one is actually my least favorite of the bunch.  The amusement of seeing a young pre-fame Jennifer Aniston only lasts so long, as the movie tries to play it too straight and is pretty boring.  The second one does a little better, but I still think is genuinely trying for a solid film.  Its 3 and on that really just throw everything out the window and go crazy.  I guess that’s how I like my Leprechaun; the more outlandish, dumb and cheap it is the more it entertains me.  The more stupid they are, the more I stay with it.  For instance, part 4 has the worst rating of them all, but I find its cheapness and zaniness charming and funny.

Its surprising none of these (at least the first one) aren’t on Blu-ray.  It was once owned by Trimark, which then changed hands to Artisan who’s library was bought by its current owner Lionsgate.  I’d say Lionsgate thinks they’re too big and proud now with Hunger Games to release a lowly catalogue title like Leprechaun, but actually they’re in the process of doing a reboot with WWE Films.  So, I guess it’s a great possibility we see these on Blu-ray when that comes around.  I don’t think they should do individual releases on these, and they don’t have to do a fancily packaged box set like Chucky.  They could honestly do a 3 disc set with 2 movies per disc, or even a 2 disc set with 3 movies on each disc.  I’m not gonna get uber picky with this, its Leprechaun we’re talking about.  Plus it’ll keep the price low.  I think a good price on what I mentioned would be $15-20 for a first day purchase with $24.99 not being THAT expensive (I mean that’s $5 a movie).  So, yeah, I think Leprechaun definitely deserves a shot at Blu-ray. Especially if most all of the straight to video Children Of The Corn sequels have made it, ‘ol Lep SURELY deserves a shot.