Leprechaun 4: In Space

The Leprechaun series had really outlived its usefulness after the rather awful first film, but taking the character into space truly proves that all bets were off and no place was too outrageous. Seriously, at this point Warwick Davis had just said, “Fuck it.” Fortunate for him the Harry Potter series of the 2000s would offer redemption to his career. Many do actually enjoy these movies, but once Lep was grown into a giant and had turned a half-man/half-machine Machiavellian scientist into a half-man/half-machine/half-spider/half-scorpion and later “went to the Hood”, there comes that point where one must wonder how it all got here. At least in the first film, Leprechaun sort of made sense and as a one-off, the character might have existed as a made-for-video creature feature lost into the obscurity of rental shelf fodder occupying space with the likes of Rumpelstiltskin (1995). Instead, Davis remained employed, continued to inhabit his Gabe Bartalos make-up and remain dedicated to the wicked glee of the character, and never just went through the motions. I don’t think you ever saw Davis just giving us the middle finger (as his lopped off hand in space does at the very end) and cop out even when the character went to the Hood. Still out of the films in this series, …In Space is closest to the 80s Corman New World cycle of low budget sci-fi monster movies. It exists without tying to any of the other Leprechaun films. It simply appears completely standalone.

* / *****

Despite what happened to him in the previous film, …In Vegas, Leprechaun is alive and well on some red atmosphere planet with a queen he plans to make his wife, gold seemingly a mineral in abundance where he resides. A Marine team work for Dr. Mittenhand (Guy Siner), at Midnight closing out a contract for him. Mittenhand’s scientists, the measly, small-statured Harold (Gary Grossman) and stunning blonde, independently-minded Tina (Jessica Collins), realize that the queen on the planet kidnapped by Leprechaun has regenerating tissue. Mittenhand sees this as a miracle he can exploit, certain to secure her DNA for his own purposes. This possible queen (Rebecca Carlton, going all the way with the scheming villainess, complete with treacherous intent and diabolical plans to rule the universe) spends some time plotting with Leprechaun while other times at odds with him. Either way, Carlton looks fantastic in her scantily clad intergalactic princess outfit. Also looking mighty alluring is future Home Improvement show model, Debbe Dunning, as the female Marine of the galactic soldier team, Delores.

While Leprechaun is engaged in laser gun combat with the soldiers (replacing the usual terrorists or space creatures in these films), Mittenhand continues to develop his plans for Carlton’s genetic material. Carlton, during the middle of the film, is unconscious while Leprechaun picks off the Marines throughout the ship. Dropping a cargo box on somebody or causing another to fall from great heights off one level scaffold to another; Lep is dutifully eliminating B-movie casting as expected. Soon Davis and Carlton, when not arguing, are scanning the ship orbiting their former world for his gold (Mittenhand has a machine that can shrink objects and return them to their original size). Lep is always concerned for and obsessed about his gold. Even as the sequels change in absurd ways, Lep’s focus on his gold remains the same. When Mittenhand’s machine has an adverse reaction on Leprechaun, increasing his size so he can move about the cargo hold a giant, as an auto-destruct sequence is underway (started by Lep to blow up the remaining survivors he hadn’t killed already); the film fulfills its duty to the series of remaining ridiculous to the extreme.

Brian Trenchard-Smith is dedicated to producing a sequel complicit in its desire to amuse without a hint of subtlety or wit. Even when Lep does his rhyming shtick, the dialogue isn’t exactly tickling that part of your brain wanting to be challenged with profundity. It doesn’t parade rich insight into our thoughts or request us to reach within our intellect to mull it over. This is a leprechaun, with a monstrous face, in full costume, on a space ship, waving his hands and causing spells that create handcuffs out of thin air that lock a soldier to a metal shelf. He is blown up not once, not twice, but three times. We’re talking Lep exploding into bits and pieces. He actually bursts out of a soldier’s dick. He injects genetic material, a spider, and a scorpion, mixed in a blender, into Mittenhand. Lep even causes Carlton to develop sores on her face because she’s a bit too vain. You get Carlton exposing her breasts because her species consider that a death sentence to those flashed! This isn’t a film dedicated to brightening young minds.

I actually recall renting this when I was like 20 years old. That has been 19 years ago! Hard to believe. But in the 90s, you found shit like this all the time. There were some nuggets along the way on those rental shelves. This was a steaming pile certainly not suggesting much merit beyond perhaps entertaining you depending on your mood. Why I felt the film deserved a couple bucks, a VHS tape grabbed off the shelf of some makeshift service station/rental store hybrid is anybody’s guess. I guess I was one of those in the mood for a steaming pile, hoping it’d entertain me.

I’d hate to leave the review without at least giving the film credit for not killing Miguel A. Núñez Jr. He’s wrapped in spider webbing and icky red, sloughed off skin, but it could have been much worse. He rarely leaves these films alive. He’s that running joke where when you see his name in the credits the immediate thought it wondering how he’ll be killed during the film. I guess when you see his Sticks trying to find a code to rectify the auto-destruct ticking away, knowing that Mittenhand’s hybrid monster was loose, it is a given thought he’d be cocooned lunch. But thankfully we got to see him spared. Not so good is the Marine leader, Sarge (Tom Colceri), made to look foolish by Lep, behind this spell that causes him to dance about without will, dressed in lipstick, cocktail dress, wig, stockings, and heels (that I’m not saying is foolish, but Lep’s causing him to act outside of his own free will to do his bidding, as he sings and dances until a rifle with bayonet shows up out of thin air for him to use against others) before Tina suckers him into electrocuting himself, revealing that he’s actually a cyborg. Colceri, during the film, has a metal plate on his head. Rigors of war, it seems, but ultimately once he is fried does the inside of his skull reveal wires and robotic parts. Bayonet into an electrical socket and Sarge is no more. Despite some variable special effects (budgetary restraints obvious), I thought Sarge’s electrocution was rather impressive. The sets of the ship (and the ship itself, CGI low-grade) are what you might anticipate…maybe some of them were borrowed from those behind the production of Babylon 5.

Brent Jasmer is “Books”, the hero of the film. He’s the prototypical Z-movie hunk who has some initial tension with the lead female of the film (Collins) before they settle their differences as peril provokes them to join forces not continued bickering. That was for Lep and his queen. Rick Peters might be a recognizable face as a television character actor. Here he’s the secondary victim fodder, entering a waste disposal chamber with Books looking for Lep, his protective suit ripped exposing flesh-eating bacteria that renders him a bloody skeleton in seconds! That’s the movie’s logic in a nutshell.

The series wouldn’t have lasted through so many films if it didn’t appeal to some demographic. These films leapt (or “lept” if you so prefer) off the rental shelves in their day. In fact I have noticed the series is available together in a set at Walmart. So there you go. In the film, you have the customary escape through ventilation system, Collins' pants being ripped off, and Monster squealing, "Help me." Lep causes a pan to squish a face as if  right out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Lep even has his own green light saber! Not be undeterred, Lep even quotes Shakespeare...well maybe his own Shakespeare.