Leprechaun 2 (R)
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Caution: spoilers!

This is the first sequel to the film Leprechaun, and the only sequel to be released theatrically (though a 2014 reboot had a limited theatrical release). It was released in 1994, but I didn't see it until 2026, on St. Patrick's Day. It was panned by most critics, and didn't do as well financially as the first movie. I can't be sure, because I don't clearly remember the first movie, but I think I may have liked this one slightly more than that one. It's certainly not what I'd call a good movie, but it was a reasonably fun way to spend an hour and a half, especially on St. Patrick's Day.

So, it starts off in Ireland, "once upon a time", when a man named William O'Day tries to run away from the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis), who keeps him as a slave. It happens to be St. Patrick's Day, on the Leprechaun's 1000th birthday, which is the one day he's allowed to claim a wife. He promises to grant William his freedom once he's married, which doesn't even require any sort of ceremony. All he has to do to marry the woman he's chosen is get her to sneeze three times without anyone saying "God bless you". But when William finds that the woman the Leprechaun has chosen is William's daughter, he says "God bless you" after her third sneeze. So, the Leprechaun swears that one thousand years later, he will marry a descendant of William's. And then he kills William.

The opening credits then show drawings of the women in William's lineage through the years, which I thought was kind of a neat touch (though I don't suppose it could have shown every generation). Anyway, in 1994, on St. Patrick's Day, a guy named Cody suckers some tourists into taking a tour of the gravesites of famous people. Two couples enter a hearse, and Cody goes to get the driver, Morty, who is his legal guardian and the owner of the tour business. But Morty is drunk, so Cody decides to give the tour himself, to the disappointment of his girlfriend, Bridget, with whom he was supposed to go on a date. She comes along with him on the tour, and they eventually stop at the race track where they were supposed to meet their friends, for their date. A guy who works there, Ian, ends up hanging out with Bridget while Cody continues the tour. In his frustration, he ends up speeding and being caught by the cops, who take him to the police station, where Morty picks him up. While they're there, other cops bring in a homeless man who was ranting about a leprechaun who had stolen his gold tooth (which we saw happen earlier). Of course, no one believes him, but he did mention that the leprechaun came out of a tree at the abandoned estate of Harry Houdini, which happened to be one stop on Cody's tour. This is important, because when Cody tries to find the Leprechaun later on, he knows where to find him.

Anyway, Ian gives Bridget a ride home later that night, and acts like a total jerk when she doesn't invite him into her house. (I was a bit worried he might try to rape her, but that didn't happen.) Then, after Bridget has gone inside, Ian sees her in the garage, and this time she does invite him in, and takes off her top. Of course, it's really a vision created by the Leprechaun, and Ian ends up dead, in a gruesome fashion I won't spoil, but at least I'll say it was inventive. (And it wasn't the movie's only inventive kill.) Meanwhile, Cody decides to go to Bridget's house to apologize for choosing the tour over their date, and she forgives him. Then the Leprechaun shows up and makes Bridget sneeze. Cody says, "Gesundheit", and I'm not quite sure why that didn't count as a "God bless you", but whatever. The Leprechaun uses telekinesis to attack Cody, who gets knocked out. The Leprechaun takes Bridget as his bride, brining her back to his labyrinthine home under the tree. But Cody gets hold of one of the coins from the Leprechaun's pot of gold, and the Leprechaun is desperate to get it back.

Cody finds Morty and tells him about what happened, but Morty doesn't believe him until the Leprechaun shows up. Morty decides to try to capture the Leprechaun, to get three wishes. Meanwhile, Bridget tries to escape from the Leprechaun's cave, but it turns out to be impossible. And... a lot of other stuff happens, but I feel like I've revealed too many details, already. Suffice to say, Cody eventually goes to the cave under the tree, to rescue Bridget. He ends up tricking the Leprechaun in a way I had seen coming much earlier in the movie, but it was still good. After apparently killing the Leprechaun, Cody and Bridget finally manage to get away, and Cody discards the coin. So it seems like a happy ending, but it bugged me that the writers seem to have forgotten one important detail: Cody was wanted by the police for Ian's murder, and I don't see any way he could credibly explain his innocence, even with Bridget corroborating his story. (I assume they wouldn't even try to claim it was a leprechaun who did it, but I can't imagine what else they would say.) And that just never gets addressed. Aside from that, I thought the movie was pretty ridiculous, and never really as funny or scary as it was trying to be. But I still thought it was fun, and it definitely could have been worse.