{"id":13758,"date":"2026-01-05T15:28:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13758"},"modified":"2026-01-05T15:28:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:28:57","slug":"leprechaun-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/01\/05\/leprechaun-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Leprechaun 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Leprechaun 3<\/strong> (1995)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trimark\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (some strong horror violence and gore, nudity, a scene of sexuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Dubos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dennis Michael Tenney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Lewis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 27, 1995 (US, video)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Warwick Davis, John Gatins, Lee Armstrong, John DeMita, Michael Callan, Caroline Williams, Marcelo Tubert, Tom Dugan, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Richard Reicheg, Linda Shayne, Ian Gregory, Roger Hewlett, Terry Lee Crisp.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Who says movies aren\u2019t educational? For example, did you know that if a person is bitten by a leprechaun, he\u2019ll turn into one? It\u2019s true according to Leprechaun 3<\/strong>, the third entry in the series starring Warwick Davis (Willow) as the evil leprechaun we first met going after a group of young dummies in North Dakota (?!!). This time, he\u2019s relocated to Las Vegas. I was kind of hoping he\u2019d run into Elizabeth Berkeley (from Showgirls) at some point, but I guess the producers of this low-budget, DTV sequel couldn\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Leprechaun 3<\/strong> is the first of the series not to be released theatrically. It went straight to video, hitting stores in June \u201995. I, of course, wasted no time renting it from my local West Coast Video. Wild horses couldn\u2019t keep me away from dopey horror sequels. I knew exactly what to expect and that\u2019s exactly what I got, a dumb comedy-horror about a killer leprechaun with a penchant for speaking in rhyme.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s another interesting fact about leprechaun lore according to Leprechaun 3<\/strong>. Anyone in possession of one of their gold coins is granted a single wish. That\u2019s the catalyst for the events of this installment. It all starts when a weird old guy named Lucky (Reicheg, Monkey Trouble) brings a leprechaun statue into a pawn shop owned by Gupta (Tubert, Tremors 2). Desperate to get rid of it, he takes the $20 offered to him by Gupta and splits. Despite being warned not to, Gupta removes the medallion hanging around its neck. Just like that, the leprechaun comes to life and runs off with his pot of gold, dropping one of the coins on his way out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Oh and what about the medallion? It\u2019s leprechaun Kryptonite! It\u2019s the only thing that can immobilize the ugly little bugger. Now wait a minute! I thought it was four-leaf clovers that did that. That\u2019s what they said in the first Leprechaun. I think we have a little continuity problem here, lads and lasses!<\/p>\n

\u00a0So who\u2019s the lucky duck who finds the missing coin? It\u2019s Scott (Gatins, Witchboard 2), a hapless-go-lucky sort driving through Sin City on his way to college. He stops on the Strip to help stranded motorist Tammy (Armstrong, Magic Island), a magician\u2019s assistant on her way to work at a hotel-casino. She gets him into the casino where he proceeds to gamble away his entire tuition check. Determined to win back his money, he goes to the aforementioned pawn shop (conveniently located across the street) to hock his watch. Instead, he finds the dead proprietor and the coin. He picks it up and makes a wish to be back at the casino on a winning streak. POOF! It happens.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This, of course, causes Scott a whole different set of problem not the least of which is the homicidal leprechaun who wants his property back. He\u2019s not the only one who covets the coin. It changes hands a few times. Loretta (Williams, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), the croupier running the crooked roulette wheel where Scott wins a fortune, wants the lucky charm. She conspires with the casino\u2019s headlining act, crappy magician Fazio (DeMita, Spellbinder), to steal the coin along with Scott\u2019s winnings. He wants to be the greatest in the world. Casino owner Mitch (Callan, Freeway), who owes a lot of money to a couple of gangster types, also realizes the true power of the coin. He gets it on with a hot babe [GRATUITOUS BOOBIE SHOT!] <\/strong>who crawls out of the TV into his bed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now here\u2019s the rub about the lucky coin. It\u2019s not really lucky. The leprechaun can turn all of the wishes against those who made them. Sound familiar? Then you must have seen Wishmaster (1997) which came along two years later, but still. ANYWAY, some pretty gnarly things happen to the ones stupid enough to think wishes come without consequences. Loretta wants to be young and desirable again. She gets her wish, but then you-know-who shows up. Ah, here\u2019s something else we learn from Leprechaun 3<\/strong>. Leprechauns aren\u2019t just cobblers; they also dabble in plastic surgery. You should see the boob (and butt and lip) job he gives Loretta. It\u2019s killer!<\/p>\n

\u00a0At some point, Scott gets bitten by Leprechaun and gets some green blood in him. That\u2019s when the really weird s*** starts. He begins speaking in rhyme and craving potatoes in addition to his increasingly hideous physical transformation. Tammy, still pissed at him for breaking his promise not to gamble, takes him to the hospital [\u201cDo ya take Green Cross?\u201d] where the staff can\u2019t figure out what\u2019s wrong with him. Predictably, Leprechaun follows the pair every step of the way looking to get back his precious gold coin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Leprechaun 3<\/strong> is one of the best of the series. It\u2019s often funny. It has a few great lines, but my favorite has to be what one of the gangster types says right before his demise at the hands of Leprechaun: “Tell me, what was Judy Garland really like?” Yeah, you might not want to say that to a murderous mythological creature. It also has some good kill scenes including a particularly bloody one involving a chainsaw and a magic box. Loretta\u2019s death is pretty cool too. Then there\u2019s the pawn shop fellow. Leprechaun, after biting the guy\u2019s ear off, remarks, \u201cMmm, I like Indian food. So spicy!\u201d A-haaaa, so funny!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Brian Trenchard-Smith assumes directorial duties for Leprechaun 3<\/strong>. A master of Ozploitation, his resume includes The Man from Hong Kong (1975), Stunt Rock (1978), Turkey Shoot [aka Escape 2000] (1982), BMX Bandits (1983), Dead End Drive-In (1986) and Night of the Demons 2 (1994). Okay, that last one is American exploitation, but you catch my drift. The man is more than qualified to direct a cool piece of schlock like Leprechaun 3<\/strong>. He imbues it with a wicked sense of humor, but what other way is there to approach a movie about a killer leprechaun? It\u2019s not like anybody would ever take it seriously, not anybody involved in the making or anybody watching.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast delivers the performances required by the material. They know it\u2019s a goof and are clearly in on the joke. If you look at it that way, they do a fine job. Williams is a riot as an aging Vegas floozy not ready to hang it up. DeMita earns laughs as an untalented (and very obviously gay) magician who will do anything (except work for it) to be the best. Gatins and Armstrong make a reasonably attractive couple even if neither one of them can act. Oddly enough, Gatins would go on to be a screenwriter, penning the scripts for Hardball (2001), Coach Carter (2005), Dreamer (2005, which he also directed), Real Steel (2011), Flight (2012, nominated for Best Original Screenplay), Need for Speed (2014) and Power Rangers (2017). Callan nails it as a casino manager who looks more like the head publisher of a sleazy porno magazine. Davis, of course, is great. Always the professional, he goes all in with his portrayal of the title monster even if he\u2019s little more than a diminutive version of Freddy Krueger (minus the whole dream thing). I do love his interaction with the Elvis impersonator (Crisp, no relation to Quentin).<\/p>\n

\u00a0It probably goes without saying (have you met me?), but I love the cheap and cheesy special effects in Leprechaun 3<\/strong>. NONE of it is CGI. It\u2019s all practical effects. YES!!! That\u2019s what makes these silly B-movies so special to me. It sure isn\u2019t the writing. This one is as dumb as they come. How is it that nobody seems surprised to see a leprechaun running around Vegas? Times Square, I could see. But Vegas? Also, where are the cops? They never seem to be around. Surely, somebody would have found dead Gupta at the pawn shop before Scott got there. At the very least, they should have responded to reports of a leprechaun falling from a hotel window. The biggest misstep, however, is writer David DuBos not doing anything with Tammy\u2019s expressed desire to be a headlining magician. This could have easily been worked into the plot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s crucial to not expect much from DTV horror sequels like Leprechaun 3<\/strong> or any of the ones that followed. It\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll get any enjoyment out of them. The 90s were a good time for movies like this (e.g. American Ninja, Amityville and Children of the Corn). And to think, they probably would have played in cinemas in the 70s and 80s. Now you know I\u2019d be all over them on their opening weekends. I\u2019m that kind of Movie Guy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In conclusion, Leprechaun 3<\/strong> is a decent comedy-horror and a solid entry in the inherently silly series. All that\u2019s left is to send Leprechaun into space. Wait for it…. wait for it.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leprechaun 3 (1995)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trimark\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (some strong horror violence and gore, nudity, a scene of sexuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David Dubos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dennis Michael Tenney\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: David Lewis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 27, 1995 (US, video)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Warwick Davis, John Gatins, Lee Armstrong, John DeMita, Michael Callan, Caroline Williams, Marcelo Tubert, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,18,9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies","category-comedies","category-guilty-pleasures","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Leprechaun-3-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13758"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13762,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13758\/revisions\/13762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}