With Saint Patrick’s Day coming up, that only means one thing for horror fans. A bloody Leprechaun marathon to satisfy that holiday slasher itch. The lucky horror franchise starring Warwick Davis as the deadly leprechaun has become a cult classic in the last 30 years. Excitingly, it was reported last year that a reboot was in the works from director Felipe Vargas. Now, just in time for the holiday, Vargas has teased what to expect from the upcoming “reinvention”.
Speaking on the Splattercast podcast this week, Vargas was nothing but excited for the film. “I’m so honored to be on that project,” the director would express before saying, “It’s such a cool franchise. To me, what makes the franchise so special is that it really is limitless. It doesn’t need to be grounded. It can just be gory, sexy, crazy.” He and his team of filmmakers are still figuring out the overall tone of the reboot, including what kind of horror/comedy balance the film will have, but Vargas added, “I would love for it to be scary as hell and also hilarious. I think we’re going back to a lot of the roots of Leprechaun in a lot of different ways, which I’m really excited about. But I think you also want to bring on a new audience. So it’s a really tricky one to figure out.”
They haven’t reached the casting stages of the project, so there’s no indication yet if Davis will return to the iconic role (all signs thus far point to no). That being said, Vargas pointed out that he’s going for “elevated vibes” with his Leprechaun nightmare. It remains to be seen if this will be The Babadook of the Leprechaun universe. However, the director would finish by noting that he wants to make the film as practical as possible. “That’s a part of my initial pitch. I think the practical effects are so key. Definitely want to bring that back in a big way.” Regardless if you love the series or not, that should make any horror fan’s heart light up with morbid glee.
Blood-Soaked Gold Under the Rainbow
While the Leprechaun series is far from a top tier horror export, the original film has a rabid fan base. It gave new meaning to not stealing a pot of gold from a Leprechaun and Davis, as usual, gave it his all to present one of the more memorable villains in the genre. That same sentiment can’t be said about the franchise’s seven sequels to follow, but many of them are often considered to be in the “so bad they’re good” category. This murderous Leprechaun has been to space and back, so it’s exciting to hear the series is going to be inline with its more balanced roots. Holiday slashers have only gained more and more popularity as time has gone on, which has helped Leprechaun’s lasting legacy. It is the Halloween of the Saint Patrick’s Day season after all.
When’s the ‘Leprechaun’ Reboot Releasing?
There’s no release date for the Leprechaun reboot yet as it’s still in the early stages of development, but it sounds like the slasher is progressing nicely. Hopefully, by the end of the year we’ll hear more news about a potential date. Until then, you can stream the original Leprechaun on Peacock. Syfy will also be airing a franchise marathon of all eight films on March 17.
via Collider