YMMV / Leprechaun

• Just Here for Godzilla: Most people simply watch the films for Warwick Davis's lovably hammy performance as the titular character.
• Love to Hate: The leprechaun is a Laughably Evil Large Ham. Warwick Davis was clearly trying his best to make the character entertaining.

• Moral Event Horizon: The leprechaun crosses this in the first film when he tries to kill Alex.

• Nightmare Retardant: Entirely deliberate on the writer's part, since this a horror-comedy, after all.
• Periphery Demographic: As mentioned on one of the commentary tracks, it unexpectedly gained a fandom with older kids- the films weren't quite gruesome or scary enough to be traumatic for them, but at the same time they could feel like they're getting away with something while watching them. In that way, it was a Gateway Series for horror movies.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It's Common Knowledge that the "Fuck you, Lucky Charms!" line was a Take That! at General Mills for refusing to license the use of Lucky Charms in the movie. Mark Jones denies this, indicating that the line was always in the script as it was the obvious thing to say before vanquishing a Leprechaun.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Rachel Green faced the Leprechaun about a year before moving to New York.
  • In a way the writer of this (and his other films) do have a pattern. A weird "creature", teen characters, supernatural adventures, on/off sense of continuity, lots of verbal banter. What's this all mean? Turns out Mark Jones, the writer, was also a writer for Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears for many years. It will be quite hard to unsee the influence once you do.
• Sequelitis: The series was always ridiculous, so going to the Hood (and then BACK to the Hood) wasn't too out there. Getting rid of Warwick Davis for the 2014 version though? That was too much for fans.
• So Bad, It's Good: The series (especially the sequels) can’t exactly be called good cinema, but the ridiculous concept, Warwick Davis’ hammy portrayal of the Leprechaun, and overall cheesiness makes for an enjoyable watch. How could you not enjoy a film that contains the line “Fuck you, Lucky Charms!”?